i09 tells the story of a woman, with a history of addictive behavior, who was given an electrode implant in her thalamus to help her manage chronic pain. She ended up addicted to the erotic sensations that using the implant, self-stimulating herself all day and “neglecting personal hygiene and family commitments.”

As thalamic stimulators and other brain implants become more commonplace, it’s likely that our anonymous implant addict will no longer be an outlier. She’s just the first documented case of a new kind of addiction.

io9: The Curious Case of a Woman Addicted to Her Brain Implant