File spoon-archives/deleuze-guattari.archive/deleuze-guattari_1996/d-g_Mar.96, message 58


Date: Sat, 9 Mar 1996 01:28:31 -0600 (CST)
From: Elizabeth Harrison <sybil-AT-csd.uwm.edu>
Subject: Re: (Fwd) STOP FORCED ELECTROSHOCK!




>    The plea to the deleuze-guattari subscribers regarding forced 
> electroconvulsive schock therapy (ECT) is misleading and, in my 
> opinion dangerous for several reasons.   
>    The authors state that the death rate in elders receiving ECT is 
> higher than reported.  What they have left out is the cause of death, was 
> it ECT or another problem?  The plea also stated that it may cause long 
> term memory loss.  I have been unable to find any sources that reinforce 
> this notion.  ECT causes short term memory loss which clears after the 
> course of treatments is completed.
>    It is true that the Clinton administration is opposed to forced human 
> experiments.  Electroconvulsive therapy, however, is not an experiment. 
> It may seem quite barbaric to those who do not understand it or have 
> never witness its benefial results.  It is not a mind rape but has 
> improved or restored well-being to countless numbers of severely 
> depressed individuals.  The descriptions of people passionately resisting 
> therapy seem overstated since, as I have just said, it is used on 
> individuals who are immobilized by their depression.  Finally I would 
> challenge the statistic validity of the conclusions of most any of the 
> statments in the plea. ECT an effective therapy rarely used today that 
> seems poorly understood by the authors of this request for lobbying.
> S.
> 
I had a problem sending the first draft of the above message and 
apologize if it comes through twice.

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