A + B = ? Come on, work it out!

Feeling unmotivated? We learn from an item reported on August 12 by the BBC that there's hope for you!

Scientists in the United States have found a way of turning lazy monkeys into workaholics using gene therapy.

Usually monkeys work hard only when they know a reward is coming....

Researchers at the National Institute of Mental Health near Washington DC, led by Dr Barry Richmond, have now developed a genetic treatment which changes their work ethic markedly.

"Normal monkeys and people procrastinate - tend not to work very well when they have a lot of time to get the job done, and work better when the reward is nearer in time," Dr Richmond says.

"The monkeys under the influence of the treatment don't procrastinate."

The treatment consists of blocking an important brain chemical - dopamine.

After about 10 weeks it had worn off, and the monkeys were back to their usual unmotivated selves.

Dr Richmond believes treatments based on this concept could one day benefit people with conditions like depression, where motivation has largely disappeared from their lives.

The BBC treated it as an amusing bit, even ending with the obvious joke that

[f]or the rest of us, the day when such treatments fall into the hands of our bosses may be one we would prefer to put off.

But is that really a joke? From Alternative Press Review we hear of an article posted August 8 in the online magazine Intervention that makes it seem less than funny.

Next month, President Bush plans to unveil a broad new mental health plan called the "New Freedom Initiative." ...

The New Freedom Initiative proposes to screen every American, including you, for mental illness. To this end, the president established a New Freedom Commission on Mental Health, to study the nation's mental health delivery service and make a report. It's interesting to note that many on the staff appointed to the Commission have served on the advisory boards of some of the nation's largest drug companies.

The commission reported that "despite their prevalence, mental disorders often go undiagnosed," so it recommended comprehensive mental health screening for "consumers of all ages," including preschool children because "each year, young children are expelled from preschools and childcare facilities for severely disruptive behaviors and emotional disorders."

The commission proposes to start by checking out all 52 million students and the six million adults who work in schools, predicting an additional six million undiagnosed cases of mental illness will be uncovered. And what do we do with them once we've found them?

One recommendation of the commission was that the screening be linked with "treatment and supports," using "specific medications for specific conditions."

In short, a commission whose staff is made up of people connected to drug companies recommends a program to aggressively look for undiagnosed mental illnesses which will then be treated by drugs made by those same companies. Daisy chain, anyone?

And just what connects the two parts of this post? The script is actually easy to imagine.

Investigator (holding clipboard): Well, we've completed the study of your employees and we have evidence of a considerable number of people suffering from depression, as evidenced by their lack of motivation.

Employer (half-smiling, struggling to look deeply concerned): Oh dear, whatever shall we do to help these poor benighted souls?

Investigator (winking): Actually, there is a new gene therapy....

You may find that scenario unlikely, especially in the short term, but if you think it's impossible, you really have not been paying attention.