This thesis focuses on Bram Stoker’s 1897 British novel 'Dracula' and its association of medical technology with a myriad of Victorian British societal anxieties, facilitating an examination of current and historical fears about medical intervention and medical innovation. Dracula’s parallel yet opposite portrayals of blood transfusion and vampirism allow fears of medical technology to be exaggerated and explored within the realm of the supernatural. In Dracula and today, the desire to restore the health of ourselves and our loved ones is accompanied by fears that medical treatment will cause harm; will reshape our conceptualization of death and thus our relationship with death; and, as new technologies with unestablished consequences are employed, that medical intervention may in fact erode our basic identity and humanity.

The majority of trust research has focused on the benefits trust can have for individual actors, institutions, and organizations. This “optimistic bias” is particularly evident in work focused on institutional trust, where concepts such as procedural justice, shared values, and moral responsibility have gained prominence. But trust in institutions may not be exclusively good. We reveal implications for the “dark side” of institutional trust by reviewing relevant theories and empirical research that can contribute to a more holistic understanding. We frame our discussion by suggesting there may be a “Goldilocks principle” of institutional trust, where trust that is too low (typically the focus) or too high (not usually considered by trust researchers) may be problematic. The chapter focuses on the issue of too-high trust and processes through which such too-high trust might emerge. Specifically, excessive trust might result from external, internal, and intersecting external-internal processes. External processes refer to the actions institutions take that affect public trust, while internal processes refer to intrapersonal factors affecting a trustor’s level of trust. We describe how the beneficial psychological and behavioral outcomes of trust can be mitigated or circumvented through these processes and highlight the implications of a “darkest” side of trust when they intersect. We draw upon research on organizations and legal, governmental, and political systems to demonstrate the dark side of trust in different contexts. The conclusion outlines directions for future research and encourages researchers to consider the ethical nuances of studying how to increase institutional trust.

NovaSure is a device for endometrial ablation, which is a procedure that removes the endometrium, that the US Food and Drug Administration, or FDA, approved for use on 28 September 2001. Endometrium is the tissue that lines the uterus. NovaSure destroys the endometrium by sending electric beams at the endometrium. Hologic, a medical technology company concerned with women’s health, developed NovaSure to treat menorrhagia, or heavy bleeding during menstruation. Menorrhagia is a common symptom of endometriosis. Endometriosis is the growth of the endometrium outside of the uterus. While NovaSure is not a treatment that doctors use to directly treat endometriosis, the procedure may help alleviate heavy bleeding during menstruation, which may improve a patient’s quality of life as heavy menstrual bleeding is often associated with high levels of anxiety and low levels of confidence.

Our generation is living through a mental health crisis. 19.86% of American adults, appx. 50 million, are diagnosed with mental illness, and the risk only increases with youth, veterans, LGBTQ+, and other marginalized communities. Furthermore, those seeking treatment often depend on prescription pharmaceuticals, using these drugs for long periods of time, even for their entire lives. Fortunately, a small team of doctors has developed a non-invasive electrical stimulation technology that can promote healing processes within the body, and the potential impact of this invention could change the way we approach mental health treatment forever. This is a short film on this technology, the people involved, and the greater mission to heal a generation that needs it.

For my thesis project, I chose to create a film about a group of revolutionary technologies that utilize transcranial and transcutaneous electrostimulation to stimulate mental and physical wellbeing. The transcranial technology is called TESA-HB, and the transcutaneous technology is called MindVybe. Despite its relative novelty as a medical device, this technology has already been used for a number of different treatment purposes with a wide range of positive results, ranging from bringing light back into the life of a suicidal teenage boy to allowing an RSD stricken woman to live her lifelong dream of dancing down the aisle at her wedding. It’s an incredible innovation developed by incredible people who are driven by a healing-first philosophy that always puts patient before profit, even when the odds seem stacked against them. Knowing that such brilliant, genuine people have invested so much time, money, knowledge, and dedication into a device that has helped so many people, and can help many more moving forward, made this an easy choice as the subject for my creative project.

For my thesis project, I chose to create a film about a group of revolutionary technologies that utilize transcranial and transcutaneous electrostimulation to stimulate mental and physical wellbeing. The transcranial technology is called TESA-HB, and the transcutaneous technology is called MindVybe. Despite its relative novelty as a medical device, this technology has already been used for a number of different treatment purposes with a wide range of positive results, ranging from bringing light back into the life of a suicidal teenage boy to allowing an RSD stricken woman to live her lifelong dream of dancing down the aisle at her wedding. It’s an incredible innovation developed by incredible people who are driven by a healing-first philosophy that always puts patient before profit, even when the odds seem stacked against them. Knowing that such brilliant, genuine people have invested so much time, money, knowledge, and dedication into a device that has helped so many people, and can help many more moving forward, made this an easy choice as the subject for my creative project.