One of the biggest examples of this phenomenon comes in the form of transcranial direct current stimulation or tDCS. After many years of fiddling with the formulas, scientists have found in recent years that there is a way to double the learning power of the human brain for a short period of time by zapping it with electricity in just the right ways. Scientists connect high-powered electrodes to the heads of the subjects, running currents through their brains and stimulating their thoughts. People who have this treatment remark that they have their worries lifted and mind cleared by the electrical impulses, allowing them to gain the kind of laser-sharp focus needed in order to increase learning capacity.
Sounds good, right? Well, not so fast.
I understand that many people would sign up right now to experience this wonder of scientific creation. It all seems so exciting. No pain? No noticeable physical drawbacks? A feeling that could last for a long period of time? Everything looks good on the surface.
But before you go and get zapped (When tDCS starts getting used on a wider scale, is “getting zapped” going to be its users’ go-to euphemism like “getting drunk” or “getting high”? I sure hope so.) in order to boost your brain power, let’s take a look at why we all need to cool down on the tDCS craze for now.
Before trying this treatment, people need to understand that there are no precedents for tDCS. The FDA has yet to officially give its deal of approval to many of the DIY versions of the treatment, as the idea of something that boosts our mental states that is neither a food nor technically a drug is still pretty new. This is extremely important, as a medical treatment as complicated as brain stimulation has never been tried on this large of a large scale before. The fact that amateurs can get their hands on this technology before scientists have the time to fully understand what the long-term effects are from the treatment is frightening in its own right. The specifics that surround tDCS are complicated and should be taken seriously; the fact that scientists still aren’t 100% sure what the long-term effects are should be scary enough as it is. More time needs to be taken and more research needs to be done before people start accepting this treatment on a wide scale.
Some would argue that we accept other non-food, non-drug treatments into our lives like pacemakers and question why tDCS should be treated any differently. However, brain stimulation deals with just that: the brain. It is the most important organ in the body by far, and if there are harmful side effects to the treatment to the brain, they have the possibility of making someone’s life virtually unlivable. Also, with so many DIY tDCS machines available being run by amateur technicians, the chances of things going wrong to this incredibly important organ are vastly increased, whereas there aren’t people running around playing with recreational pacemakers.
Another argument that could be made is that tDCS is no different than certain stimulating substances like coffee or caffeine pills. Though, the differences between brain stimulation and these substances are pretty evident. Coffee itself isn’t controversial because we know what it does to people. The studies have been done, and even though espresso is a common variant, it isn’t as though people are routinely spiking their coffees with super-stimulating chemicals that go past what we understand about the substance. Also, what is legal doesn’t always line up with what is recommended. There are plenty of studies out there that show that caffeine pills are definitely not recommended in serious quantities.
What controversy boils down to is that science and society needs more time to access the benefits and risks to a bodily treatment that is unlike anything we have ever seen. We need to take a step back, understand the technology, regulate its uses, and think about what we need to do in order for electronic brain stimulation to become a normal part of our lives. The positives of tDCS are there, certainly, but for now, I think this is best left up to the experts.
