As a psychiatrist, I know that ECT is a rapid and lifesaving treatment in severe depression, when the patient is suicidal, or no longer able to care for themselves. Also had amalgams containing mercury removed , root canals removed and checked for cavitations. But I have fucked over all treatment options presented due to fear and intense mistrust of doctors and psychiatry after ECT ruined my life. Those who claim "TMS ruined my life" complain of memory loss, cognitive impairment, and dizziness . This treatment should not be down-classified; it is dangerous., The shrinks electroshocked my dad for sexually abusing me. Personally, I dont believe that I am cognitively impaired, although its hard to prove. My dad was dying of cancer at the time. Rebecca Lawrence is a consultant psychiatrist, In the UK, the charity Mind is available on 0300 123 3393 and Childline on 0800 1111. "I had so much going for me before I had the treatment and really loved doing the smaller things in life. Theyve seen movies or testimonials about brain damage, electricity, and high relapse rates. The most common symptoms of high-functioning depression may include: Changes in sleep patterns. Some may welcome this at a time of great distress and suffering. And while ECT techniques have allegedly been improved, giving a shock to anyones brain is a very intrusive practice, inherent with unintended side effects and potentially causing permanent damage., I found that my daughter was threatened with a long term stay if she did not submit to the demand. Its humiliating to walk into a shop and tip your money out and say: Just take how much money you need, because I dont know how much to give you.. Certainly the Thorazine , the Halidol , and the Electric Shock delivered by force took a toll from me that I am most of the time in denial about . Id like to reiterate thanks to Lauren Tenney for her tireless work and a big In Solidarity hug to all you who have survived and to all those who have not and to those that love us still . These can include: drowsiness (you may sleep for a while) confusion headache feeling sick aching muscles loss of appetite. And I feel great! Sharing my experience is a small way to thank the professionals who saved my life. 6 months subscription | 85.00 I cannot see that it does any good to anyone. She said, They shocked everyone there. Downclassing shock let alone keeping this as a practice, is a crime against humanity., I am a shock survivor and sustained permanent brain injury from this untested procedure and device, secondary to the failure of the FDA to protect me as a person protected by the ADA. I cant read or retain information. He says: ECT has such a high risk of brain damage that it should be very carefully monitored and regulated. 2) I found temporary respite. Immediately after the treatment I woke up and said who is Andy? Or, alternatively, they are just that stupid they cannot see the truth or comprehend the science. The appliances are great and you can tell the builders paid close attention to detail in the apartments. Thank you for your support. One member recounted that during Thanksgiving 2013, he was in a locked psychiatric ward eating an anemic slab of turkey. Just the sound of defeating silence and a blank space in response. Made up of mental health professionals, researchers, ECT recipients and carers, the group is calling for an inquiry into the practice of ECT along the lines of the recent Cumberlege report into pelvic meshes, which found lives had been ruined because officials failed to hear the concerns of women too often dismissing worries and complaints as womens problems and exposing failures in the health system. It only works because it causes brain damage. Try calling your local SPCA. Several months ago, a major news organization interviewed me for a front-page article about electroconvulsive therapy (ECT). I believe my dad was right all along. ECT's bad reputation isn't justified - The Guardian ECT was first used on a human patient in Italy in 1938, after preliminary experiments in dogs and pigs. Prayers to the victims who are unable to sign this petition because they lost themselves due to ECTs. But the experience itself was, for me, very easy. It seems to look through you. It is done to the most vulnerable like seniors in large numbers in most of the Western countries. FDA is not putting consumers before the financial interests of the ECT device manufacturers and American Psychiatric Association. To avoid family awkwardness, my brothers had tactfully omitted naming where I am located. I feel like i ruined my girlfriends life - Tiny Buddha They still do that? These questions repeat so often, my eyes start to roll. ECT magnified the worst characteristics of my dad and pretty much destroyed the family my parents divorced a few years after the ECT because of how bad things got with my dad. Also, people become compliant and they dont go around telling the staff how they hate the F***ing hospital anymore. 'I didn't recognise myself anymore' - Big Issue North 11 years on I cannot work., My mother was given these some 45 yrs ago for alcoholism and it didnt work and it caused her to have seizures. Quite the reverse. One, they know; two, they dont care; three; it pays for their lifestyle. I agree with you. The worse the illness, the better it seems to work, and it can be miraculous. Its not just one-way though; clinicians who dismiss or minimise adverse effects too glibly dont help either, and each provokes the other. So nice to wax eloquent on something you have never endured. The catalogue of personal testimonies of the horrors of ECT are horrible to read but really important to record and publish.. Psychiatry an absolute evil. I used to have a photographic memory. It was a really weird feeling. For the record, I am alive. He lost his ability to read and forgot his name. As part of the report, Freedom of Information Act (FOI) requests were sent to 56 NHS trusts. The doctors who prescribed it were largely earnest and well-intended, but the consequences were destructive. Reclassification of Electroshock Therapy - Health I just turned 43. The study's lead author, Dr Read, a professor of clinical psychology, describes previous research justifying the use of ECT in the UK and around the world as "the lowest quality of any I have seen in my 40-year career". (The Hersh Foundation will be announcing an exciting partnership with University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in May; stay tuned.) There are some who say it does, but do they really remember for sure? This page was generated at 02:48 AM. My quality of life has been greatly diminished due to this inhumane treatment. Recently I spoke with someone who had, in the past, been given a large number of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) treatments. My daughter was a baby when I first had it, and Ive lost a lot of her first two years, during which I had a number of courses. In the first week of January, on my 40th birthday, the confusion left me. This therapy needs to be stopped., Im signing because I was subjected to extensive shock treatment from 1996-2005 as a result of misdiagnosis. This determination can be made without public hearings? I could have done without that. Will the FDA have to justify or explain the reasons for their decisions? Also the extreme state formula herbal extract you can make yourself by mixing equal parts of fennel, alfalfa, elderberry, nettle, anise, dandelion, uva ursi , yarrow, and comfrey . lilyboo, your life is not ruined, i am sorry for you and just maybe things will work out,but i do know i got this 3 years ago yesterday and i am doing things i never thought i would do again,most of the time i forget about it,brain adaptation as my doctor said it would,but yes, i have to wear plugs for theatres,cutting grass,that stuff,i very much enjoyed playing in rock bands for many years . The UK ECT Review Group "fails to acknowledge any of these major problems and unquestioningly included the strong finding in favour of ECT", it says. You cant make sense of your world. The article argues the quality of previous studies into ECT is so poor, they "were wrong to conclude anything about efficacy, either during or beyond the treatment period". Decreased productivity. The information provided, which related to treatment carried out in 2019, showed around 2,500 people are still being given ECT annually in England, compared with about 50,000 in the 1970s. I must say that if meds didn't ultimately work for me, and I was afraid they wouldn't, my next consideration would have been ECT. The FDA should be held equally liable if they choose to declassify ECT to Level II. It has not helped any of them, especially not her. My holiday was ruined when we were eaten by BED BUGS at four-star hotel Brilliant. Vendors sell on agreed pitches in city centres and out of town areas across the North West, Yorkshire and Humber. "While ECT can sometimes cause people to lose some past memories, we've become much better at mitigating . Life was worth living. I think they should be required to take a course of 10-12 ECT as part of their training for certification to administer shock. I was exaggerating, they said, Faking it. Each time I complained, they said, You think about yourself too much, you are self-absorbed. They even said Id been faking my eating disorder for attention! Get the help you need from a therapist near youa FREE service from Psychology Today. Ill join in demonstrating to stop electro shock wherever and whenever possible for me to do so, coercive psychiatry as well . . Gary Turner, 57, and Jutta Turner, (1) 2021 16+. Mixed berry, strawberry, blueberry, and even peach! Someone survived, that 1 or 2 out of 10. PDF ELECTROSHOCK ECT BRAIN DAMAGE AS THERAPY - Asylum I believe and hope that one day, mental illness will be discussed with the same rationality as breast cancer or heart disease. [According to the psychiatrists] it had nothing to do with ECT. These abuses will very likely increase if these devices are down classified., As a treatment I have seen it overused on a close family member. It does improve, in that my ability to lay down memories quickly returns once treatment stops, but there will always be a period of months that is loosened and distorted. Just the thought of it is terrorizing me still today., Everyone should have all information regarding their treatment before administration of such a treatment, although I felt that I benefited by it I believe that everyone has the right to refuse it., Because I have seen the effects that this machine has on people and its destructive and deadly. I survived that . I only knew who my friends were because they kept coming in to see me. Can We Erase Painful Memories with Electroconvulsive Therapy? They sometimes have families who will "foster" your pet in a home until you return from hospital. Horrible!, I had shock therapy for 2 anda half years. ECT was first used in the 1930s to treat patients with severe depression. It can be done minus. A button is pushed and between 180 to 460 volts of electricity sends a current searing through the brain from temple to temple (bilateral ECT), or from the front to the back of one side of the head (unilateral ECT). BBC News | HEALTH | Shock therapy: 'Ruined lives' It shows such decency and humanity. Most people we spoke to had some side effects from the treatment. Unless it is outlawed., ECT was given me without my familys consent when I became 18, at a time when I lacked capacity to know what I was signing for., I went into it with what I thought was informed consent. Dont give up. I had memory problems, trouble sleeping. When doctors cant help, they use whatever extreme methods might be available regardless of the harm that is done. I agreed with her and said the psychiatrist convinced my family the ECT treatments would eventually work., I have suffered severe reversible brain damage. A Life Erased. The ECT application consisted of intravenous, short-term anesthesia with propofol and muscle relaxation with succinylcholine, while a brief electrical stimulus applied to the brain using external electrodes induced an epileptic seizure over several seconds, which is the core feature of a curative effect. I had lost quite a lot of my vocabulary. It impaired me beyond belief for years to come. she sustained, and she wants better support for those whose lives have been turned upside down. We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. In Australia, support is available at Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636, Lifeline on 13 11 14, and at MensLine on 1300 789 978, As a psychiatrist, if I had severe depression Id choose ECT | Mariam Alexander, Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning, 2023 Guardian News & Media Limited or its affiliated companies. The impact of electroshock on my life - ECT Justice! These adverts enable local businesses to get in front of their target audience the local community. For the first few treatments, given the settings he marked down, it seems that the doctor was working with the variables of current and voltage in order to induce a seizure of adequate strength and duration. Eventually Cunliffe was referred to a neuropsychologist who diagnosed brain damage as a result of ECT. I find the FDA not reopening the shock dockets or holding accessible public hearings on the shock device unacceptable, and I hope you will agree with me that we must take further actions. People call me about ECT, wanting a real persons take as opposed to a professionals. No drugs do not cause such harm. That psychiatric atrocities stopped, it is first necessary to recognize psychiatry crime. According to brain stimulation experts from the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Johns Hopkins Medicine, ECT sessions improve depression in 70 to 90 percent of patients, a. Dr John Read, from the University of Liverpool, believes the treatment will eventually be consigned to the "rubbish bin of historical treatments". Ignorance at its finest. Mankind is forced to take. Another lingering misconception is ECT will change your personality. As if I am dead! This was initially more obvious to others than to me; it took some months for me to feel myself, but the severity of my depression reduced within weeks. A Gannett Company. I can't finish college. In the weeks after her first course of electroconvulsive therapy, Dr Sue Cunliffe found she could no longer walk through a door without bashing into the door frame. The memory loss, the physical malaise, the nausea and headache despite medication made things worse instead of better. This is not a treatment, it is legalized torture., I am a survivor of ECTs. I made a few suicide attempts and then ended up in the shock jock hospital in town. ECT, short for electroconvulsive therapy and otherwise known as shock therapy, is a treatment modality that has been used for around 80 years. Either science is right or there is a spiritual realm. In the UK ECT will usually be suggested if your condition: is life-threatening and you need a rapid improvement to save your life; is either causing you immense suffering or is likely to get worse, so that a rapid improvement is needed; has not responded to other treatments, such as medication and psychological therapy; Your brain just lets you down all the time.. Now, I have serious memory loss and my brain function is limited- my life has been ruined by ECT and I'm not the same person I once was - is there anyone out there that can relate to me-- where it's only caused negative outcomes Do you feel like family, friends don't understand how it feels and why everything is worse off today because of ECT- there aren't any support groups out there 4 this. If you have severe depression after having a baby, ECT might make it easier to care for and bond with your baby. So for example, one of the things I showed many years ago when you could get the figures was in Suffolk. In 2011 there was about 2000 comments and I read through most of them. This is a very dangerous treatment and in talking to hundreds of people now, Im convinced ect causes permanent disability and people can no longer go back to their former jobs. Psychiatrists have incredible power. She only had to pay $650 a month for rent, electricity is cheaper there, ect. I find the FDA not reopening the shock dockets or holding accessible public hearings on the shock device unacceptable, and I hope you will agree with me that we must take further actions. It did break my depression, but the brain fog and long term memory loss wasnt worth it., Im signing because my husband, family and I was lied to; told the memory loss was temporary. And what people frequently do is go to their GP and their GP will say take these antidepressants. I, 32 F & heavily pregnant, quit ECT after 5 sessions because I could not handle the side effects. What do neuropsychs suggest? your self report. What is this? I am so surprised it is still used at all, let alone anyone considering extending its use., I have suffered significant damage from weekly ECT treatments for 6 months! It causes brain damage. The exact incidence of brain damage remains unknown. It was just down the block from her parents house, and close to a friends. Without continued attention to self-care, relapse happens. I was originally diagnosed with major depression when I was twelve years old and immediately began treatment following my diagnosis. This, he said, was the latest technology. Permanent memory loss and permanently damage to cognitive functioning are real side effects which are life altering in a bad way. We live in a society where certainly psychiatry is dominated its dominated by men, but ones point is it is dominated by male ideas. It was supposed to be a last resort action to save me from being severely treatment resistant. Almost total amnesia for more than 20 years is the result of forced ECT and nothing else. This site is part of Newsquest's audited local newspaper network. "Despite its effectiveness, there are still a lot of misconceptions about ECT," says Bolton. New Study Confirms Electroshock (ECT) Causes Brain Damage PostedApril 24, 2015 Id have to write an entire article on the subject. i want to be loved how i love, seen in the light i . Truth, I can also answer that question. It wiped out the majority of my autobiographical memories, and caused severe short term memory problems, apathy, eye movement disorder, spontaneous seizures, headaches, nightmares, ptsd. ECT: Dangerous on Either Side of the Pond - Psychiatric Times Half Indian they call her Tonto on Twitter: "So like even when men date Carrie Fisher was candid about her experiences with it, yet for many people ECT remains a mysterious,. His work with NAMI had become Human Rights centered. After the ECT she didnt hang out or talk to anyone. I am sorry I haven't greeted you here. The program allowed me to take one or two classes at a time. Judging Those Who Get Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT) Theyre more likely to be given antidepressants, theyre more likely to be given electroshock. The State Power Triangle and My Spiritual Awakening, White Paper Presents Case Against Forced Treatment, Self-test for Adult Symptom Deficiency Disorder (ASDD). Subscription is just 4.99 a month, and all income from subscriptions goes to Big Issue North Trust and helps vendors in the North of England to make positive changes to their lives. we have pets we love, and despite it all i love him more than i've loved anyone. My memory was significantly affected, each time. How Historical Trauma and Racism Impact Mental Healthcare for Native American Prioritizing Psychiatrized Individuals Knowledge and Agency in Mental Health Discourse. 1000 carbon copies from Pdicks I mean Pdocs? Weekly Newsletter "Depression changes people's personalities," Seiner said, explaining ECT brings people back to their baseline traits. Psychiatry is so designed and certainly that must be what they are proud of whenever they say they can identify validation for their demented torture modalities as another victim becomes one of the numerous stepping stones along their long arduous path to the historical scrape heap of profitable pseudo-scientific barbarianism that was finally exposed and defeated. My new neurologist who's alot more knowledgable and caring asked if I'd try brivaracetam, he mentioned it was very similar to or basically like a new keppra just no Genaric name out where I'm from. An MD wrote on his facebook page: ECT causes brain damage. I was working 40 hours a week while having treatments and as a result of the treatments had to stop working and go on disability. Is electroconvulsive therapy ever right for children? Dear Moderators, under the circumstances, I think naming names should be encouraged and should not be classified as personal attacks. Folks named Hitler, right? I have known several people who have had ECT and desperately regret it. Links to other Health stories are at the foot of the page. As for shock, I believe that well before graduation, those experts at McLean were plenty shocked. Paula Bolton, MS, CNP, ANP-BC, reports that after having ECT, many patients share responses like, "I feel like myself again" or "I'm getting my life back.". I remember standing in the kitchen thinking, should I be able to walk through a door without walking into a door frame, or have I always walked into door frames? says Cunliffe, looking back on a period that would change her life forever. It wasnt possible that I had anything wrong with my brain. My life matters. This disgrace has to go., A close friend of mine of more than 30 years no longer recognized me after ECT., ECT is extremely barbaric and damaging. This needs to be eradicated! It is also functioning in everyday life that is effected. Shock therapy: 'Ruined lives' - ect The last few weeks I've been very symptomatic . The APA confessed the neuroleptics were torture drugs when the Russian dissodents complained of such in the 70s, but the APA cant comprehend the same is true with their me too antipsychotics today. Master of horror Eli Roth presents true stories of hauntings that have shattered the lives of the people who have experienced them. Patient safety is being disregarded.. Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT) May Have Changed My Life Both must be clearly set out. But there are people who have been treated. A woman who was administered controversial electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is campaigning to ban the mental health treatment. The study's joint author, Prof Irving Kirsch, an expert on placebo effects based at Harvard Medical School, says "the failure to find any meaningful benefits in long-term benefits compared to placebo groups are particularly distressing. A Safety Plan provides a blueprint for coping when suicidal thoughts and feelings are overwhelming. I am devastated to see other people sold ECT today by doctors who vastly downplay any side effects at all. So many of you message me asking why I'm so against . Performed under general anaesthetic, the NHS website says ECT is sometimes recommended for severe depression if all other treatment options have failed, or when the situation is thought to be life threatening.