Re: Electric Shock Treatments

["Charles T. Meyer, M.D." <cmeyer2@xxxxxxxx>]

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 <Darwin.Hawkins@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <PARKINSN@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
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:sterling@xxxxxxxx]
> > Subject:      Re: Electric shock treatmenets
> >
> > Have you ever seen anyone receive electric shock therapy?  It's awful.
No
> > thanks.
> >
> > Greg
> >
> >