This Video is an Overview of Electroconvulsve Therapy
The following story has been changed due to confidentiality. Names, situations, certain facts, etc. have been altered. This topic may not be appropriate for children.
My cousin Julie told me a story that scared the crap out of me. She is a C.N.A like me, and works at a psychiatric hospital. She hates it. This is her story...
Awake, you wouldn't believe what goes on there. I took care of a 17 year old girl name Diane. She was attractive, personable, a straight-A student. Her parents are well off, and her mother is a doctor. Diane wants to be an MD like her mother. She has been accepted into a prestigious college. She had everything going for her. Yet, she tried to committee suicide. Diane slit her wrists.That's why I was assigned to watch her.
They started giving her ECT (Electroconvulsive Therapy). It uses to be called Electrical Shock Treatments, or Shock Treatments. They just made it better sounding, but it's still horrible! They anesthetize a patient, and shock them with an electrical current, causing a seizure. As a result some patients can have permanent long term, and short term memory loss. It's a modern day Lobotomy. Ok, maybe it's not as bad, but not that far off from it. It's archaic. And Doctors admit that they don't even know how it works!
She only had 2 treatments, and she couldn't even remember what she had for breakfast that morning. And they were scheduling her for 6-12 treatment! Can you believe it?
I've seen this before Awake. Sometimes the patients, (or victims), are better for a short while, but when they start to remember. All the problems come back full force. And some of them never act like themselves again. I believe it can do permanent damage.
I feel so sorry for that girl. I can't help but think that they just ruined her life. When she goes back to high school, she probably will have forgotten most of her studies. She might be delayed, maybe put back a grade. Who knows if she will still have the brain power to become an MD. That's her dream. She wants to be like her mother.
I can tell you so many stories. I have a friend. She had 3 kids, a good marriage. Then she had ECT treatments. Oh, my God! What a nightmare! She couldn't remember much for the longest time. Her kids were in a school play, and she forgot to take them to the performance. She had taken her clothes to a new cleaners. She couldn't remember the name of the cleaners, and didn't know what she did with the ticket. So she lost some clothes. She forgot many things like that. At first her depression was somewhat better. Then with all new problems concerning her memory, she quickly got worse. Her husband soon divorced her because she was a "burden". That was the word he used,"burden". Its years later, and she still has memory problems. And she just doesn't act right.
I could tell you more. But it's all the same. They lose their memory, so they temporarily forget their problems. The doctors say they are better. Then they get their memories back, (IF they are lucky), and back to the same point they were, or worse. Because their memory problems caused missed opportunities, loss of jobs, marriages problems, etc.
Also if you are suicidal and admit it, you can become a "ward of the state". In other words, your ass belongs to the state. They can lock you up. Give you experimental drugs, ECT, whatever they want to do to you. You have no choice! And you can't leave until the state says so!
Awake, you know that I have suffered from depression. Well, I will never tell any therapist how bad I am. When I first started therapy, my therapist asked me if I was suicidal. I lied. I said, "no". She actually said, "good"! Stupid therapist believed me! You would think that someone with a master degrees would be smarter. Truth is, I'm not good, not at all. Maybe I will tell her that I mildly suicidal, just to get some help. But no way will I tell her how bad off I am. There are some things worse then death!
So readers, what do you think? I would be interested in hearing your point of view, even if it is an opposing one. Also I have posted a Pole on this topic.
Feds slam Oregon State Hospital " Norton said...the electroshock therapy was painful, terrifying and "totally unnecessary."
BBC: Use of shock therapy restricted
Psychiatric treatment a human rights issue
The Cognitive Effects of Electroconvulsive Therapy in Community Settings
1st Person Project
Tampa News: Lobotomy: Proceeding Without Caution
PBS Documentary The American Experience: The Lobotomist(Transcript at bottom of page)
Related Posts: Therapy and Me
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