Neuro-electric therapy for drug addiction?

[Big Les]

Does anyone know how "woo" this treatment (http://news.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=1162&id=1909182006) is?

The red flag shoots up for me when I read this:

Until now, Dr Patterson's supporters say the treatment has been deliberately blocked by Scotland's "conservative" medical establishment, who have preferred to use chemical treatments such as methadone.

Shades of CAM there, I feel.

[andyandy]

yes - i heard about this - BBC 5 Live were doing a feature on the trials themselves - seems like of the 6 people, 4 were still using drugs at the end of the trial, and two claimed to be clean.....
don't know what conclusions they're going to draw - the previous "evidence" for this treatment seemed rather high [no pun intended :) ] on annecdote....

[sophia8]

I'm no expert, but it sounds like it might work. Works as stated, that is:Research suggests the treatment works by stimulating the production of endorphins in the brain, which greatly dulls the pain of withdrawal for hard drugs, tobacco and even alcohol.
However, there's far more to treating addiction than just getting through the withdrawal symptoms - just ask any ex-smoker.

[The Don]

One person begged to be let off the trial, sounds like placebo to me.

[robinson]

This therapy was shown to work long ago. I heard about it from a famous drug addict, who used it. Of course it can also be used to get high without side effects or legal troubles, so it will never be approved.

:D