Electroshock Therapy for Depression: Electroshock and Its Abuse

Electroshock, or ECT (electro convulsive therapy) was first developed by psychiatrist Ugo Cerletti in 1938, who was witnessing pigs being slaughtered by first being incapacitated by electric shocks, making it easier for butchers to slit the pig’s throats and bleed them to death. Cerletti first experimented on pigs. Then he turned his experiments on humans.

The convulsions brought on by electroshock broke people’s teeth, jaws and fractured spines and more. The shock introduced grand mal seizures, a wild electrical storm that travels around the skull seeking an exit, ripping and boiling flesh at high temperatures. The resultant dead brain tissue leaves the patient with severe memory loss. With between 120 to 460 volts scorching through steaming flesh one wonders why this treatment is not listed as torture.

Through the use of ECT the patient will lose memory. His problems have gone, but so has his memory. The fact that he does not seem to be able to remember, and that he is now more prone to disease, and more scared of life, does not seem to be a problem to the ECT advocates.

Electric shock causes permanent memory loss, cognitive impairment, brain seizures, broken bones, not to mention and death. In the USA 100,000 a year are electroshocked each year. How many millions a year in the world receive this treatment? It is seldom voluntary, and if it is voluntary the first time it is almost never voluntary the second time.

Many psychiatrists deny electroshock causes irreversible brain damage, but neurologists and anaesthesiologists disagree. Many studies show neurological signs following electroshock, plus brain atrophy (shrinkage).

The victims of this treatment are mainly people who are too weak to object and stop the treatment. They include the elderly, very young children, and women – including those pregnant.

The founder of the Association of Electroshock Survivors in 1995 described the treatment as: “This is a crime against the spirit. This is a rape against the soul.” Today, like the introduction of muscle relaxant so people did not break their spines due to convulsions, there are new arguments to show electroshock is of no concern for the would be patient. One argument is that today modern electroshock is delivered by pulse instead of sine-wave. But until some very courageous group of psychiatrists lie down and take their own medicine, which they will never do, the new terminology is considered by many as just more smoke and mirrors of the psychiatric industry.

DSM-5 Field Trial Results a Hot Topic at APA 2012 Meeting
Neuromodulation includes deep brain stimulation (DBS), electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), and magnetic seizure therapy. Dr. Silk noted that "a whole series" of talks and workshops will be given on this subject. A … Read more on Medscape

India fights old myths on mental illness
A bill awaiting parliamentary action would make mental-health treatment a right, reduce doctors' power to commit patients to psychiatric treatment centers without their consent and forbid electroshock therapy without anesthesia. It would also … Read more on The Seattle Times

Neil Gaiman's 'Ocean at the End of the Lane,' and More
Greta undergoes electroconvulsive therapy in 1985 to combat depression brought on, in part, by the death of her twin brother, Felix, from AIDS. The jolt sends her to 1918, then to 1941, and back to 1985. In all three eras, she is a woman named Greta … Read more on New York Times