Posted by alan on June 12, 1999, at 2:20:36
In reply to Re: Electroconvulsive therapy, posted by Susan Perry on February 9, 1999, at 18:38:25
> > I have a dear friend who had over 20 ECT treatments for schizophrenia at Concord Repatriation Hospital in Sydney. She suffered terribly during those years with short term memory loss, her hair went completely grey/white and headaches.
>
> After years of this treatment she is now seeing a counsellor, staying on her medication and is a much improved woman. She is about to commence her Honours year at University in Arts and Photography and has exhibited and sold her photographic work.
>
> She is a success story perhaps due more to her stamina and survival skills than any credit to the ECT treatment.
>
> Anyway I believed that applications of ECT at the level she received were illegal.
>
> Susan P, student of pysch & criminology
I had 20 ECT treatments 26 years ago, and my hair has also turned gray!
Seriously, I do not want people who might benefit from ECT to be afraid of it. As it is presently practiced, the risks are quite small, and the benefits are often dramatic and almost immediate. Personally, I had no ill effects from them. Actually, it was rather fun, insofar as I then had any capacity for fun: as I said once before on this forum, it provided much of the excitement and fun of surgery without the pain. (Anyone wanting a detailed play by play account of mmy recent prostate surgery may e-mail me privately.) Also, be careful when ascribing causality: we tend to assume that dramatic easily recalled events are the causes of events we are trying to explain, but this is a fallacy. ECT is dramatic and easily recalled due to the electric chair and Hollywood; it does tend to cause a loss of memory about events during the time of the treatments, and it can cause headaches. Gray hair?
poster:alan
thread:1046
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/19990601/msgs/7301.html