The depression device

You'd think that an implanted brain-shocking device surgically inserted into your chest and neck would only cause sheer terror, pain, and well, depression. But no, the FDA is contemplating approval of such a device for treating, of all things, chronic depression. Texas-based company Cyberonics is pushing for approval of the device's use of VNS therapy, which sends pace-maker-style electrical pulses to a single supposedly important "happiness" nerve. Kind of like ongoing, internal, less intense electroconvulsive therapy (see One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest). The device is already approved for epilepsy in the US, and they're already using VNS to treat depression in Europe and Canada.