Electroshock treatment

The entire question of testimonials for various treatments is a difficult and complex one. Quack cures, for example, often have avid supporters. Logan (1976), in his autobiography, described his many contacts with psychiatric treatment over the years, including earlier public testimonials for psychiatry. He expressed surprise that people are critical of electroshock treatment, which he found to be very benign. ... 

The APA (1990b) task force also ignored older controlled clinical studies by Janis (1948, 1950 Janis et al., 1951) showing extensive, permanent loss of important personal memories and life history following routine ECT. Janis (1948, 1950 Janis Astrachan, 1951) interviewed 19 patients before and after routine ECT, and 11 control patients with similar diagnoses in the same hospitals. The results 1 month postshock were striking Every shock patient had significant memory losses. Many patients were unable to recall 10-20 life experiences which had been available to recall prior to electroshock treatment. 

The 1978 APA task force report labeled electroshock treatment as controversial. The 1985 Consensus Conference on ECT report stated,... 

Its depolarizing neuromuscular blocking effect is very transient because of its rapid hydrolysis by cholinesterases. It does not cause histamine liberation and hence it is well tolerated. Single-dose therapy of suxamethonium chloride is generally used to relax the skeletal muscle for orthopedic manipulation, endotracheal intubation, in laryngospasm and also to check the intensity of convulsions in patients receiving electroshock treatment (electroconvulsive therapy). 

Selective increase of free arachidonic acid (FAA) in brain is observed during the ischemia following decapitation (Bazan, 1970) or after administration of convulsant drugs and application of electroshock treatment (Bazan, 1971 Bazan Rakowski, 1970). An enzymatic process is involved, since sacrifice of animals by means of focussed microwave irradiation of their heads, procedure which rapidly (3 seconds) inactivates brain enzymes (Guidotti et al,. 

Imipramine blocked the uptake of dopamine at central aminergic neurons in the rat Lithium inhibited the electrically-induced release of NE and 5" in brain slices 3 and did not interfere with the transfer rate of Ma from blood to brain tissue. Data were reported which suggested that the therapeutic effect of electroshock treatment may be due to increased levels of brain amines 5 or to an increase in NE turnover rate . In a study of catecholamine turnover rates in mouse brain it was found that neuroleptics have a predominant influence on dopamine metabolism while antidepressants selectively affect NE metabolism, a higher rate of NE synthesis was found in the forebrain of "mouse-killing" rats over that of controls Imipramine blocked the muricidal behaviour9 and also lowered NE turnover . 

Breggin, P.R. Review of Behavioral Effects of Benzodiazepines with an Appendix on Drawing Scientific Conclusions from the FDA s Spontaneous Reporting System (MedWatch). In Brain Disabling Treatments in Psychiatry Drugs, Electroshock and the Role of the FDA. New York Springer Publishing, 1997. 

Pharmacologists speak of a drug s therapeutic index, the dosage ratio between the beneficial effect and the toxic effect. The first brain-disabling principle of psychiatric treatment reveals that the toxic dose is the therapeutic dose—that brain disability causes the seemingly therapeutic effect. This same principle applies to electroshock and psychosurgery. 

A week later, Jeannette went to see the psychiatrist with her mother. The psychiatrist reassured her that he had never seen a case of permanent memory loss following electroshock, except for memory blanks for the period immediately around the shock treatment. 

Cases like Mrs. Williams s have become increasingly common as psychiatry relies more and more exclusively on drugs and ECT. The last decade has seen a resurgence in the promotion and use of ECT, also called electroshock, or simply shock treatment. For a brief time before the 1997 edition of this book, the press had taken note of the escalating controversy surrounding its use (Boodman, 1996). A critical article by Cauchon (1995) in USA Today was followed up by a remarkable editorial... 

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