Whipping as "therapy" for depression?

Glenn Reynolds is right about the Siberian scientists being serious about this new treatment. They not only claim that being whipped works for depression, but the head doc has used the method to cure himself:

Doctor of Biological Sciences, Sergei Speransky, is a very well known figure in Novosibirsk. The doctor became one of the authors of the shocking whipping therapy. The professor used the self-flagellation method to cure his own depression; he also recovered from two heart attacks with the help of physical tortures too.

"The whipping therapy becomes much more efficient when a patients receives the punishment from a person of the opposite sex.

I don't mean to quibble, but you'd think the Siberians could show a little more sensitivity. Why presume that everyone would want to be beaten by a member of the opposite sex? Have any control studies been done? Surely these doctors aren't arguing that only straight people get depressed, are they? I mean, it's not as if the word "gay" has to mean literally happy, all the time. Don't gay people get just as depressed as straight people? And aren't they just as entitled to treatment?

Depression does not discriminate! Haven't they learned?

This brings to mind another issue, which might be related. If torture is therapy for depression, what are the implications for the apparent "tortures" allegedly being inflicted on prisoners at Gitmo and abu Ghraib? I'm referring in particular to that stupid looking woman dragging the man on a leash.

Was her victim gay?

Because, unless he was, I'm thinking that in light of the new research, this might not have been torture at all, but therapy for his depression.

Yes, depression. According to the Siberian scientists, "suicidal thoughts and psychosomatic diseases occur when an individual loses his or her interest in life." What could be a clearer example of a loss of interest in life than wanting to blow yourself up? If there's a treatment that works, why not send in the right personnel?

Hey, don't look at me; I'm only presenting this information for purposes of scientific discussion.

(Please Mr. Siberian doctor, don't make me take the cure! I'm feeling so happy to be alive that you wouldn't believe it! I'm like, totally joyful! Honest! Please don't hit me!)