A quick fix?

This week, I was asked to join BBC Radio 4's The World at One to talk about a brand new fix for heartbreak—transcranial direct current stimulation. Psychologists in Iran have shown that wearing a special headset that sends mild electrical currents through your brain for 20 minutes, twice a day, over five days can alleviate symptoms of 'love trauma syndrome.'

It’s tempting, right? But is it reductive, and does it matter? We all want the pain to just be gone in the end, but do we lose anything by plugging ourselves into a piece of tech?

Is there anything we would miss? What about the bonds that can be formed by the sharing of difficult experiences? What about the psychological cohesion that can come from incorporating difficult experiences into our personal narratives? What about that precious human quality – wisdom, found only through the path of suffering?

A quick fix may take some of the pain away, but the only thing that gives us wisdom is going through the pain and making sense of the loss. I believe wisdom is a soulful and meaningful goal to reach for in the face of suffering, and one which ultimately gives us meaning, purpose, and yes, joy.

I remember reading The Prophet by Khalil Gibran when I was facing heartbreak in my early twenties, and I have never forgotten the line: "One may not reach the dawn save by the path of night." It made sense then and makes sense now.

What do you think?