Hand me that electric drill, will you?

It never ceases to amaze me the things that people will do to themselves in the quest for kicks or 'enlightenment'. Like this:

Diary Entry: 03-22-00

This weekend I had a hole drilled through my skull. I read that this increased one's consciousness permanently. I read about the supposed de-conditioning properties. I read about more parts of the brain working simultaneously as there would be more blood up there to help this happen. The arguments for it all seemed to be quite lengthy, quite detailed, thought out and researched, and very intelligent. The arguments against it were based solely on the opinion that it is 'crazy' and talk like, "What's more conscious than conscious?". I heard from an acquaintance on telephone that she was glad she had done it, felt more mental energy, and had days of brilliance. I came to believe that the key to a permanent consciousness increase was a hole in the skull, to restore the full brain pulsation of infancy.

Yup, we're talking trepanation, the ultimate high. No, I'm not kidding - there really are people who install holes in their skull for fun. Via Mo at Neurophilosophy (where I came across this topic a couple of weeks ago):

On January 16th, 1965, Hughes performed a trepanation on himself using an electric drill, a surgical knife and a hypodermic needle to administer a local anaesthetic. He was subsequently arrested and committed to a psychiatric institution for a short period of time. (Hughes wrote a book entitled Trepanation: The Cure for Psychosis, and is featured in a 1998 documentary called A Hole in the Head.)

Another of Hughes's followers is Peter Halvorson (right), who founded the International Trepanation Advocacy Group in 1997. Halvorson performed self-trepanation in 1972 as a treatment for the depression from which he was suffering. Hughes had recommended that he find a doctor to perform the operation, but he was unable to, and performed it himself after learning the procedure from a plastic surgeon. Here, he describes how he felt while drilling a hole in his skull:

I could hear gurgling, and I could feel the shifting of volume in the brain water. There was a warm feeling as my metabolism cranked up a bit.

Woo-hoo! Sign me up!

So, how did all fare with our first fool? His first-hand account (complete with bloody pictures) is fascinating, in a "I can't believe this guy did this" sort of way (and I'm not bothered by surgery - I put myself through grand school working in a surgical unit). And he goes on at some considerable length talking about the increased sensations and awareness . . . only to conclude this in his final diary entry:

Diary Entry: 04-19-00

I have come to the frustrating conclusion that the trepanation has had no lasting effect. I mean, the effects were subtle the whole time anyway and they appear to have worn off. I have considered that very likely it was a combination of two things. One, the blood most certainly did rush up to those unused parts of the brain pretty intensely and very regularly for the first few weeks while I was healing, and very likely drawn back out of those areas now. Two, I was more attentive to every sensation and all somatic input because I was just being very attentive consciously in an attempt to notice the effects. Since I paid more attention to everything, it was all a little more intense, yes. As much I hate to realize it, I believed what I wanted to believe.

Well, seems not all was lost.

Jim Downey