I 1998 Steve Miller and I made an exact prediction that has just been tested and confirmed in NZ.

Psychiatrist Mike Dodson  dramatically reduced the manic symptoms of a patient by pouring cold water into the Left ear.

Apart from the few percent of the population with heterotaxia (reveresed cerebral asymmetry), the Left hemisphere is the "positive" one that is overactive in mania, compared with the overactivity seen in the Right hemisphere of depressives. Since caloric vestibular stimulation effectively stimulates one hemisphere, we predicted that mania could be cured by Left caloric stimulation, which would enhance activity on the Right side (with a consequent reduction in the Left-toRight) and thereby ameliorate mania.

That is exactly what happened.

This is welcome confirmation. One wonders whether the 50c syringe of cold water will catch on in the clinica comparred with the more expensive and glamorous toys like TMS.

Dodson, M. (2004)   Vestibular stimulation in mania: a case report.   J. Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 75: 163-171