Psychiatry: The Brutal Myths Continue

September 20, 2004

The Brutal Myths Continue

Michael Dennis Matthews, 71, has been a patient at Riverview Hospital,

Vancouver, Canada, for 39 years. Over the past three years, he has

received more than 130 electric shock treatments, which he fears: " I'm

braver now, but I don't like it. They hurt, I don't want it, " he said.

A former Riverview caregiver complained about the " relentless

frequency " of the ECT Matthews had been given, and the increasing

adverse reactions she saw him experience, including agitation and

confusion.112

Geriatric patients like Matthews and women are the most common targets

for electroshock, with people 65 years of age and over comprising

almost 50% of those receiving ECT today.113 In 1993, a study revealed

that ECT shortened the lives of elderly people.114 A 1997 Mayo clinic

study of 34 persons over the age of 85 documented that 79% suffered

treatment complications, including a 32% incidence of confusion and

delirium, while 18% had serious heart arrhythmias during treatment

disrelated to their age.115 Studies between 1979 and 1991 reveal

abnormal neurological signs following electroshock, as well as brain

atrophy (shrinkage), and enlarged ventricles.116

Despite its sordid history and its statistically demonstrable

failures, psychosurgery is making a comeback. Clinical Psychiatric

News reports that frontal lobotomy is still practiced in the United

States, Canada and several other countries. Patients must be 18 or

older and " meet the criteria based on DSM-IV " to qualify for this

brain-disabling treatment.117 Russian psychiatrists are also using

psychosurgery to " treat " drug addiction.

Photo

Michael Dennis Matthews, 71, was given more than 130 electroshock

treatments over a three-year period. Studies reveal abnormal

neurological signs following ECT.

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