直言不讳地反对电击(ECT)

文/韦恩·Lax
没有限制
2000年春季

韦恩·拉克斯直言反对震惊。Lax说，由于电击治疗，他失去了大部分记忆，并患有慢性严重的背部疼痛。我在困惑和绝望中度过了25年。我哥哥死了，我开始酗酒。我接受了108次治疗，大约80次ECT治疗。他们在治疗我的毒瘾;他们采用电痉挛疗法;医生不断给我开越来越多的药(太阳底下所有的药)，每天多达17种不同的药。休克治疗的结果是，我失去了大部分记忆，并且由于松弛剂不足而遭受慢性严重的背部疼痛。我的孩子们遭受了失去父母的影响。我的朋友们不知道如何回应我的行为，那些幻觉和妄想。他们(精神科医生)会让我大吃一惊，给我开一些药，然后把我送回家，让我开出租车。 Finally after 25 years of this hell, I ended up in a bad car crash. I was charged and convicted of impaired driving. It was the best thing that could have happened to me ... It was the beginning of the end. I stopped taking all the meds, refused any more shock, and then a year later - quit drinking. I have not been in a hospital since, except to visit. Still, today when I walk down the halls of Lakehead Psychiatric Hospital (LPH), patients come up to me and say "Hi", they know me, but I have no idea of who they are. They don't even look familiar. They say I spent a lot of time with them, but I have no memory. Part of me is missing forever. They treat us like guinea pigs, trying anything on us with no concern about the damage they do. Why do we give them this power? Why is it that medical doctors, whom are not experts on mental health, can prescribe any psycho tropic agents, even against a psychiatrist's advice? Why aren't they required to learn more about mental illnesses before they go around diagnosing and drugging us? I am not saying there aren't competent professionals, or that you shouldn't listen to your doctor. What I'm saying is that you should make sure you are making an informed decision, and ensure that the communication is there between your psychiatrist and GP. During my 25 years in the mental health system, some "professionals" recommended that I be taken off all the drugs, given no- more shock and receive proper counseling. My GP chose to ignore this advice without even informing me of their recommendations. This is unacceptable. What has personally helped me is counseling and the peer support I receive from the self-help group that I am actively involved with. I am dead against ECT under any circumstances. Even with the people it helps, the results are short-lived and the side effects long term. Why would delivering electricity through a brain be anything less than destructive and damaging?