OT - Fwd: Forced Electroshock in USA!!!

[Guest guest]

Unless we find a way to put the whole of psychiatry in a straitjacket, this is bad news for us all. Remember the infamous "Psychiatric Gulag" of the USSR?Companion piece:Toward a psychiatric gulagNew American, The,  Jan 9, 2006   Thirty-two years ago, amid threats and intimidation from militant homosexual pressure groups, the American Psychiatric Association delisted homosexuality as a "diagnosable behavioral disorder." At about the same time, the spurious term "homophobia" began to circulate within the ranks of the left, eventually migrating into mainstream public discourse. That expression, we are told, refers to an irrational fear of, or hatred for, homosexuals. The purpose of coining that term was to lay the predicate for pathologizing, and eventually criminalizing, a negative view of homosexuality, as well as other politically incorrect attitudes.=========Begin forwarded message:ALLIANCE FOR HUMAN RESEARCH PROTECTION Promoting Openness, Full Disclosure, and Accountability http://www.ahrp.org and http://ahrp.blogspot.com FYIMost Americans, and many in the media cannot not believe that an individualliving in the community in the USA could be forced to undergoelectroshock--which many patients who are subjected to it against their willview as a punishment masquerading as "treatment."   Psychiatrists call it "treatment," neurologists call it brain damagingprocedures. [1]http://retina.anatomy.upenn.edu/pdfiles/Oct2002NYC.pdf In an Aug. 2008, editorial, Shock and Panic, ECT proponent, Healy, MD,dismisses critics' concerns about ECT to "psychiatry's dark past": "Some of the unease about ECT," he writes, "stems from psychiatry's darkpast, when patients in many countries had fewer legal rights than prisoners.Not so long ago, physical treatments such as lobotomy and ECT could beinflicted on patients without their consent, and sometimes for punitivepurposes." http://www.mmegi.bw/index.php?sid=2 & aid=161 & dir=2008/August/Tuesday26Well, in Minnesota, Ray Sanford, a 54 year old man living in the community,has been forced to undergo weekly seizure-producing electroshock (ECT)"treatments,"  since the end of May. After 12 sessions, a COURT AUTHORIZEDmore ECT treatments to be administered as often as every week for up to ayear. He has already had 36 electroshock zaps administered against his will. Hecomplains that ECT is wrecking his memory.Unbeknown to Ray Sanford, his complaint about memory loss is backed by abody of scientific evidence. [2]In the 1950s Dr. Irving Jannis (Yale ) conducted a series of small,well-designed, matched controlled follow-up studies--comparing the cognitivefunction of patients who underwent ECT-- before and after ECT. Theircognitive function was tested at 2-1/2, 3-1/2, and one year follow-upagainst a control group that had not had ECT. [3] The Jannis studies arerecognized as methodologically unique in the ECT scientific literature:their importance is noted by neurologists, independent scientists, andpatients. The studies confirmed that ECT caused memory loss and cognitiveimpairment. ECT's ardent proponents claim the methodology changed, and they vigorouslydeny the serious damage ECT continues to produce on memory and cognition.But they have refused to conduct a test that will prove them right.  Why? As psychiatrist, Kaiser, MD observed: "Biologic psychiatry as itexists today is a dogma that urgently needs to be unmasked. One of thesurest signs that dogmatists are at work here is that they rarely questionor attempt to problemitize their basic assumptions." [4]In 2000, the central supporting stone was pulled from ECT's house of clay byHarold Sackeim, Ph.D., a prominent ECT advocate (arguably the most prolificECT researcher who simultaneously headed both the Columbia University and NYCornell divisions of ECT ). Dr. Sackeim wrote an astonishingly candideditorial in the Journal of ECT, in which he explicitly validated patients'claims, acknowledging that consistent evidence exists documenting that: "virtually all patients experience some degree of persistent and likelypermanent amnesia. It has also become clear that for rare patients theretrograde amnesia due to ECT can be profound, with the memory lossextending back years prior to receipt of the treatment." [5] Sackeim further conceded that ECT causes frontal lobe damage significantlyaffecting the brain's executive functions: including working memory, logicalreasoning and abstraction, problem solving, planning and organizing. Dr.Sackeim was the recipient of tens of millions of dollars in NIMH researchgrants collecting data on its effects for two decades--so he was inpossession of a body of unpublished evidence documenting cognitive harm andmemory loss. In 2007, he finally published the data itself.http://www.ect.org/wp-content/uploads/2007/01/1301180a.pdf [2]In 2003, the UK National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE)issued new guidelines recommending (1) cognitive assessment after each ECTfor memory loss; (2) that treatment be stopped if adverse cognitive effectsmanifest; (3) the use of validated psychometric scales; (4) inclusion ofuser perspectives on the impact of ECT, and (5) documentation of incidenceand impact of important side effects such as cognitive functioning.http://apt.rcpsych.org/cgi/content/abstract/12/3/228 [6]US judges who issue court-ordered year-long involuntary ECT clearly don'thave a clue about the nature of the harm produced by the treatment theyorder----i.e., memory loss and possibly irreversible brain damage.Below is a transcript from the National Public Radio broadcast (9 min.)http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=98273451"One of the things I have problems with is certain people," Sandford said."I can't remember their names anymore. And I should be able to remembertheir names, since I've known some of them a long time. I can't quiteremember their names. And don't ask me to tell you their names 'cause Iwon't remember."Marilyn Sandford, his mother, told NPR: "I don't care if he forgets thebirthday of his nieces and nephews -- although it's very important to him toremember that, and probably more important to him than it is to anybody elsein the family. But I do care that he can remember the names and know thatthey're born, and remember what he did last Christmas if it was a happymemory, remember the good times. It's too bad to take away that." But such human considerations don't make a dent with a corps ofpsychiatrists whose enthusiasm for electroshock is not deflected one bit bypatients' complaints. For much of his career, Max Fink, M.D., has been viewed as a pre-eminentresearcher and advocate for electroconvulsive therapy.In a 2005 profile in Psychiatric Times,http://www.psychiatrictimes.com/display/article/10168/52281 Dr. Finkconfirmed: "There is no official count, but in 1996 the estimate was that100,000 patients per year were being treated with ECT in the United States[Ottosson and Fink, 2004] ... If you take the 100,000 estimate per year andeach patient gets an average of 10 treatments, that's about 1 milliontreatments in 1996," he said. Fink believes that now the numbers beingtreated in the United States are beyond 100,000 patients per year, and hesees a revival of ECT in Europe as well. [7]One has to wonder whether it's a genetic or character flaw that propelspsychiatrists to apply radical damage-producing medical assault weapons oninnocent children? Harvard's ph Biederman has the dubious distinction of being creditedwith influencing his peers to prescribe antipsychotic drugs for children,while Max Fink is on record promoting the use of ECT on children and theelderly:"Electroconvulsive therapy is an effective treatment for severe mentaldisorders, including psychotic depression, delirious mania, catatonia,postpartum depression and postpartum psychosis.   Age is no barrier,"according to Fink, who has explained that ECT has been used successfully inchildren, adolescents and the old-old (Fink, 2001).  Today, Fink toldPsychiatric Times, "It is reasonable for child psychiatrists who are notwedded to psychodynamic thinking to consider ECT in children and adolescentswith the illnesses for which ECT is used in adults."http://www.psychiatrictimes.com/display/article/10168/52281Asked what he wants psychiatrists and others to understand about ECT, Finkresponded, "Over the 70-plus years that ECT has been around, we have learnedto appreciate that something magical happens in the body when we produce anepileptic fit."Dr. Fink acknowledged that neurologists and internists reflect the publicfear of an epileptic attack. A major part of neurological practice isdevoted to suppressing seizures, and this attitude influences the approachof neuroscientists to seizures, Fink said."What we have learned about ECT is that nothing about the electricity,nothing about the chemicals used in anesthesia, nothing about apsychological aspect in the process is important, except producing a grandmal seizure in the brain," he said. He explained that anesthesia during ECTmakes the process easier for the patient and the physician, but it is notessential to the outcome. "The only thing that is essential is the seizure...Dr. Fink's website continues to state that he is now working "on a book on aHistory of Convulsive Therapy with the Toronto (Canada) Professor of Historyof Medicine, Shorter and the Reader in Psychopharmacology Healyof Wales UK." That book, authored by Shorter, PhD and Healy MD was publishedunder the title: Shock Therapy: A History of Electroconvulsive Treatment inMental Illness.  The book is an uncritical tribute to Max Fink whosepersonal foundation (SCION) provided a $33,900 grant to the authors in2004-2005. http://dfcm.utoronto.ca/research/pdf/grants.pdfThe authors baldly claim that ECT--at best a short-term respite fromsuicidal depression--is "the penicillin of psychiatry"--implying that it isas effective a treatment as penicillin. The proponents of ECT, much like theproponents of widespread use of antidepressants andantipsychotics--psychiatry's pharmacological failed treatments--resort tojust such unsubstantiated claims in making their case. If only they couldprovide scientifically valid evidence--rather than consensus fromlike-minded believers--to support their belief that it works and it's safe.An essay by psychiatrist Kaiser (1996) in Psychiatric Times is aspertinent today as when he wrote it--except for his lack of knowledge aboutthe hazardous effects of the new drugs:"...It has occurred to me with forcible irony that psychiatry has quiteliterally lost its mind, and along with it the minds of the patients theyare presumably supposed to care for. Even a cursory glance at any majorpsychiatric journal is enough to convince me that the field has gone fardown the road into a kind of delusion, whose main tenets consist of aparticularly pernicious biologic determinism and a pseudo-scientificunderstanding of human nature and mental illness...Biologic psychiatrists as a whole are unapologetic in their view that theyhave found the road to the truth, namely that mental illnesses for the mostpart are genetic in origin and should be treated with biologicmanipulations, i.e., psychoactive medications, electroconvulsive treatment(which has made an astounding comeback), and in some cases psychosurgery."References:1.  Sterling, P. Testimony Prepared for the Standing Committee on MentalHealth of the Assembly of the State of New York. October 5, 1978. [Link]http://www.ect.org/effects/testimony.html2. Sackeim H, Prudic J, Fuller R, Keilp J, Lavori P, Olfson M. The CognitiveEffects of Electroconvulsive Therapy in Community SettingsNeuropsychopharmacology (2007) 32, 244-254. [Link]http://www.ect.org/wp-content/uploads/2007/01/1301180a.pdf3. Janis, I. (1948) Memory loss following electric convulsive treatments. J.Personality 17:29; Janis, I. (1950a) Psychologic effects of electricconvulsive treatments. I. Post-treatment amnesias. J. Nerv. & Ment. Dis111:359-382; Janis, I. (1950b) Psychologic effects of electric convulsivetreatments. II. Changes in word association reactions. J. Nerv. & Ment. Dis111:383-397; Janis, I. and Astrachan, M. (1951) The effects ofelectroconvulsive treatments on memory efficiency. J. Abnormal & Soc.Psychol. 46:5014. Kaiser, M.D. Against Biologic Psychiatry. Commentary, PsychiatricTimes, December 1996, Vol. XIII, Issue 12 http://psychiatrized.org/Articles/psychTimes-KaiserCommentary.htm5. Sackeim, Harold A. Memory and ECT: From Polarization to Reconciliation.Journal of ECT. 16(2):87-96, June 2000.6. NICE Guidelines http://www.nice.org.uk/TA0597. Arline Kaplan Through the Times With Max Fink, M.D. Psychiatric Times.September 1, 2005.http://www.psychiatrictimes.com/display/article/10168/52281My critical review of the Shorter / Healy book:http://ahrp.blogspot.com/2008/02/ect-penicillin-of-psychiatry-review-of.htmlContact: Vera Hassner Sharavveracare@...212-595-8974 National Public Radio on Forced Electroshock of Ray Sandford15 December 2008Today, National Public Radio's show "Day to Day" aired a segment about theinvoluntary electroshock of Ray Sandford.You may listen to the nearly nine-minute segment online for free here:http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=98273451or use this web link: http://tinyurl.com/npr-sandfordThe NPR show interviews Ray Sandford along with W. Oaks, director ofMindFreedom and many others, including Ray's mom, about the ethical debateover forced electroshock.Ray Sandford is a Minnesota resident who is court ordered to haveelectroshock over his expressed wishes on an outpatient basis. Ray contactedMindFreedom International to launch a campaign that has reached millions ofpeople about Ray's right to say "no" to his electroshock.Every other Wednesday Ray is escorted from his group home residence toreceive another electroshock against his wishes. Ray's most recentelectroshock was on 10 December 2008, which was also United NationsInternational Human Rights day.RAY HAS A HEARING TOMORROW - PLEASE ATTEND!Because of MindFreedom's campaign, Ray has at least been given a new courthearing, scheduled for *tomorrow*, Tuesday, 16 December 2008 at 8:30 am. Ifyou live in St. /Minneapolis area, please try to attend. Ray said thehearing is at Regions Hospital in St. . For address and directions clickhere:http://www.regionshospital.com/If Ray loses, his next forced electroshock is scheduled for Christmas Eve,24 December 2008. It would be approximately his 36th electroshock.~~~~~~~~15 December 2008BELOW is a transcript of today's National Public Radio's "Day to Day"  show about the involuntary electroshock of Ray Sandford. More info atbottom.This transcript is via Minnesota Public Radio's web site that also links tothe nine-minute audio plus a slide show:http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/12/15/forced_electroconvulsive_therapyor use this web address: http://tinyurl.com/mpr-electroshock~~~~~~~~~~~~NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO "DAY TO DAY" - transcriptMinnesota man fights forced electroconvulsive therapyby Minnesota Public Radio's Lorna Benson:St. , Minn. -- Ray Sandford has been getting electro-convulsivetreatment, also known as electroshock and ECT, since the end of May.  For Ray, the process works like this. Every week or two he is taken to ahospital, where a medical technician attaches electrodes to his head anddelivers electrical current into his brain. The current causes a seizure.For reasons that doctors still don't quite understand, some patients withsevere depression or mania get better after having ECT.But the potential benefits don't matter to Ray. He says he dreads the shocksand wants them to stop."It's scary as hell," he said.Ray is 54 years old, with a receding hairline and a salt-and-pepper beard.He walks with a cane and his hands shake slightly, a side effect from someof the medication he's taking, he says.We've met up in the basement of the small group home where he lives, so wecan talk without disturbing his roommates. I'm warned by his legal guardianswho are present for the interview that Ray gets tired easily, so thisconversation may not last long.I ask him what bothers him about getting ECT. Besides being scary, he saysthe electroshock makes his head hurt for at least a day, and it's wreckinghis memory."One of the things I have problems with is certain people," Sandford said."I can't remember their names anymore. And I should be able to remembertheir names, since I've known some of them a long time. I can't quiteremember their names. And don't ask me to tell you their names 'cause Iwon't remember."Sandford's doctors aren't allowed to discuss his case with Minnesota PublicRadio News. The courts have determined that Ray isn't competent to makedecisions regarding his own welfare, according to his guardian, LutheranSocial Services. As a result, he can't give his doctors permission todiscuss his private medical record.But in public court documents, his psychiatrists state they sought ECT onlyafter all other treatments, including psychotropic drugs, failed. Theywanted to pull Ray out of a particularly lengthy psychotic episode thatbegan a year ago.His court record describes a man who was out of control for many months,urinating wherever and whenever he felt like it, smearing feces on hospitalwalls and even eating it.Ray didn't want to talk about his hospitalization. But his 80-year- oldmother Marilyn was willing to fill in a few of the details."Voluntary treatment is always preferable to forced treatment. The moreintrusive the treatment, the higher the bar needs to be for imposing." -Pamela Hoopes, Minnesota Disability Law CenterSitting on a cream-colored chair in her tiny retirement community apartment,Marilyn Sandford clutched a picture frame showing Ray in happier times."I put in their baby picture and then their high school graduation picture.He didn't graduate, but I've always liked that picture of him. He was a muchbeloved child," said Marilyn Sandford.Her son had a very happy childhood, Marilyn says. But by the time he turned17, he began acting out in disturbing ways."One of the things I remember him doing was getting this car and driving it.We lived on a hill where there was pasture land. [He was] driving it roundand round our house in the late night. Another time he got on my tail andjust kept following me, no matter where I went, with the car," she recalled."And then there were many very irritating things that had to do with bodyexcrement and all kinds of things. And just his behavior was just out ofcontrol."Episodes like these re-occurred like clockwork every 18 months to two yearsthroughout her son's adult life, she said. The episodes lead to dozens ofhospitalizations for a condition described in court records asschizo-affective disorder with bipolar tendencies.When Marilyn Sandford heard this past summer that a court had orderedinvoluntary ECT for her son, she thought it seemed like a reasonable option.And after a few treatments, she was convinced that it had helped."What I told him is that it gave me my son back again. I hadn't seen what Icall the normal for a long time," said Marilyn Sandford. "I was ableto converse with him. We were able to have a normal conversation. It waswonderful and I thought, oh good, this is great."Marilyn assumed the ECT would stop after three or four sessions, especiallysince her son seemed to get better rather quickly. But after 12 sessions,the court authorized more treatments to be administered as often as everyweek for up to a year.That seemed excessive, Marilyn said, given her son's complaints that the ECTwas causing memory loss."I don't care if he forgets the birthday of his nieces and nephews --although it's very important to him to remember that, and probably moreimportant to him than it is to anybody else in the family. But I do carethat he can remember the names and know that they're born, and remember whathe did last Christmas if it was a happy memory, remember the good times.It's too bad to take away that," said Marilyn Sandford.She wasn't sure what she could do about the situation, given her own healthissues and her busy family life, including new twin grandchildren.As the summer and fall wore on, Ray continued to get his weekly ECTtreatment -- all the while complaining to anyone who would listen.  Then about a month ago, Ray ramped up his anti-ECT campaign."He's a hero for me. He called up his local library and asked for help, andI love that," said Oaks, director of MindFreedom International, acoalition that advocates against forced medication and involuntary ECTtherapy. "I guess they did an Internet search for mental health human rightsand they found MindFreedom, and so we are coming through for him.""Those kind of things are just so intrusive, that no means no. If anindividual says no, then no, they should not get those procedures,"  Oaks said.Most of the time, ECT is given to patients who want it. University ofMinnesota psychiatry professor Carl Malmquist isn't involved in Ray's case,but he says it is now well accepted that ECT does help some people."If the drugs aren't doing their job, so to speak, and the patient isresponding and you've tried different drugs, you've tried different dosages,then you start to think in certain cases that maybe you need to use ECT. Butit's really used very sparingly compared to medication," said Malmquist.In cases like Ray Sandford's, the treatment can be forced upon the patient,if doctors believe it's the only way to make them well.  There are no good numbers on how many people receive forced ECT in the U.S.It's up to states to track these cases and most, like Minnesota, do not.The advocacy group MindFreedom launched an Internet campaign on Ray'sbehalf, calling on Gov. Pawlenty to investigate his case and put animmediate end to the ECT. The group also filed a claim with the UnitedNations, saying that Ray's forced ECT treatments constitute torture.The lobbying attracted the attention of the Minnesota Disability Law Centerwhich is now reviewing the case. Legal director Pamela Hoopes says the grouphas just begun its investigation, so she can't say much about the merits ofthe case. Any time someone's right to self- determination is taken away, shesays, the courts need to have a good reason."These are very difficult issues, and I think it would be hard to argue withthe proposition that voluntary treatment is always preferable to forcedtreatment," said Hoopes. "And the more intrusive the treatment, the higherthe bar needs to be for imposing."Yet there's not total agreement in the legal system on how to make adecision in someone's best interest. Attorney Janus is the presidentand dean of College of Law in St. . He has studied theboundaries of the state's ability to forcibly treat patients.There are different perspectives on how the state should make thesedecisions, Janus says."Sometimes people say you should use the perspective of a reasonableperson," said Janus. "And it's assumed that a reasonable person wants toprotect him or herself against a relapse of a terrible mental illness."In Sandford's case, his doctors haven't said if they're using the ECT toprevent a relapse or to continue his treatment.Still the "reasonable person" test doesn't make sense to everyone, includingeven himself, Janus says.Janus says even greater weight should be given to what the patient wants --even if it appears their illness might be clouding their judgment. Competentor not, not everyone wants to be treated when they're sick, he says."That's really what the court should be asking," said Janus. "What are thisperson's values? What does he want? What kind of life does he want to live?And it should be trying to make the decision in his behalf."Ray Sandford agrees."A person should have a choice in their life what they're doing."Ray Sandford is undergoing an exam by court-ordered psychiatrists today.Tomorrow, he will appear before a judge in St. to see if his forced ECTcan be stopped.- end of transcript -~~~~~~~~~~~~~~MORE INFO:This Minnesota Public Radio show was also broadcast today throughout the USAvia National Public Radio's Day to Day show, which has an estimated 2million listeners via 200 stations.After registering, the NPR web site allows comments on the Ray story, clickhere:http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=98273451or use this web link:http://tinyurl.com/npr-sandfordFor updated alerts, photo of Ray and frequently asked questions about theRay Campaign and what you can do to help, click here:http://www.mindfreedom.org/shield/ray~~~~~~~~~~~~       ** ACTION ** ACTION ** ACTION **For more information on MindFreedom's campaign to stop the forcedelectroshock of Ray Sandford, including a photo of Ray, frequently askedquestions and how to help out, click here:http://www.mindfreedom.org/shield/rayCall the Governor's office from anywhere in the world phone (651) 296-3391. From inside Minnesota phone toll free (800) 657-3717. Please help Governor Pawlenty recover his personal self-determination andempowerment! The Governor could at least help Ray get better legalrepresentation.The Governor campaigns for limited government, so he could at least speakout for changing the law to stop this torture.The Governor campaigns against wasting taxpayer money, so he could at leastfind out how many thousands of dollars this abuse of Ray is costingtaxpayers.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~LET THE MEDIA KNOW about this coverage of the Ray Sandford campaign!Many media refused to believe forced electroshock of an individual livingout in the community could be happening in the USA. For the first time in amonth, searching for the words -- Ray Sandford electroshock -- via GoogleNews gets this news story.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~MindFreedom International is a 100 percent independent nonprofit united towin activist campaigns for human rights and alternatives in mental health.Join or renew early here: http://www.mindfreedom.org/join-donatePlease forward.~~~~~~~~~~~~MindFreedom International Office:454 Willamette, Suite 216 - POB 11284; Eugene, OR 97440-3484 USAweb site: http://www.mindfreedom.orge-mail: office@...MFI member services phone: (541) 345-9106 MFI member services toll free: 1-877-MAD-PRIDe or 1-877-623-7743 new fax:(480) 287-8833~~~~~~~~~~~~_______________________________________________Infomail1 mailing listto unsubscribe send a message to Infomail1-leave@... =====In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.

[Guest guest]

Unless we find a way to put the whole of psychiatry in a straitjacket, this is bad news for us all. Remember the infamous "Psychiatric Gulag" of the USSR?Companion piece:Toward a psychiatric gulagNew American, The,  Jan 9, 2006   Thirty-two years ago, amid threats and intimidation from militant homosexual pressure groups, the American Psychiatric Association delisted homosexuality as a "diagnosable behavioral disorder." At about the same time, the spurious term "homophobia" began to circulate within the ranks of the left, eventually migrating into mainstream public discourse. That expression, we are told, refers to an irrational fear of, or hatred for, homosexuals. The purpose of coining that term was to lay the predicate for pathologizing, and eventually criminalizing, a negative view of homosexuality, as well as other politically incorrect attitudes.=========Begin forwarded message:ALLIANCE FOR HUMAN RESEARCH PROTECTION Promoting Openness, Full Disclosure, and Accountability http://www.ahrp.org and http://ahrp.blogspot.com FYIMost Americans, and many in the media cannot not believe that an individualliving in the community in the USA could be forced to undergoelectroshock--which many patients who are subjected to it against their willview as a punishment masquerading as "treatment."   Psychiatrists call it "treatment," neurologists call it brain damagingprocedures. [1]http://retina.anatomy.upenn.edu/pdfiles/Oct2002NYC.pdf In an Aug. 2008, editorial, Shock and Panic, ECT proponent, Healy, MD,dismisses critics' concerns about ECT to "psychiatry's dark past": "Some of the unease about ECT," he writes, "stems from psychiatry's darkpast, when patients in many countries had fewer legal rights than prisoners.Not so long ago, physical treatments such as lobotomy and ECT could beinflicted on patients without their consent, and sometimes for punitivepurposes." http://www.mmegi.bw/index.php?sid=2 & aid=161 & dir=2008/August/Tuesday26Well, in Minnesota, Ray Sanford, a 54 year old man living in the community,has been forced to undergo weekly seizure-producing electroshock (ECT)"treatments,"  since the end of May. After 12 sessions, a COURT AUTHORIZEDmore ECT treatments to be administered as often as every week for up to ayear. He has already had 36 electroshock zaps administered against his will. Hecomplains that ECT is wrecking his memory.Unbeknown to Ray Sanford, his complaint about memory loss is backed by abody of scientific evidence. [2]In the 1950s Dr. Irving Jannis (Yale ) conducted a series of small,well-designed, matched controlled follow-up studies--comparing the cognitivefunction of patients who underwent ECT-- before and after ECT. Theircognitive function was tested at 2-1/2, 3-1/2, and one year follow-upagainst a control group that had not had ECT. [3] The Jannis studies arerecognized as methodologically unique in the ECT scientific literature:their importance is noted by neurologists, independent scientists, andpatients. The studies confirmed that ECT caused memory loss and cognitiveimpairment. ECT's ardent proponents claim the methodology changed, and they vigorouslydeny the serious damage ECT continues to produce on memory and cognition.But they have refused to conduct a test that will prove them right.  Why? As psychiatrist, Kaiser, MD observed: "Biologic psychiatry as itexists today is a dogma that urgently needs to be unmasked. One of thesurest signs that dogmatists are at work here is that they rarely questionor attempt to problemitize their basic assumptions." [4]In 2000, the central supporting stone was pulled from ECT's house of clay byHarold Sackeim, Ph.D., a prominent ECT advocate (arguably the most prolificECT researcher who simultaneously headed both the Columbia University and NYCornell divisions of ECT ). Dr. Sackeim wrote an astonishingly candideditorial in the Journal of ECT, in which he explicitly validated patients'claims, acknowledging that consistent evidence exists documenting that: "virtually all patients experience some degree of persistent and likelypermanent amnesia. It has also become clear that for rare patients theretrograde amnesia due to ECT can be profound, with the memory lossextending back years prior to receipt of the treatment." [5] Sackeim further conceded that ECT causes frontal lobe damage significantlyaffecting the brain's executive functions: including working memory, logicalreasoning and abstraction, problem solving, planning and organizing. Dr.Sackeim was the recipient of tens of millions of dollars in NIMH researchgrants collecting data on its effects for two decades--so he was inpossession of a body of unpublished evidence documenting cognitive harm andmemory loss. In 2007, he finally published the data itself.http://www.ect.org/wp-content/uploads/2007/01/1301180a.pdf [2]In 2003, the UK National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE)issued new guidelines recommending (1) cognitive assessment after each ECTfor memory loss; (2) that treatment be stopped if adverse cognitive effectsmanifest; (3) the use of validated psychometric scales; (4) inclusion ofuser perspectives on the impact of ECT, and (5) documentation of incidenceand impact of important side effects such as cognitive functioning.http://apt.rcpsych.org/cgi/content/abstract/12/3/228 [6]US judges who issue court-ordered year-long involuntary ECT clearly don'thave a clue about the nature of the harm produced by the treatment theyorder----i.e., memory loss and possibly irreversible brain damage.Below is a transcript from the National Public Radio broadcast (9 min.)http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=98273451"One of the things I have problems with is certain people," Sandford said."I can't remember their names anymore. And I should be able to remembertheir names, since I've known some of them a long time. I can't quiteremember their names. And don't ask me to tell you their names 'cause Iwon't remember."Marilyn Sandford, his mother, told NPR: "I don't care if he forgets thebirthday of his nieces and nephews -- although it's very important to him toremember that, and probably more important to him than it is to anybody elsein the family. But I do care that he can remember the names and know thatthey're born, and remember what he did last Christmas if it was a happymemory, remember the good times. It's too bad to take away that." But such human considerations don't make a dent with a corps ofpsychiatrists whose enthusiasm for electroshock is not deflected one bit bypatients' complaints. For much of his career, Max Fink, M.D., has been viewed as a pre-eminentresearcher and advocate for electroconvulsive therapy.In a 2005 profile in Psychiatric Times,http://www.psychiatrictimes.com/display/article/10168/52281 Dr. Finkconfirmed: "There is no official count, but in 1996 the estimate was that100,000 patients per year were being treated with ECT in the United States[Ottosson and Fink, 2004] ... If you take the 100,000 estimate per year andeach patient gets an average of 10 treatments, that's about 1 milliontreatments in 1996," he said. Fink believes that now the numbers beingtreated in the United States are beyond 100,000 patients per year, and hesees a revival of ECT in Europe as well. [7]One has to wonder whether it's a genetic or character flaw that propelspsychiatrists to apply radical damage-producing medical assault weapons oninnocent children? Harvard's ph Biederman has the dubious distinction of being creditedwith influencing his peers to prescribe antipsychotic drugs for children,while Max Fink is on record promoting the use of ECT on children and theelderly:"Electroconvulsive therapy is an effective treatment for severe mentaldisorders, including psychotic depression, delirious mania, catatonia,postpartum depression and postpartum psychosis.   Age is no barrier,"according to Fink, who has explained that ECT has been used successfully inchildren, adolescents and the old-old (Fink, 2001).  Today, Fink toldPsychiatric Times, "It is reasonable for child psychiatrists who are notwedded to psychodynamic thinking to consider ECT in children and adolescentswith the illnesses for which ECT is used in adults."http://www.psychiatrictimes.com/display/article/10168/52281Asked what he wants psychiatrists and others to understand about ECT, Finkresponded, "Over the 70-plus years that ECT has been around, we have learnedto appreciate that something magical happens in the body when we produce anepileptic fit."Dr. Fink acknowledged that neurologists and internists reflect the publicfear of an epileptic attack. A major part of neurological practice isdevoted to suppressing seizures, and this attitude influences the approachof neuroscientists to seizures, Fink said."What we have learned about ECT is that nothing about the electricity,nothing about the chemicals used in anesthesia, nothing about apsychological aspect in the process is important, except producing a grandmal seizure in the brain," he said. He explained that anesthesia during ECTmakes the process easier for the patient and the physician, but it is notessential to the outcome. "The only thing that is essential is the seizure...Dr. Fink's website continues to state that he is now working "on a book on aHistory of Convulsive Therapy with the Toronto (Canada) Professor of Historyof Medicine, Shorter and the Reader in Psychopharmacology Healyof Wales UK." That book, authored by Shorter, PhD and Healy MD was publishedunder the title: Shock Therapy: A History of Electroconvulsive Treatment inMental Illness.  The book is an uncritical tribute to Max Fink whosepersonal foundation (SCION) provided a $33,900 grant to the authors in2004-2005. http://dfcm.utoronto.ca/research/pdf/grants.pdfThe authors baldly claim that ECT--at best a short-term respite fromsuicidal depression--is "the penicillin of psychiatry"--implying that it isas effective a treatment as penicillin. The proponents of ECT, much like theproponents of widespread use of antidepressants andantipsychotics--psychiatry's pharmacological failed treatments--resort tojust such unsubstantiated claims in making their case. If only they couldprovide scientifically valid evidence--rather than consensus fromlike-minded believers--to support their belief that it works and it's safe.An essay by psychiatrist Kaiser (1996) in Psychiatric Times is aspertinent today as when he wrote it--except for his lack of knowledge aboutthe hazardous effects of the new drugs:"...It has occurred to me with forcible irony that psychiatry has quiteliterally lost its mind, and along with it the minds of the patients theyare presumably supposed to care for. Even a cursory glance at any majorpsychiatric journal is enough to convince me that the field has gone fardown the road into a kind of delusion, whose main tenets consist of aparticularly pernicious biologic determinism and a pseudo-scientificunderstanding of human nature and mental illness...Biologic psychiatrists as a whole are unapologetic in their view that theyhave found the road to the truth, namely that mental illnesses for the mostpart are genetic in origin and should be treated with biologicmanipulations, i.e., psychoactive medications, electroconvulsive treatment(which has made an astounding comeback), and in some cases psychosurgery."References:1.  Sterling, P. Testimony Prepared for the Standing Committee on MentalHealth of the Assembly of the State of New York. October 5, 1978. [Link]http://www.ect.org/effects/testimony.html2. Sackeim H, Prudic J, Fuller R, Keilp J, Lavori P, Olfson M. The CognitiveEffects of Electroconvulsive Therapy in Community SettingsNeuropsychopharmacology (2007) 32, 244-254. [Link]http://www.ect.org/wp-content/uploads/2007/01/1301180a.pdf3. Janis, I. (1948) Memory loss following electric convulsive treatments. J.Personality 17:29; Janis, I. (1950a) Psychologic effects of electricconvulsive treatments. I. Post-treatment amnesias. J. Nerv. & Ment. Dis111:359-382; Janis, I. (1950b) Psychologic effects of electric convulsivetreatments. II. Changes in word association reactions. J. Nerv. & Ment. Dis111:383-397; Janis, I. and Astrachan, M. (1951) The effects ofelectroconvulsive treatments on memory efficiency. J. Abnormal & Soc.Psychol. 46:5014. Kaiser, M.D. Against Biologic Psychiatry. Commentary, PsychiatricTimes, December 1996, Vol. XIII, Issue 12 http://psychiatrized.org/Articles/psychTimes-KaiserCommentary.htm5. Sackeim, Harold A. Memory and ECT: From Polarization to Reconciliation.Journal of ECT. 16(2):87-96, June 2000.6. NICE Guidelines http://www.nice.org.uk/TA0597. Arline Kaplan Through the Times With Max Fink, M.D. Psychiatric Times.September 1, 2005.http://www.psychiatrictimes.com/display/article/10168/52281My critical review of the Shorter / Healy book:http://ahrp.blogspot.com/2008/02/ect-penicillin-of-psychiatry-review-of.htmlContact: Vera Hassner Sharavveracare@...212-595-8974 National Public Radio on Forced Electroshock of Ray Sandford15 December 2008Today, National Public Radio's show "Day to Day" aired a segment about theinvoluntary electroshock of Ray Sandford.You may listen to the nearly nine-minute segment online for free here:http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=98273451or use this web link: http://tinyurl.com/npr-sandfordThe NPR show interviews Ray Sandford along with W. Oaks, director ofMindFreedom and many others, including Ray's mom, about the ethical debateover forced electroshock.Ray Sandford is a Minnesota resident who is court ordered to haveelectroshock over his expressed wishes on an outpatient basis. Ray contactedMindFreedom International to launch a campaign that has reached millions ofpeople about Ray's right to say "no" to his electroshock.Every other Wednesday Ray is escorted from his group home residence toreceive another electroshock against his wishes. Ray's most recentelectroshock was on 10 December 2008, which was also United NationsInternational Human Rights day.RAY HAS A HEARING TOMORROW - PLEASE ATTEND!Because of MindFreedom's campaign, Ray has at least been given a new courthearing, scheduled for *tomorrow*, Tuesday, 16 December 2008 at 8:30 am. Ifyou live in St. /Minneapolis area, please try to attend. Ray said thehearing is at Regions Hospital in St. . For address and directions clickhere:http://www.regionshospital.com/If Ray loses, his next forced electroshock is scheduled for Christmas Eve,24 December 2008. It would be approximately his 36th electroshock.~~~~~~~~15 December 2008BELOW is a transcript of today's National Public Radio's "Day to Day"  show about the involuntary electroshock of Ray Sandford. More info atbottom.This transcript is via Minnesota Public Radio's web site that also links tothe nine-minute audio plus a slide show:http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/12/15/forced_electroconvulsive_therapyor use this web address: http://tinyurl.com/mpr-electroshock~~~~~~~~~~~~NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO "DAY TO DAY" - transcriptMinnesota man fights forced electroconvulsive therapyby Minnesota Public Radio's Lorna Benson:St. , Minn. -- Ray Sandford has been getting electro-convulsivetreatment, also known as electroshock and ECT, since the end of May.  For Ray, the process works like this. Every week or two he is taken to ahospital, where a medical technician attaches electrodes to his head anddelivers electrical current into his brain. The current causes a seizure.For reasons that doctors still don't quite understand, some patients withsevere depression or mania get better after having ECT.But the potential benefits don't matter to Ray. He says he dreads the shocksand wants them to stop."It's scary as hell," he said.Ray is 54 years old, with a receding hairline and a salt-and-pepper beard.He walks with a cane and his hands shake slightly, a side effect from someof the medication he's taking, he says.We've met up in the basement of the small group home where he lives, so wecan talk without disturbing his roommates. I'm warned by his legal guardianswho are present for the interview that Ray gets tired easily, so thisconversation may not last long.I ask him what bothers him about getting ECT. Besides being scary, he saysthe electroshock makes his head hurt for at least a day, and it's wreckinghis memory."One of the things I have problems with is certain people," Sandford said."I can't remember their names anymore. And I should be able to remembertheir names, since I've known some of them a long time. I can't quiteremember their names. And don't ask me to tell you their names 'cause Iwon't remember."Sandford's doctors aren't allowed to discuss his case with Minnesota PublicRadio News. The courts have determined that Ray isn't competent to makedecisions regarding his own welfare, according to his guardian, LutheranSocial Services. As a result, he can't give his doctors permission todiscuss his private medical record.But in public court documents, his psychiatrists state they sought ECT onlyafter all other treatments, including psychotropic drugs, failed. Theywanted to pull Ray out of a particularly lengthy psychotic episode thatbegan a year ago.His court record describes a man who was out of control for many months,urinating wherever and whenever he felt like it, smearing feces on hospitalwalls and even eating it.Ray didn't want to talk about his hospitalization. But his 80-year- oldmother Marilyn was willing to fill in a few of the details."Voluntary treatment is always preferable to forced treatment. The moreintrusive the treatment, the higher the bar needs to be for imposing." -Pamela Hoopes, Minnesota Disability Law CenterSitting on a cream-colored chair in her tiny retirement community apartment,Marilyn Sandford clutched a picture frame showing Ray in happier times."I put in their baby picture and then their high school graduation picture.He didn't graduate, but I've always liked that picture of him. He was a muchbeloved child," said Marilyn Sandford.Her son had a very happy childhood, Marilyn says. But by the time he turned17, he began acting out in disturbing ways."One of the things I remember him doing was getting this car and driving it.We lived on a hill where there was pasture land. [He was] driving it roundand round our house in the late night. Another time he got on my tail andjust kept following me, no matter where I went, with the car," she recalled."And then there were many very irritating things that had to do with bodyexcrement and all kinds of things. And just his behavior was just out ofcontrol."Episodes like these re-occurred like clockwork every 18 months to two yearsthroughout her son's adult life, she said. The episodes lead to dozens ofhospitalizations for a condition described in court records asschizo-affective disorder with bipolar tendencies.When Marilyn Sandford heard this past summer that a court had orderedinvoluntary ECT for her son, she thought it seemed like a reasonable option.And after a few treatments, she was convinced that it had helped."What I told him is that it gave me my son back again. I hadn't seen what Icall the normal for a long time," said Marilyn Sandford. "I was ableto converse with him. We were able to have a normal conversation. It waswonderful and I thought, oh good, this is great."Marilyn assumed the ECT would stop after three or four sessions, especiallysince her son seemed to get better rather quickly. But after 12 sessions,the court authorized more treatments to be administered as often as everyweek for up to a year.That seemed excessive, Marilyn said, given her son's complaints that the ECTwas causing memory loss."I don't care if he forgets the birthday of his nieces and nephews --although it's very important to him to remember that, and probably moreimportant to him than it is to anybody else in the family. But I do carethat he can remember the names and know that they're born, and remember whathe did last Christmas if it was a happy memory, remember the good times.It's too bad to take away that," said Marilyn Sandford.She wasn't sure what she could do about the situation, given her own healthissues and her busy family life, including new twin grandchildren.As the summer and fall wore on, Ray continued to get his weekly ECTtreatment -- all the while complaining to anyone who would listen.  Then about a month ago, Ray ramped up his anti-ECT campaign."He's a hero for me. He called up his local library and asked for help, andI love that," said Oaks, director of MindFreedom International, acoalition that advocates against forced medication and involuntary ECTtherapy. "I guess they did an Internet search for mental health human rightsand they found MindFreedom, and so we are coming through for him.""Those kind of things are just so intrusive, that no means no. If anindividual says no, then no, they should not get those procedures,"  Oaks said.Most of the time, ECT is given to patients who want it. University ofMinnesota psychiatry professor Carl Malmquist isn't involved in Ray's case,but he says it is now well accepted that ECT does help some people."If the drugs aren't doing their job, so to speak, and the patient isresponding and you've tried different drugs, you've tried different dosages,then you start to think in certain cases that maybe you need to use ECT. Butit's really used very sparingly compared to medication," said Malmquist.In cases like Ray Sandford's, the treatment can be forced upon the patient,if doctors believe it's the only way to make them well.  There are no good numbers on how many people receive forced ECT in the U.S.It's up to states to track these cases and most, like Minnesota, do not.The advocacy group MindFreedom launched an Internet campaign on Ray'sbehalf, calling on Gov. Pawlenty to investigate his case and put animmediate end to the ECT. The group also filed a claim with the UnitedNations, saying that Ray's forced ECT treatments constitute torture.The lobbying attracted the attention of the Minnesota Disability Law Centerwhich is now reviewing the case. Legal director Pamela Hoopes says the grouphas just begun its investigation, so she can't say much about the merits ofthe case. Any time someone's right to self- determination is taken away, shesays, the courts need to have a good reason."These are very difficult issues, and I think it would be hard to argue withthe proposition that voluntary treatment is always preferable to forcedtreatment," said Hoopes. "And the more intrusive the treatment, the higherthe bar needs to be for imposing."Yet there's not total agreement in the legal system on how to make adecision in someone's best interest. Attorney Janus is the presidentand dean of College of Law in St. . He has studied theboundaries of the state's ability to forcibly treat patients.There are different perspectives on how the state should make thesedecisions, Janus says."Sometimes people say you should use the perspective of a reasonableperson," said Janus. "And it's assumed that a reasonable person wants toprotect him or herself against a relapse of a terrible mental illness."In Sandford's case, his doctors haven't said if they're using the ECT toprevent a relapse or to continue his treatment.Still the "reasonable person" test doesn't make sense to everyone, includingeven himself, Janus says.Janus says even greater weight should be given to what the patient wants --even if it appears their illness might be clouding their judgment. Competentor not, not everyone wants to be treated when they're sick, he says."That's really what the court should be asking," said Janus. "What are thisperson's values? What does he want? What kind of life does he want to live?And it should be trying to make the decision in his behalf."Ray Sandford agrees."A person should have a choice in their life what they're doing."Ray Sandford is undergoing an exam by court-ordered psychiatrists today.Tomorrow, he will appear before a judge in St. to see if his forced ECTcan be stopped.- end of transcript -~~~~~~~~~~~~~~MORE INFO:This Minnesota Public Radio show was also broadcast today throughout the USAvia National Public Radio's Day to Day show, which has an estimated 2million listeners via 200 stations.After registering, the NPR web site allows comments on the Ray story, clickhere:http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=98273451or use this web link:http://tinyurl.com/npr-sandfordFor updated alerts, photo of Ray and frequently asked questions about theRay Campaign and what you can do to help, click here:http://www.mindfreedom.org/shield/ray~~~~~~~~~~~~       ** ACTION ** ACTION ** ACTION **For more information on MindFreedom's campaign to stop the forcedelectroshock of Ray Sandford, including a photo of Ray, frequently askedquestions and how to help out, click here:http://www.mindfreedom.org/shield/rayCall the Governor's office from anywhere in the world phone (651) 296-3391. From inside Minnesota phone toll free (800) 657-3717. Please help Governor Pawlenty recover his personal self-determination andempowerment! The Governor could at least help Ray get better legalrepresentation.The Governor campaigns for limited government, so he could at least speakout for changing the law to stop this torture.The Governor campaigns against wasting taxpayer money, so he could at leastfind out how many thousands of dollars this abuse of Ray is costingtaxpayers.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~LET THE MEDIA KNOW about this coverage of the Ray Sandford campaign!Many media refused to believe forced electroshock of an individual livingout in the community could be happening in the USA. For the first time in amonth, searching for the words -- Ray Sandford electroshock -- via GoogleNews gets this news story.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~MindFreedom International is a 100 percent independent nonprofit united towin activist campaigns for human rights and alternatives in mental health.Join or renew early here: http://www.mindfreedom.org/join-donatePlease forward.~~~~~~~~~~~~MindFreedom International Office:454 Willamette, Suite 216 - POB 11284; Eugene, OR 97440-3484 USAweb site: http://www.mindfreedom.orge-mail: office@...MFI member services phone: (541) 345-9106 MFI member services toll free: 1-877-MAD-PRIDe or 1-877-623-7743 new fax:(480) 287-8833~~~~~~~~~~~~_______________________________________________Infomail1 mailing listto unsubscribe send a message to Infomail1-leave@... =====In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. 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