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Peter Tatchell: stigmatisation of ME/CFS #PACEtrial campaigners similar to what he faced

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taniaaust1

Senior Member
Messages
13,054
Location
Sth Australia
barbc56 said:
Interestingly, Electric Shock Therapy is not the same as what is shown in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. It's used as a last resort for intractable depression or when it's dangerous to wait until medication kicks in.

There's a strict protocol involved before using ECT and the benefits have to outweigh the risks. It's not clear why it works and there is some controversy over how effective it really is.

Aversion therapy is used to change behavior and for the most part, considered an ineffectual and unethical form of therapy. ECT is a medical procedure which changes something in the brain, but it's not well understood how it works.

This article explains this better.
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In some places in the world including where I am, shock treatment is being far overused for all kinds of things.

I know of several personality who have had shock treatment here and it was a bad error in except one who it did help (she had psychosis and was getting hallucinations with that eg seeing it snowing in the middle of summer)..

One they gave it to had behaviour issues (she's an adult with the mind of an 8 year old).. it hasnt helped her behaviour, she ended up in prison for biting her carer (she was schizophrenic too, when she got brought in she was having halluncinations of giant mosquitos and screaming in fear of these.. crazy they send people like that to prison in my state as they dont have room in the mental hopsital).,

another I knew has Aspergers and they mistook his aspersgers with a depressed state (which actually he didnt even have depression and him keeping to himself and not going out much etc was just part of his Aspergers). For him this shock treatment did him major damage, he was very into his studies etc and its left him still many years later with memory issues to the point he could no longer study well.

I even had one dr with my ME/CFS problems and what im going through, offer shock therapy to me (that happened when i was in prison). I did have depression but its just situational depression. Thankfully I didnt get that dr again.

Its scary that they are throwing around shock therapy here in the way they are and those who have this are given it multiple times. Even the psychotic the only one it helped, she had to have all these treatments done again years later as her problems came back. I think they were giving her 12 or 15 treatments a round of it (I cant remember the exact numbers but it was a very high number of sessions they gave).

Even after it when it was deemed successful as she wasnt having the intense hallunciations she previously was, it hadnt fixed her enough to be living without ongoing care support but yeah it did help her though by taking her from being a lot crazy to just a little crazy.

I did know 4 who went through this (and it only helped 1 out of the 4) but I cant think right now of the 4th persons situation or even who it was but I do remember that person had been left with memory issues after too.
 
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taniaaust1

Senior Member
Messages
13,054
Location
Sth Australia
Snowdrop said:
I expect that ECT is a last resort
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ECT was suggested to me one time as I cried during the first 5 mins of an appointment with a new dr who wasnt familiar with me and the dr only knew that I'd sent myself to jail due to my home circumstances. This doctor didnt even have my past medical records or even know what I'd tried in the past. It was like the ECT the dr thought was an easy fix for things or something.
 
Snowdrop

Snowdrop

Rebel without a biscuit
Messages
2,933
taniaaust1 said:
ECT was suggested to me one time as I cried during the first 5 mins of an appointment with a new dr who wasnt familiar with me and the dr only knew that I'd sent myself to jail due to my home circumstances. This doctor didnt even have my past medical records or even know what I'd tried in the past. It was like the ECT the dr thought was an easy fix for things or something.
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Well, it should be expected (to be a last resort). The world doesn't always function in the sensible way I expect in so many respects I guess I should not be surprised.
 
Luther Blissett

Luther Blissett

Messages
724
Location
Yorkshire, England
That's terrible @taniaaust1, hugs.

Seems to be offered as it's a cheap way of getting people out of the way.

Snowdrop said:
Well, it should be expected (to be a last resort). The world doesn't always function in the sensible way I expect in so many respects I guess I should not be surprised.
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It's like some of these Dr's are trying to prove the theory that that those they call mad are the ones who see things as they really are.
 
sarah darwins

sarah darwins

Senior Member
Messages
2,508
Location
Cornwall, UK
Getting back to the original subject of the thread, I'm impressed that Peter Tatchell is even aware of the smearing of patients by the BPS lobby. He's a busy guy and a tireless campaigner whose main focus is elsewhere.

I don't always agree with him, but I have huge respect for his courage. I'll never forget his attempt to carry out a citizen's arrest of Robert Mugabe. Twice.
 
Jeckylberry

Jeckylberry

Senior Member
Messages
127
Location
Queensland, Australia
I knew someone who had repeated ECT. The psych she saw wrote a poem about her in their journal. It was short and sad. It said something like "I see your empty eyes staring out at me, asking for help..(something, something) so I shake my head and order more ECT". She had a lot. And kept forgetting! Once they forgot to put her mouth guard in and she bit her tongue soooo badly. But then she forgot after the next round. It was brutal and weird and seemed sort of futile. But she did get psychotic. It kicked her out of those states but after that 'concussion euphoria' comment I remember she was always drunk happy after the treatment.
 
PennyIA

PennyIA

Senior Member
Messages
728
Location
Iowa
I haven't had a chance (yet) to read this whole thread. But I'm of the whole-hearted belief that (especially when it was abused in the past)... that the patient will tell the doctor ANYTHING they want to hear in order to stop the torture. It's not so much that it works as memory may be fried and/or the patient decides to start lying in order to get out of the treatment.
 
D

Dolphin

Senior Member
Messages
17,567
PennyIA said:
I haven't had a chance (yet) to read this whole thread. But I'm of the whole-hearted belief that (especially when it was abused in the past)... that the patient will tell the doctor ANYTHING they want to hear in order to stop the torture. It's not so much that it works as memory may be fried and/or the patient decides to start lying in order to get out of the treatment.
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There is not much in terms of formal CFS, CBT or GET clinics in Ireland, but I remember a teenager telling me that she said she was better so she wouldn't have to keep attending a psychiatrist here (psychiatrist who probably considers herself something of a CFS expert as she has published on CFS).
 
PennyIA

PennyIA

Senior Member
Messages
728
Location
Iowa
Dolphin said:
There is not much in terms of formal CFS, CBT or GET clinics in Ireland, but I remember a teenager telling me that she said she was better so she wouldn't have to keep attending a psychiatrist here (psychiatrist who probably considers herself something of a CFS expert as she has published on CFS).
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This does not surprise me at all. I know I'd be tempted if the GET that I had been exposed to had been more insistent about me pushing through relapses. They basically wrote me off as an exception to the process and took me out of the study instead of reporting me as having negative fall out from the GET they were doing.
 
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AndyPR

Senior Member
Messages
2,516
Location
Guiding the lifeboats to safer waters.
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