Posted by med_empowered on December 2, 2005, at 11:34:28
In reply to Re: Last resorts » Bob, posted by Squiggles on December 2, 2005, at 8:22:47
Hi! the implants bother me b/c of power and consent issues. Psychiatry has a history of screwing over the mentally ill in the name of "treatment," and things are looking kind of scary right now (Mental Health Screening Project, easier commitment statutes, etc.). I kind of feel like we could be entering a secong age of Mental Hygiene. (shudder)
ECT doesn't strike me as treatment so much as mild brain damage/head injury that sometimes proves helpful. If you'll notice, depression, bipolar, and schizophrenia were also often treated by lobotomy with "success," according to some docs. Just like lobtomy, ECT functions to impair or disable certain bran functions, which could I suppose have a "therapeutic" effect, at least in the eyes of the shrink observing the patient (I imagine many ECT survivors would have a different outlook on the subject). The canadian ect position paper you posted was interesting...it seemed like they were trying to speak the language of patient-empowerment, while keeping everything vague enough so they could still push ect as deemed appropriate.
I can't imagine how I'd handle a doc talking to me about ECT. I've read that some shrinks avoid discussing it, since it can "break the therapeutic alliance". This is true, with me at least. I'm kind of concerned that shrinks can offer brain damage as treatment, and call it "highly effective" and "aggressive treatment" of psychiatric disorders. Its disconcerting, to say the least.
poster:med_empowered
thread:584162
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20051126/msgs/584542.html