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psychiatrists, being privy to the knowledge of how the mind decided to try the treatment on humans." functions, would be better adjusted than not only other members The treatment was introduced into the USA in 1940 and was of the medical profession but also other members of the used with unrestrained enthusiasm. The literature of that age community. Yet psychiatrists commit suicide twice as often as makes little attempt to hide the fact that psychiatrists were delib- other members of the medical profession.‘ During the period of _ erately inducing brain damage or using shock treatment to quieten their residency, psychiatrists commit suicide at nearly nine times patients rather than cure them." the rate of the general population. In 1942, psychiatrist Dr Abraham Myerson said: "The reduc- A joint study, done by the American Medical Association and tion of intelligence is an important factor in the curative process... the American Psychiatric Association in 1987 on physician sui- The fact is that some of the very best cures that one gets are in cide, found that psychiatrists had the highest suicide rate; that those individuals to whom one reduces almost to amentia [feeble- 94% of the psychiatrists who committed suicide did so in order to mindedness]. It is impossible to conceive of that amentia without escape mental pain’ (which is, of course, the one thing that psy- an organic base; there must be at least temporally organic changes chiatry claims it is able to alleviate); and that 56% of those who in the brain, and the cure is related to these organic alterations.""* committed suicide did so under the influence of self-prescribed In the early days, shock treatment was administered without psychoactive drugs.’ At the time of their death, 42% had been anaesthetic and the resulting convulsions were so violent that consulting a mental health professional.‘ bones were often broken, so the use of muscle relaxants and One survey revealed that 91% of psychiatrists agreed that mem- anaesthetic became common practice in the 1950s. The resultant bers of their profession had "emotional difficulties that are special therapy was referred to as "modified ECT". The muscle relaxants to them and their work, as contrasted with non-psychiatrists".° and anaesthetic did not reduce the effect on the brain and central Research into Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) showed that while nervous system. If anything, more current is now needed in order psychiatrists constituted only 8% of the medical profession, they to produce a convulsion."* The effect of these modifications is to represented 17% of AA members." In short, psychiatrists were prevent the body from manifesting the force of the full-blown disproportionately represented. seizure.'’ However, the modified treatment adds to the risk, Drug abuse is another problem which now incorporates the risk of an area, with one survey of 500 practis- anaesthetic and muscle relaxant. ing psychiatrists, reported in the New Another change in ECT came in England Journal of Medicine in the 1950s with the use of "unilateral 1988, revealing that psychiatrists ECT". ECT is usually bilateral; that have much higher rates of psychoac- During the period of their is, electrodes are placed on both sides tive drugs use, the usage rate being of the head. Unilateral ECT is 83%, with 48% of those drugs being residency, psychiatrists commit favoured by some psychiatrists who prescribed for self-treatment. Marital suicide at nearly nine times the claim that it causes less memory loss breakdown rates were also similarly . than bilateral ECT. This claim is disturbing, with psychiatrists leading rate of the general population. extraordinary if you consider that any other branch of the medical pro- proponents of ECT categorically fession in marital problems (sexual deny that any permanent memory difficulties included). Psychiatrists loss results from the treatment. '* were more likely to have marriages of Most psychiatrists favour bilateral shorter duration and were most likely ECT, claiming that unilateral ECT to have problems due to extramarital affairs. requires more shocks to be given and is therefore less effective.” Psychiatrist Dr Lee Coleman had this to say about ECT: "The PSYCHIATRIC TREATMENT changes one sees when electroshock is administered are complete- The exalted status of psychiatry is disingenuous when you con- ly consistent with any acute brain injury such as a blow to the sider that psychiatrists, by their own admission, are incapable of head from a hammer. In essence, what happens is that the indi- curing the so-called "mental illnesses" that they treat,'' much less vidual is dazed, confused and disoriented, and therefore cannot 10 understanding the human mind. appreciate current problems."” The treatments used by psychiatry are either psychological or Those who defend ECT argue that it is cheap, effective and acts somatic. The so-called psychological treatments involve either rapidly to improve the patient's condition. One wonders how sub- counselling or psychotherapy, while the somatic treatments jective this evaluation is, concerning the improvement.” A 1974 involve a more organic or biological approach to the problem, article in World Medicine indicates that the effectiveness may stemming from a materialistic approach that mind is brain. The — merely be supposed by the treating psychiatrist. The article tells latter primarily involve drug therapy, electroconvulsive therapy how a new ECT machine was installed, which was far more com- (ECT) or psychosurgery. The somatic treatments are based on the _ plicated to operate than its predecessor. The machine was used view that our bad feelings are chemically and genetically deter- for two years, until one day a nurse remarked that the patients mined. According to the somatic school of thinking, there is were not convulsing as they were supposed to be. It was subse- nothing we can do about these feelings.” quently discovered that the ECT machine had in fact never worked! All the patients had been getting for two years had been Electroconvulsive Therapy thiopentone (an anaesthetic) and Scoline (a muscle relaxant), and Electroconvulsive therapy, or electroshock treatment, was first yet no one had noticed!” performed in Italy by a psychiatrist, Dr Ugo Cerletti, in 1938 after Those who advocate ECT claim that to ban it would result in a he witnessed slaughterhouse operators who used electric shocks to great increase in patient suicide. Astonishingly, those who make render pigs unconscious prior to slitting their throats. Once this assertion do not have any proof. From 1975 to 1980, the use Cerletti noticed that the electric shock failed to kill the pigs, he of ECT declined by 46 per cent. If the assertion that ECT had a During the period of their residency, psychiatrists commit suicide at nearly nine times the wate 2 ak -Hoat PSYCHIATRIC TREATMENT The exalted status of psychiatry is disingenuous when you con- sider that psychiatrists, by their own admission, are incapable of curing the so-called "mental illnesses" that they treat,'' much less understanding the human mind. The treatments used by psychiatry are either psychological or somatic. The so-called psychological treatments involve either counselling or psychotherapy, while the somatic treatments involve a more organic or biological approach to the problem, stemming from a materialistic approach that mind is brain. The latter primarily involve drug therapy, electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) or psychosurgery. The somatic treatments are based on the view that our bad feelings are chemically and genetically deter- mined. According to the somatic school of thinking, there is nothing we can do about these feelings.’ Electroconvulsive Therapy Electroconvulsive therapy, or electroshock treatment, was first performed in Italy by a psychiatrist, Dr Ugo Cerletti, in 1938 after he witnessed slaughterhouse operators who used electric shocks to render pigs unconscious prior to slitting their throats. Once Cerletti noticed that the electric shock failed to kill the pigs, he 28 = NEXUS rate of the general population. DECEMBER 1999 — JANUARY 2000