 |
 |
Dawrin and Greg Thanks for the testimonial Darwin, Having retired 3 years ago from the practice of psychiatry I can also speak to the effectiveness of ECT for serious mental illness especially depression. I did not perform the procedure but did refer a number of people to colleagues to have it done. It can be lifesaving. But I also have seen it and at one time- prior to seeing what it could do for selected patients- opposed it. I don't any more because of its proven effectiveness. In spite of how it appears Greg, it works for depression- and sometimes for PD and PD induced depressions. What do you think of drilling holes in ones head and destroying a part of the brain with a cautery a permanent destruction of brain tissue? That is called a pallidotomy. Charlie ----- Original Message ----- From: Hawkins, Darwin <[log in to unmask]> To: <[log in to unmask]> Sent: Friday, January 14, 2000 12:17 PM Subject: Re: Electric Shock Treatments > Yes, I have seen it and my family has personally benefited from the > treatment. It certainly does appear awful! Movie films from the early mental > health days are terrible to watch, but we have come a long way from those > initial experiments. > > My wife had two nervous breakdowns (three months confinement each time) > precipitated by post partum depression. The EST (it was called Electro > Convulsive Therapy back then) plus Insulin Shock Therapy brought her back to > the real world. She still is and will always be an Acute Undifferentiated > Schizophrenic, but that can be controlled by medication (if you can get the > patient to stay on it). Yes, EST does look awful to an observer as the > treatment used to be administered, but it was not awful to the patient since > they were immediately rendered unconscious with no pain. In the present day > procedures, muscle relaxants are given to prevent the convulsions, a > mouthpiece is inserted just in case to prevent broken teeth, and the patient > is sedated before the procedure begins. The only slight drawback I have > observed is about a one day loss of short term memory (never to be > regained). Long term memory starts returning in about 2 hours and is fully > back the next day. I would imagine there are lots of medical procedures > that we would never allow to be performed if we had already observed or knew > what takes place in the operating or treatment room. Sometimes ignorance is > bliss. > > These therapies allowed us to practically empty our mental hospitals and > asylums many years ago. It is sad that the result over time has been a lot > of homeless people on the streets because of no system in place to assure > that they keep taking their medications and because of the civil rights and > other legalities now controlling society. We have no way of bringing these > suffering people back to a normal life. It is sad that EST developed the > uninformed stigma that it now has. It is also sad that someone with a > serious mental health problem usually cannot recognize their plight because > their world is real to them and the rest of the world is wrong. It is > extremely difficult to get someone to believe what you are saying and > observing regardless of how they are perceiving the world about them. > > I like to thing of EST as a "reboot" of the "computer" in our head to > restore corrupted and lost files and applications. > > Just one man's opinion based on actual experience and facts. This is much > more than I ever wanted to say about our personal life, but I thought it > important to give another perspective to this discussion. > > > ---------- > > From: Greg Sterling[SMTP:[log in to unmask]] > > Subject: Re: Electric shock treatmenets > > > > Have you ever seen anyone receive electric shock therapy? It's awful. No > > thanks. > > > > Greg > > > >