The Wittenberg Center to End Electroshock

Vote Now for ECT Coalition Documentary

2008-02-04T16:03:00.001-08:00

From:	"john breeding"

Subject:	Round 2: VOTE NOW for Roky Erickson/Electroshock Coalition Documentary
	Sun, 3 Feb 2008 09:27:42 -0800 See Dr. John Breeding discuss the documentary, see this youtube.com video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11cdtoGM2wA

Dear Friends,

WE MADE IT THROUGH ROUND ONE FOR THE TOP 50 FILMS. I NEED YOUR HELP NOW TO MAKE THE TOP 25 AND BEYOND. PLEASE VOTE NOW AND EVERYDAY FOR ARTISTIC FREEDOM OF CONSCIOUSNESS AND AGAINST THE HORROR OF ELECTROSHOCK. LET'S MAKE A NOISE ABOUT IT. HELP US BY VOTING!!! PLEASE! and spread the word...

VOTE for our Mary Marvel documentary of:

THE FIFTH ANNUAL

ROKY ERICKSON PSYCHEDELIC ICE CREAM SOCIAL

CELEBRATING ELECTROSHOCK SURVIVORS.

step-by-step DIRECTIONS

1. Register on www.FameCast.com as a Voter or Fanatic. Click where it says " 2 The Audience Votes"
2. Click here to view our documentary: http://www.FameCast.com/MaryMarvelMovies

3. Click the "Vote" button at the top right hand corner of the video

Steps 2 will take you to see our video. Steps 1 and 3 are necessary to vote.

[ A plea for ardent supporters: The rules of this contest are such that you can vote once a day for the video you like, so please consider adding this to your daily schedule for awhile.]

I will send out weekly updates from here on out on our status. I am also doing regular youtube videos to draw folks to our effort. Please do whatever you can to help us spread the message of our Coaliton for the Abolition of Electroshock in Texas (CAEST) and to help Mary win this contest. See our website, www.endofshock.com for related information on the Ice Cream Social, and on our coalition efforts to stop electroshock.

Thank you!!

John

BACKGROUND

In the last two years, our Coalition for the Abolition of Electroshock in Texas (CAEST) was very active, carrying on an initiative in Austin to challenge the use of electroshock at our area's most prolific shock hospital, Seton Shoal Creek. As described on our website, www.endofshock.com, we carried on with them quite a bit, including direct interaction with the hospital board and medical director, a series of protest rallies at the hospital, a resolution from the Texas legislature, and a hearing on electroshock with the Austin City Council.

In March 2007, we had a magnificent, unprecedented event--a concert featuring a number of terrific musicians and artists, a number of whom were also shock survivors now joining forces to call for a stop to this horrific procedure. These luminaries included ROKY ERICKSON, J.T. VAN ZANDT, JIM FRANKLIN, LEONARD ROY FRANK, MICHELLE SHOCKED, SUMNER ERICKSON, ROBYN HITCHCOCK and PETER BUCK, and POWELL ST. JOHN, among others. Check out a broader sampling of creative artists who were electroshocked on page 6 of Leonard Frank's Electroshock Quotationary at http://www.endofshock.com/102C_ECT.PDF .

The event was cosponsored by CAEST and a vocal challenge of electroshock was interspersed with great music throughout the day. For a fuller, written summary of the event, see our website at http://www.endofshock.com/Report%20on%20The%205th%20Annual%20Roky%20Erickson%20Psychedelic%20Ice%20Cream%20Social.pdf .

Our event was called:

THE FIFTH ANNUAL ROKY ERICKSON PSYCHEDELIC ICE CREAM SOCIAL CELEBRATING ELECTROSHOCK SURVIVORS.

Some of us affectionately called it the "Rock to Ban Shock" concert.

Now our own fantastic videographer, Mary Luker, known professionally as Mary Marvel, has created a short (20 minutes) documentary of our event. It is terrific, and we intend to use it to promote our effort to abolish electroshock, and to create safe haven for artists, who all too often suffer this horrific assault--witness Roky Erickson, Townes Van Zandt and Jim Franklin from our event.

In support of our cause, Mary Marvel has submiited her documentary to an internet contest called Famecast. In order to have the greatest impact, we want to win this contest. In order to win, WE NEED YOU TO GET ON BOARD AND ENJOY A RIDE, bringing music and a big message --END OF SHOCK-- to the world.

Request for data about involuntary ECT in Oregon

2008-02-04T16:01:00.000-08:00

David Oaks"
Date:	Fri, 1 Feb 2008 18:53:29 -0800
To:	"zapback"
Subject:	[ZapBack!] Fwd: Request for data about involuntary electroshock in Oregon


Laura Ziegler got me an academic article about forced electroshock in
Oregon that came out in 2005, glad to finally see this, didn't know
about it.

As you might guess, we have a long history of working on the of
electroshock here. I'm proud to have been arrested doing civil
disobedience on that particular topic here, actually! (We have a
shock device manufacturer here in Oregon.)

I've immediately made inquiries with the head of the mental health
system here.

If you'd like to add your own CIVIL NOTE to Bob Nikkel asking to be
informed of whatever he finds out go for it. I say civil, because I
want to provide zero excuse for non-response.

One impact of the movement is that a lot of mental health agency
leaders are at least acting friendly with our movement leaders. No
worries that we are lulled, though it's always a risk. Quite the
contrary. One can at least actually find and sit down and address and
quiz such folks, and get a some kind of words back... when years ago
we'd get slammed doors. Which is at least one difference from years
ago. Not enough, not enough. And actually yes a risk, because one can
lulled. But it is a difference, so let's use it.

It would help to show a bunch of people are curious about what is
found.....

David

Begin forwarded message:

From: David Oaks <oaks@mindfreedom.org>
Date: February 1, 2008 6:47:56 PM PST
To: Robert E NIKKEL <robert.e.nikkel@state.or.us>
Subject: Request for data about involuntary electroshock in Oregon


Dear Bob,

Hope you're doing well.

A member has sent us an academic law article that came out in 2005
about the use of involuntary electroshock over the wishes of citizens
considered competent here in Oregon:

Here's how to download the PDF of the article the member referred to
us:

http://www.lclark.edu/org/lclr/objects/LCB94_Newell.pdf

I'll copy this to the author.

Can you please -- on an urgent basis -- get me all data on the use of
involuntary electroshock in Oregon that you can possibly obtain,
especially recent data?

As you may know, Oregon has one of the weakest laws in the USA when
it comes to blocking forced electroshock. Many states at least
require a judge's signature, but Oregon only requires the signature
of a physician unaffiliated with the institution to "override" a
citizen's rights, which of course is just plain wrong.

Years ago Bob Joondeph and I worked on a bill to plug that loophole,
and of course it didn't go anywhere. MindFreedom International has
been one of the main groups to expose and focus on the problem of
forced electroshock. We're proud that we were able to successfully
encourage the World Health Organization to put in writing in their
legal guide that they absolutely oppose all involuntary electroshock
in the world.

Can you please request any and all information, on an urgent basis,
about the use of involuntary electroshock?

And for that matter, any data about the use of electroshock at all
would be helpful. But I'd rather get any data you do have or can get
as soon as possible, rather than wait to get it all at the same time.

Also, any comment on this article would be appreciated, though as I
said, please don't let that delay getting us any data.... please get
that to us as soon as possible on an urgent basis.

I'll copy this to a few folks who I think may be interested.

Thanks,

David

David W. Oaks, Executive Director
MindFreedom International
454 Willamette, Suite 216 - POB 11284
Eugene, OR 97440-3484 USA

web: http://www.mindfreedom.org
email: oaks@mindfreedom.org
office phone: (541) 345-9106
fax: (541) 345-3737
member services toll free in USA: 1-877-MAD-PRID[e] or 1-877-623-7743

United Independent Activism for Human Rights in Mental Health!

MindFreedom International is a non-profit coalition with a vision of
a non-violent revolution in mental health. Accredited by the United
Nations as a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) with Consultative
Roster Status.

Join now! http://www.mindfreedom.org/join-donate

"Human salvation lies in the hands of the creatively maladjusted." -
Martin Luther King, Jr.



David W. Oaks, Executive Director
MindFreedom International
454 Willamette, Suite 216 - POB 11284
Eugene, OR 97440-3484 USA

web: http://www.mindfreedom.org
email: oaks@mindfreedom.org
office phone: (541) 345-9106
fax: (541) 345-3737
member services toll free in USA: 1-877-MAD-PRID[e] or 1-877-623-7743

United Independent Activism for Human Rights in Mental Health!

MindFreedom International is a non-profit coalition with a vision of
a non-violent revolution in mental health. Accredited by the United
Nations as a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) with Consultative
Roster Status.

Join now! http://www.mindfreedom.org/join-donate

"Human salvation lies in the hands of the creatively maladjusted." -
Martin Luther King, Jr.



_______________________________________________

ECT propaganda - It's the pencillin of Psychiatry"

2008-01-31T09:50:00.000-08:00

Sent: Wednesday, January 30, 2008 12:42 PM
Subject: Latest Electroshock Propaganda--It's the "Penicillin of
Psychiatry"


ALLIANCE FOR HUMAN RESEARCH PROTECTION
Promoting Openness, Full Disclosure, and Accountability
http://www.ahrp.org  and http://ahrp.blogspot.com

FYI

The history of psychiatry is a story of megalomania. A confounding
problem
for psychiatry is the profession's failure to examine its therapeutics
from
patients' perspectives or to put psychiatry's therapeutics to a valid
scientific test to determine whether the benefit outweighs the risks
from
patients' perspective.

Suppose someone told you about a treatment for depression that was more
effective than anything else, virtually free of side effects, that is
being
promoted as "the Penicillin of Psychiatry"-would you believe it or
would you
be skeptical?  This is what we are told in a new book, "Shock Therapy:
A
History of Electroconvulsive Treatment in Mental Illness" (2007) by
Edward
Shorter, PhD and David Healy, MD.  To decide whether this book is
describing
a scientific breakthrough or merely more propaganda, we should consider
some
highlights from the contentious history of ECT.

Thomas Insel, MD director of the National Institute of Mental Health,
recently acknowledged on public television that psychiatry's practices,
unlike other fields of medicine, are governed by the personal
preference--i.e., bias--of a psychiatrist: " the treatments that people
are
given depends not so much on a thorough understanding of mental
disorders,
[but] much more on what it is the therapist is most comfortable in
doing."
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/medicatedchild/interviews/insel.html


Indeed, history demonstrates that psychiatrists regularly prescribe
invasive
biological interventions--be they pharmacologic, magnetic, electric, or
surgical-on the basis of conviction (faith) rather than evidence. Sixty
years after its introduction, electroshock (ECS) a.k.a.
electroconvulsive
therapy (ECT), remains psychiatry's most controversial intervention.
ECT is
a polarizing symbol of authoritarianism that continues to be mired in
both
moral and professional controversy. Practitioners are locked in a
bitter
battle against patients who have been harmed and who are fighting for
full
disclosure. ECT's longevity-even as its adherents are fiercely divided
over
the dosage of electricity and method of application (bilateral vs.
unilateral placement of electrodes) [1] confirms Dr. Insel's
observation.

What ECT does to the brain is best described by neurologists who
describe
the measurable pathological changes that are recorded on the EEG,
including
alterations in brain chemistry and physiology. Neuroscientist, Dr.
Peter
Sterling, University of Pennsylvania, provides a detailed description
of
what ECT does to the brain in testimony. [2]
http://retina.anatomy.upenn.edu/pdfiles/Oct2002NYC.pdf

1. The electric shock delivered by a standard ECS machine to the skull
is
roughly comparable to what you would get from a common electrical
outlet,
but the voltage is stepped up from 110 V to 150 V. The total power
drawn is
about 60 Watts -- enough for a conventional light bulb.
2. ECS is designed to evoke a grand mal epileptic seizure. The seizure
causes an acute rise in blood pressure, well into the hypertensive
range,
and this frequently causes small hemorrhages in the brain.
3. ECS ruptures the "blood-brain barrier". This barrier normally
protects
the brain from potentially damaging substances in the blood.
4. ECS causes neurons to release large quantities of the excitatory
neurotransmitter, glutamate, leading to "excito-toxicity" causing
neurons
literally die from overactivity. 5. ECS releases myriad other
neurotransmitters and hormones within the brain. The degree of damage
consequent to ECS varies between individuals. It can be catastrophic in
response to a single series, or it can appear more gradually following
repeated series.
 http://retina.anatomy.upenn.edu/pdfiles/Oct2002NYC.pdf

ECT Background:
ECT was originally promoted much as lobotomy had been-as an expedient,
quick, easy, and cheap method of controlling mental patients' behavior.
Early on leading US practitioner / researchers acknowledged that ECT
produces profound, lasting trauma.  Lothar Kalinowsky, MD: "All
intellectual
functions, grasp as well as memory and critical faculty, are impaired."
[2]
Abraham Myerson, MD: "The mechanism for improvement and recovery seems
to be
to knock out the brain and reduce the higher activities, to impair
memory."
[3] Max Fink, MD, acknowledged in 1958 that a single ECT treatment is
akin
to "severe head trauma," suggesting that "convulsive therapy provides
an
excellent experimental method for studies of craniocerebral trauma."
[4]

Despite its injurious effects on cognitive function and memory, ECT has
outlasted the other three "brain-damaging-therapeutics"-insulin coma,
Metrazol, and lobotomy. In part, because anesthesia was introduced to
moderate the physical vertebrae and bone-breaking force of the
convulsions
that patients undergo during electrically induced Grand Mal seizures.
However, as an authoritative systematic meta-analysis in Lancet (2003)
reports, neither anesthesia nor other newer methods for applying ECT
have
resulted in an appreciable reduction in other adverse effects. [5]

Three other factors led to ECT's survival after its eclipse in the
1960s and
1970s:
1. Psychotropic drugs did not prove to be the claimed wonder drugs-they
also
caused debilitating neurological side effects, and failed to improve
patients' long-term outcome.

2. ECT economics, which Leonard Frank succinctly outlined: "ECT is a
money-maker. An in-hospital ECT series can cost anywhere from
$50,000-75,000. Using a low figure of 100,000 Americans who are
electroshocked annually, most of who are covered by private or
government
insurance, ECT brings in $5 billion a year." [6] In the US especially,
the
promoters of ECT-- including academic-affiliated practitioner /
researchers,
device manufacturers, and hospitals-all have significant financial
interests
in ECT.

3. The zealous advocacy of its practitioner-proponents-all of whom have
unacknowledged financial conflicts of interest. [7]  ECT is dominated
by a
small vocal group of powerful "authority" figures who exert inordinate
influence-indeed, control over ECT research, funding, publications and
practice policies on the basis of their conviction-not scientific
evidence.
Although their financial stake in the business of ECT is rarely (if
ever)
mentioned in their professional academic contributions, no doubt money
plays
a role. Since ECT treatment approaches and outcome evaluations rely
entirely
on practitioners' own preference and assessment, their objectivity is
highly
questionable.

Foremost among ECT's influential proponents is Dr. Max Fink, a
combative
octogenarian who has been applying bilateral ECT longer than anyone.
Dr.
Fink wrote the first ECT textbook, and is credited with formulating the
theoretical foundation, ethical justification, practice guidelines, and
informed consent documents for ECT, actively contributing promotional
material for commercial use. [8]

In September 1978, amidst a heated debate, the first ECT Task Force of
the
American Psychiatric Association surveyed the membership to find out
whether
they thought that ECT was brain damaging.  The response by 41% of APA
members affirmed the likelihood that: "ECT produces subtle or slight
brain
damage"-only 26% said no. [9] The Task Force report outlined the ECT
research agenda to address patients' complaints of memory loss. No such
research was carried out.

In 1979 the FDA classified shock machines as a Class III medical
device-indicating it had not been proven safe and effective. Despite
continuing controversy, ECT machines have never been put the test in
controlled trials because manufacturers and ECT practitioners were
adamantly
opposed. The question is, WHY?

If ECT does not cause cognitive damage and memory loss, why have its
proponents failed to conduct a test that will prove them right?

The reason behind ECT practitioners' fierce opposition to performing
controlled clinical trials may found in a 1978 article by Max Fink in
the
official journal of the Psychopathological Association:
"The principle complications of EST  [ECT] are death, brain damage,
memory
impairment, and spontaneous seizures. These complications are similar
to
head trauma to which EST has been compared." [10]
Indeed, a cumulative body of evidence confirmed ECT's brain damaging
effects. [11]

Ardent ECT promoters regularly go to battle when threatened with
restricted
use:
By 1983, 26 states had passed statutes restricting ECT and 6 others
established regulations. In 1985, the National Institutes of Health
(NIH)
issued a Consensus Statement confirming: "It is [ ] well established
that
ECT produces memory deficits. Deficits in memory function, which have
been
demonstrated objectively and repeatedly, persist after the termination
of a
normal course of ECT." [12] Threatened with restrictions, ECT's
torchbearers
began a propaganda campaign, vehemently denying evidence of lasting
memory
loss, while resolutely avoiding an examination of the impact of ECT on
memory and cognition

Dr. Fink's pronouncements border on missionary zeal, if not
megalomania.
In 1983, he declared: "If there is no SUBSTANTIAL evidence of brain
impairment, then there is NO evidence for brain impairment." [13]
In 1996, he stated: "ECT is one of God's gifts to mankind. There is
nothing
like it, nothing equal to it in efficacy or safety in all of
psychiatry."
[14]
He pronounced ECT an "effective treatment of patients with major
depression,
delusional depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, catatonia,
neuroleptic malignant syndrome, and parkinsonism.. No age or systemic
condition bars its use." [15]
"Adverse effects on memory have been minimized to the point of being
undetectable, by any means of assessment, six weeks after completion of
treatment." [16]

In 2002, Dr. Fink promoted the use of ECT for children, disregarding
the
profound harm that he himself had documented but now vehemently denies:
"Until demonstrations of untoward consequences are recorded, we should
not
deny the possible benefits of biological treatments to children on the
prejudice that these treatments affect brain functions." [17]

Shock Waives in the Shock Community:

In 2000, the tightly knit ECT cottage industry was confronted with the
most
serious challenge to their vehement public denials that persistent
memory
loss is a risk of ECT. The central supporting stone was pulled from
ECT's
house of clay by Harold Sackeim, Ph.D., an equally prominent ECT
advocate
arguably the most prolific ECT researcher. In an astonishingly candid
editorial in the Journal of ECT, he explicitly validated patients'
claims,
acknowledging that consistent evidence exists documenting that:
"virtually all patients experience some degree of persistent and
likely permanent amnesia. It has also become clear that for rare
patients
the retrograde amnesia due to ECT can be profound, with the memory loss
extending back years prior to receipt of the treatment." [18]
Sackeim further conceded that ECT causes frontal lobe damage
significantly
affecting the brain's executive functions: including working memory,
logical
reasoning and abstraction, problem solving, planning and organizing.
Dr. Sackeim, who simultaneously headed the ECT divisions at Columbia
University and New York Cornell, was the recipient of tens of millions
of
dollars in NIMH research grants collecting data on its effects for two
decades. He was, therefore, in possession of evidence demonstrating
that the
profession's failure to provide evidence of cognitive harm and memory
loss
is not evidence that none exists. "As a field, we have more readily
acknowledged the possibility of death due to ECT than the possibility
of
profound memory loss, despite the fact that adverse effects on
cognition are
by far ECT's most common side effects." [18] [AHRP seeks an electronic
copy
of Dr. Sackeim's editorial]  In 2001, Sackeim and his Columbia
University
colleagues reported in JAMA an 84% relapse rate, six months after ECT.
[19]
Seven years after his editorial (2007), he and colleagues published the
data
substantiating his editorial. [20]

"Shock Therapy: A History of Electroconvulsive Treatment in Mental
Illness"
(2007) by Edward Shorter, PhD and David Healy, MD, is not so much a
history
of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) as it is an unreserved endorsement
and
tribute to Max Fink. Oddly, although he is not a named author, Dr. Fink
states on his website that he is "now working on a book on a History of
Convulsive Therapy with Edward Shorter and David Healy."
http://www.hsc.stonybrook.edu/som/psychiatry/fink_m.cfm
Whatever... The book is clearly written at the behest of Dr. Fink-whose
private foundation, Scion Natural Science Association, provided a
$34,900
grant. http://dfcm.utoronto.ca/research/pdf/grants.pdf

The book serves to bolster Dr. Fink's extreme position in his battle
against
those who argue against the continued use of bilateral ECT because it
has
been shown to cause more cognitive damage. Dr. Fink claims unilateral
ECT
(confined to the non-verbal, right side) is not as effective. And the
book
attempts to deflect the fall out from Dr. Sackeim's confessional
editorial,
which Drs. Shorter and Healy acknowledge, "flabbergasted"
psychiatrists.

Chapter 1, "The Penicillin of Psychiatry?" sets the evangelical,
revivalist
tone, and decidedly unscientific framework of the book.
"So clear are the benefits of ECT for patients who might otherwise
commit
suicide, or languish for years in the blackness of depression, that
there
should be little controversy over whether it is safe or effective." [p.
3]
"Why, today, seventy years after its discovery, is ECT highly
stigmatized,
both patients and many physicians? ECT is, in a sense, the penicillin
of
psychiatry." [p.3]

The authors even adopted Dr. Fink's implausible promotional
pronouncements
extolling the virtues of ECT by adamantly denying its previously
acknowledged, harmful effects. These unreferenced pronouncements are
unsupported by empirical evidence:

"Therapeutic convulsions induced by electricity.do not harm the brain
and
can save lives" [p.9]
"There is no doubt that ECT is effective in the prevention of suicide"
[p.
97]
"There is no known occurrence of brain damage associated with ECT." [p.
104]

"ECT does not lend itself well to abuse because it is painless: the
patient
is immediately unconscious." [p. 94]
"No neurologic sequelae to treatment can be demonstrated." [p. 212]

However, as neurologist, Peter Sterling, MD, noted in his letter in
Nature
(2001),
"ECT damage is easy to find if you look for it."
http://retina.anatomy.upenn.edu/pdfiles/5448.pdf

The credibility of the book is undermined by the authors' heavy
reliance on
Dr. Fink as a source-given his demonstrable bias-and their failure to
present the informed concerns of neurologists who have no stake in this
war.
John Friedberg, MD, the author of Shock Treatment is Not Good for Your
Brain, (1976) was the first neurologist to raise objections against its
use.
In 1977 he wrote in the American Journal of Psychiatry: "Like other
insults
to the brain, ECT produces EEG abnormalities.The potency of ECT as an
amnestic exceeds that of severe closed head injury with coma."[21] He
reviewed the ECT data from six states that mandate reporting of adverse
ECT
effects, and found evidence of brain damage and memory loss. He noted
that
ECT proponents' data frequently belie their claimed findings.

Rather than address the mounting empirical evidence documenting the
case
against ECT-which hinges on its short-lived efficacy outweighed by
long-term
memory loss and cognitive harm [11] [22]-Drs. Shorter and Healy employ
psychiatry's time worn ploy. They divert attention from evidence of its
damaging therapeutics. They frame the contentious controversy
surrounding
ECT as an orchestrated political battle by 'anti-psychiatry' forces
against
the profession-exactly as Dr. Fink has done. They blame Scientology,
the
press / media, the movies, and they blame psychologists for
"stigmatizing"
ECT:

"CCHR and the Church of Scientology have since consistently been the
most
sustained critics of psychiatry and especially of ECT, within the
United
States." [p. 184]
"There is no doubt that in its fantastical depictions of ECT, the movie
industry played a capital role in stigmatizing the procedure." [p. 153]
Ken Kesey's book / movie, "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," is cited 9
times.
Psychologists, the authors suggest, have sided with patients "as a
tactic in
professional rivalry" using memory loss "as a wedge in battering down
the
citadel of medical authority." [p. 242]

A single controlled study is presented by the authors to substantiate
their
efficacy claims. The study, by Drs. Tillotson and Sulzbach, was
conducted in
1945 at McLean Hospital. Its reported positive recovery results are
described twice, [p. 80, p. 96] followed by the exuberant reaction of
ECT
champion, Dr. Kalinowsky, who brought ECT to the US: "In this group,
amazing
recoveries are achieved in the majority of all treated cases." [p. 81]
"Shock Therapy" authors then claim: "Because of the extraordinary
success of
ECT in medicine, by the late 1940s its curative value was understood in
other areas of American society." [p. 81]

They cite malpractice cases judged on the basis of likelihood of ECT's
curative effect, lamenting the good old days when "there were no
anguished
worries about memory loss, no antipsychiatry groups.and no squeamish
psychologists and social workers shying away from a 'brutal' therapy."
[p.82]
However, they fail to present any of the evidence-from scientifically
valid
studies-that might explain why the protests came about. [11] [22]

How can a credible history of ECT fail to present documented evidence
of
brain damage, memory loss, and cognitive deficits, most reported by
credentialed neurologists and psychiatrists, including ECT proponents?

For example, a 1986 controlled study comparing the brain scans of 101
depressed patients who had received ECT with the scans of 52 normal
volunteers. The study, not intended as an ECT evaluation, found a
significant relationship between ECT treatment with brain atrophy. The
study
also showed that the brain abnormalities correlated only with ECT, and
not
with age, gender, severity of illness, or other variables. [23]

As early as 1950, Dr. Irving Janis, (1950) of Yale University conducted
a
series of well-designed, matched controlled follow-up studies. [24]
These
studies are recognized as methodologically unique in the ECT scientific
literature: their importance is noted by neurologists, independent
scientists, and patients. His method directly addressed the concern of
the
patients and to date is considered the most sensitive and
scientifically
valid.  Janis studied the effects of ECT on depressed patients' memory
by
testing them before and after ECT-and by comparing their memory loss
with
matched controls who had not undergone ECT. By examining patients'
memories
2 ½ to 3 ½ months after ECT-and following some of the patients in a
year
long follow up study-Janis could determine whether an individual
patient
showed changes in memory, and whether the ECT group differed from the
matched group of controls.  Janis reported that ALL ECT patients had
"profound, extensive" amnesia for at least 10 to 20 life experiences.
The
controls, who had not been subjected to ECT, had no memory
difficulties.  No
one has raised serious criticism of the Janis studies. Despite the fact
that
such tests are easy to carry out, no ECT researcher has attempted to
replicate them. Why?

Irving Janis is not even accorded a citation in the index--his findings
are
misrepresented:
"One possibility was that patients actually learned a protective
amnesia, as
opposed to having amnesia directly caused by the treatment." [p. 209]

The authors dismiss patients' testimonies and trivialize their concerns
about memory loss: "In informed circles, serious memory loss has seldom
been
considered real." [p.111] The arrogance betrayed by that statement
mirrors
the dismissive indifference shown by FDA officials who characterized
concerns about an increased suicide risk linked to SSRI antidepressants
as a
"public relations" problem.
http://ahrp.blogspot.com/2007/09/alison-bass-hits-bulls-eye-in-op-ed.html

Drs. Shorter and Healy attribute implausible political power and
influence
to the victims of ECT while failing to discuss the evidence presented
in
recently published authoritative reports. For example, the first-ever,
government sponsored, systematic review of patients' views on ECT
(2003)
[25] was so compelling, it led the UK National Institute for Health and
Clinical Excellence (NICE) to issue new guidelines recommending
cognitive
assessment after each ECT for memory loss; that treatment be stopped if
adverse cognitive effects manifest; the use of validated psychometric
scales; and inclusion of user perspectives on the impact of ECT, and
the
incidence and impact of important side effects such as cognitive
functioning. [26]

The review analyzed 26 studies, 19 conducted by scientists, 7 by former
patients. The findings confirmed other independent analyses: ECT's
efficacy
is short-lived while 30% of patients suffer lasting biographical memory
loss
after ECT. The authors of "Shock Therapy" disparage the review because
of
the presence of former patients on the NICE committee, suggesting: "the
line
between research and advocacy can be a thin one." [p. 249]
"it is not inconceivable that.the Mind representatives heavily
influenced
the document." [p. 250]

Instead of addressing the legitimate medical concerns and the evidence,
the
authors invoke a mystery-shrouded faith: "Why convulsive therapy,
giving
patients epileptic seizures, should be restorative in psychiatric
illness
remains a mystery even today." [p.6]
"The charge of brain damage from ECT is an urban myth, one first put
forward
by the development of a rival therapy, Vienna's Manfred Sakel, who
tried
hard to subvert his competition." [p. 3]

The book was launched on Oct. 24, 3007 at the New York Academy of
Medicine
by Edward Shorter, Max Fink, and Lee Wachtel, MD, who comprised a panel
discussing: The History of Convulsive Therapy from Depression to
Autism:
Past Uses, Future Possibilities.
http://www.nyam.org/initiatives/im-histearch.shtml

Dr. Wachtel is Medical Director and attending child psychiatrist of the
Neurobehavioral Unit at the Kennedy Krieger Institute, with particular
interest in the use of ECT for autistic children.  So this book's
launching
was a step toward market expansion with Dr. Fink leading the way by
targeting children for Shock therapy-just as psychiatry's other radical
practitioners are targeting children for expanded use of
antipsychotics. Dr.
David Healy did not attend the book launching.

Accompanying articles to be posted on the AHRP blog:
1. Peter Sterling, MD. Testimony to: New York State Assembly Committee
on
Mental Health Mental Retardation & Developmental Disabilities, July 18,
2001.
2. Sackeim, Harold A. Memory and ECT: From Polarization to
Reconciliation.
Journal of ECT. 16(2):87-96, June 2000.


REFERENCES

1. Richard Abrams, MD Food and Drug Administration Action Is Required,
editorial, Arch Gen Psychiatry 2000; 57:445-446

2. Sterling, P. Testimony Prepared for the Standing Committee on Mental
Health of the Assembly of the State of New York. October 5, 1978.
http://www.ect.org/effects/testimony.html;

3. Kallinowsky, L. Cited by Whitaker, Mad In America, p. 99 Ref. 2.

4. Myerson, A. Borderline cases treated by Shock, Amer. J Psychiatry,
100
(1943): 355-357.

5. UK ECT Review Group (2003) Efficacy and safety of electroconvulsive
therapy in depressive disorders: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
Lancet, 361, 799-808

6. Fink, M. Effect of anticholinergic agent, Diethazine, on EEG and
behavior, Archives of Neurology and Psychiatry 80 (1958):380-386.
In 1966, Fink indicated that his research showed a positive "relation
between clinical improvement and the production of brain damage or an
altered state of brain function." See: Fink, M. Cholinergic aspects of
convulsive therapy, Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease 142
(1966):475-481.  And in his 1979 textbook, Dr. Fink wrote: "A more
prominent
neurological sequel to seizures is the change in mental state and the
development of an organic mental syndrome.an organic psychosis may
occur
with few treatments."  See:  Fink, M. Convulsive Therapy: Theory and
Practice, Raven Press, New York, 1979. Cited by Whitaker, R. Mad in
America,
p. 102, Ref. 2.

7. For example, Richard Abrams, MD does not usually disclose in his
academic
writings that he is President of Somantics, the manufacturer of the
Thymatron ECT device. See:  Cameron D. ECT: Sham Statistics, the Myth
of
Convulsive Therapy, and the Case for Consumer Misinformation,  Journal
of
Mind and Behavior Winter and Spring 1994, Vol. 15, Pages 177-198. See
also:
Dukakis, K., & Tye, L. Shock: The healing power of electroconvulsive
therapy. (2006). New York: Avery. Furthermore, in sworn court
testimony, ECT
proponents acknowledged their financial conflicts of interest-as will
be
documented in a forthcoming book by Linda Andre.

8. Dr. Fink's videotaped informed consent instructions for ECT are
distributed by Somantics, manufactures of ECT machines. Its owner,
Richard
Abrams, is a close ally of Dr. Fink. [See Ref. 1 above] Given Dr.
Fink's
adamant denial that ECT efficacy is short lived, whereas memory loss
and
cognitive impairments for as many as 30% of patients persist-his
standard
for informed consent is invalid. However, such signed consents may
serve as
liability protection for practitioners.

9. American Psychiatric Association. Report of the Task Force on
Electroconvulsive Therapy. 1978.  Survey pp..1-6.

10. Fink M. "Efficacy and safety of induced seizures (ES) in Man.
Comprehensive Psychiatry 19, 1978. Cited by Peter Breggin MD,
psychiatry's
most dreaded, evidence-based critic, in: Toxic Psychiatry, p.199, Ref.
23.

11. Evidence of brain damage,1980+
See: Templer DI, Veleber DM. Can ECT permanently harm the brain?
Clinical
Neuropsychology 1982; 4(2): 62-66; Calloway SP, Dolan RJ, Jacoby RJ,
Levy R.
ECT and cerebral atrophy.  Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica 1981; 64:
442-445.
A retrospective CAT-scan and case review study of 41; Calloway SP and
Dolan
RJ. Ect and cerebral damage Br J Psychiatry.1982; 140: 103a; Templer,
DI and
Veleber, DM. Can ECT permanently harm the brain? Clinical
Neuropsychology
(1982), 4(2): 62-66; Devinsky O, Duchowny MS. Seizures after convulsive
therapy: a retrospective case survey, Neurology. 1983 Jul;33(7):921-5;
Templer DI. "ECT and permanent brain damage." In Preventable Brain
Damage,
Templer DI, Hartlage LC, Cannon WG, eds. New York: Springer Publishing
Co.,
1992; Yousseff and Yousseff Time to Abandon Electroconvulsion as a
Treatment
in Modern Psychiatry, Advances In Therapy Volume 16 No. 1, 1999; Sha
PJ,
Glabus MF, Goodwin GM, Embeier KP. Chronic, treatment-resistant
depression
and right fronto-striatal atrophy. British Journal of Psychiatry 2002;
180:
434-440.

See also: comprehensive ECT bibliography on PsychRights Law Project:
http://psychrights.org/index.htm
See also: annotated bibliography by Linda Andre:
http://psychrights.org/Research/Digest/Electroshock/AndreBibliography.htm
See also: links to many ECT studies:
http://www.ect.org/resources/studies.html

12. Electroconvulsive Therapy. National Institutes of Health Consensus
Development Conference Statement June 10-12, 1985, 5 (11):1-23.

13. Fink M. ECT-Verdict: Not Guilty, Behavioral and Brain Sciences 7,
1984:26-27.
14. Fink quoted in Boodman, SG. Shock Therapy.It's Back, The Washington
Post
September 24 1996, Page Z14
15. Fink M, Convulsive therapy: a review of the first 55 years, J
Affective
Disorders 2001 Mar;63 (1-3):1-15.
16. Fink, M. ELECTROSHOCK: Restoring the Mind. New York: Oxford
University
Press, 1999.
17. Fink, M.  Pediatric ECT: Electroconvulsive Therapy in Adolescents
and
Children; Catatonia in Adolescents and Children, Psychiatric Times
September
2002 Vol. XIX Issue 9.

18. Sackeim, Harold A. Memory and ECT: From Polarization to
Reconciliation.
Journal of ECT. 16(2):87-96, June 2000.

19. Sackeim HA, Haskett RF, Mulsant BH, Thase ME, Mann JJ, Pettinati
HM,
Greenberg RM, Crowe RR, Cooper TB, Prudic J. Continuation
pharmacotherapy in
the prevention of relapse following electroconvulsive therapy: a
randomized
controlled trial. JAMA. 2001 Mar 14;285(10):1299-307.

20. Sackeim H, Prudic J, Fuller R,  Keilp J, Lavori P, Olfson M. The
Cognitive Effects of Electroconvulsive Therapy in Community Settings
Neuropsychopharmacology (2007) 32, 244-254.
http://www.ect.org/wp-content/uploads/2007/01/1301180a.pdf

21. Friedberg, J. Shock Treatment is Not Good for Your Brain, San
Francisco,
Glide Publications, 1976; Friedberg, J. Shock Treatment, Brain Damage,
and
Memory Loss: A Neurological Perspective, American Journal of
Psychiatry,
134(9) September 1977. pp: 1010-1013.

22. Evidence of memory loss, 1980+
Freeman CP, Weeks D, Kendell RE. ECT II: Patients who complain. Br J
Psychiatry 1980; 137:8-16; Squire LR, Slater PC. Electroconvulsive
therapy
and complaints of memory dysfunction: a prospective three-year
follow-up
study. British Journal of Psychiatry 1983; 142: 1-8; Daniel WF, and
Crovitz
H.F.. Acute memory impairment following electroconvulsive therapy,
Veterans
Administration Hospital, Acta psychiatr. Scand. 1983:67:1-7; Weiner RD,
Rogers HJ, Davidson JR, Squire LR. Effects of stimulus parameters on
cognitive side effects.  Ann NY Acad Sci 1986;462: 315-325; Squire LR,
Slater PC. Electroconvulsive therapy and complaints of memory
dysfunction: a
prospective three-year follow-up study. British Journal of Psychiatry
1983;
142: 1-8; Weiner RD, Rogers HJ, Davidson JR, Squire LR. Effects of
stimulus
parameters on cognitive side effects.  Ann NY Acad Sci 1986;462:
315-325;
Squire LR, Zouzounis JA. Self-ratings of memory dysfunction: different
findings in depression and amnesia. Journul of CIIRICLII und
Experimental
Neuropsychology 1988; I O(6): 727-738. Diehl DJ, Keshavan MS, Kanal E,
et al
Post-ECT increases in T2 relaxation times and their relationship to
cognitive side effects: a pilot study. Psychiatry Res 1994 (November);
54(2): 177-184;  Calev A, Gaudino E, Squires N.K, Zervas I.M and Fink
M.
ECT and non-memory cognition: A review, British Journal of Clinical
Psychology 34 (1995), 505-515; Coleman EZ, Sackeim HA, Prudic J,
Devanand
DP, McElhiney MC. Moody BJ. Subjective memory complaints prior to and
following electroconvulsive therapy. Biol Psychiatry 1996; 39:346-356.

See also: comprehensive ECT bibliography on PsychRights Law Project:
http://psychrights.org/index.htm
See also: annotated bibliography by Linda Andre:
http://psychrights.org/Research/Digest/Electroshock/AndreBibliography.htm
See also: links to many ECT studies:
http://www.ect.org/resources/studies.html

23. Dolan et al. The cerebral appearance in depressed patients.
Psychological Medicine 1986; 16: 775-779. See also: Freeman C.P.L.,
Basson
J.V., and Crighton A. Double-Blind Controlled Trial of
Electroconvulsive
Therapy (E.C.T.) and Simulated E.C.T. in Depressive Illness, The
Lancet,
April 8, 1978;  Squire LR, Slater PC. Electroconvulsive therapy and
complaints of memory dysfunction: a prospective three-year follow-up
study.
British Journal of Psychiatry 1983; 142: 1-8;

24. Janis, I. (1948) Memory loss following electric convulsive
treatments.
J. Personality 17:29; Janis, I. (1950a) Psychologic effects of electric
convulsive treatments. I. Post-treatment  amnesias. J. Nerv. & Ment.
Dis
111:359-382; Janis, I. (1950b) Psychologic effects of electric
convulsive
treatments. II. Changes in word association reactions. J. Nerv. & Ment.
Dis
111:383-397; Janis, I. and Astrachan, M. (1951) The effects of
electroconvulsive treatments on memory efficiency. J. Abnormal & Soc.
Psychol. 46:501

25. Robertson H & Pryor R. Memory and cognitive effects of ECT:
informing
and assessing patients, Advances in Psychiatric Treatment (2006), vol.
12,
228-238
http://apt.rcpsych.org/cgi/content/abstract/12/3/228

26. NICE ECT Guidelines, 2003: http://www.nice.org.uk/TA059


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


_______________________________________________

psychiatric disorders are a fraud

2007-11-01T22:34:00.000-07:00

Dr. Fred Baughman

Email: fredbaughmanmd@cox.net

Retired neurologist/child neurologist

No affiliation was given

Competing Interests: I am a retired neurologist/child neurologist, board certified, with no financial conflicts of interest, with no affiliations with orgs, institutions having such conflicts. Formerly I was a March of Dimes/National Foundation scholar and published considerably from a private practice base. I am author of a book THE ADHD FRAUD--How Psychiatry Makes "Patients" of Normal Children www.Trafford.com . I have testified widely re the absense of proof that any psychiatric disorders have been validated as objective abnormalities/diseases. It is this fraud I write and testify about. Most recently I testified at hearings at the FDA (3/22-23/06) and before the Congress of Mexico, 3/23/06.

Submitted Date: May 11, 2006

Published: May 15, 2006

************************************************************************************

Canadian neurologists do not expose ECT

2007-11-01T22:11:00.000-07:00

Above is a picture of Dr. Fred Baughman, a neurologist from the USA who has publicly spoken out
about the harm done by psychiatric drugs and by electroshock (ECT). Not one Canadian psychologist nor psychiatrist has publicly spoken out against any of the above. None have the courage to speak out and they should. Many people in Canada are being damaged.

From: Don Weitz

To: Fred Baughman

Sent: Thursday, November 01, 2007 1:04 PM

Subject: Re: PPEN # 225: The Unproven and Unprovable Brain Chemical Imbalance Hypothesis: "Fact or Pseudoscience?"

Hi Dr. Baughman-

I wish there were courageous doctors like you and Breggin in Canada -

so far NOT ONE Canadian neurologist has publicly criticized neuroleptics, antidepressants, Ritalin, ADHD - they won't even criticize the ECT oxymoron "therapeutic seizure" as medical nonsense, and refuse to acknowledge that electroshock causes any brain damage

like the psychiatrists, Canadian neurologists are a bunch of gutless wimps!

Don
***********************************************************************
From: Fred Baughma
To: Gary Kohls
Sent: Thursday, November 01, 2007 12:11 PM
Subject: Re: PPEN # 225: The Unproven and Unprovable Brain Chemical Imbalance Hypothesis: "Fact or Pseudoscience?"
Preventive Psychiatry E-Newsletter # 225

Do “Chemical Imbalances”/ Psychiatric “Diseases” Really Exist, Or-

Is “Biological” Psychiatry Pseudoscience?

By Fred A. Baughman Jr., MD

Author of “The ADHD Fraud—

How Psychiatry Make “Patients” of Normal Children”

http://www.trafford.com/4dcgi/view-item?item=9628

On the June 24, 2005 Today Show, Tom Cruise charged that (1) "there is no such thing as a chemical imbalance in the body," and (2) that psychiatry is a "pseudoscience.” Throughout the research and practice of psychiatry and mental health, research subjects and patients are spoken of as having “chemical imbalances” of the brain, by which is meant a “disorder”/”disease”/”abnormality” of the brain. Tom Cruise isn’t the only person saying there is no such thing as a “chemical imbalance”/”disease”--“the patients are normal!” On a follow-up Today Show, that of Monday, June 27, Harvard psychiatrist, Joseph Glenmullen affirmed that there is no such thing as a “chemical imbalance.” Nor was Steven Sharstein, MD of the American Psychiatric Association able to rebut Glenmullen.

Most convincing of all, nowhere in the medical scientific literature is there proof that depression or any other psychiatric, diagnostic entity is an actual disease, having—as it must—a gross/macroscopic, microscopic, or chemical abnormality. Instead, all psychiatric/psychological/mental entities are made up of combinations of subjective symptoms. This is what sets psychiatry/psychology/mental health apart from the rest of medicine. In regard to what is a disease and what is not, it is not important what Tom Cruise, Joseph Glenmullen, the DSM Committee, or a majority of psychiatrists think—what is important is whether or not an original case report proving a disease’s confirming, characteristic, abnormality is present in the scientific literature or not.

In 1969, I (and my colleagues) discovered and described the Glioma-Polyposis Syndrome. The reference, as for all actual diseases, is: Baughman, F. A., Jr., List, C. F., Williams, J. R., Muldoon, J. P., Segarra, J. M.: The Glioma-Polyposis Syndrome. New England Journal of Medicine, 281:1345-1346, 1969. Further, as is often required by editors of quality journals, we submitted microscopic slides for their review as requested by the editors.

Two subsequent articles appeared in WebMD challenging Tom Cruise’s Today Show charges. In the first Nada Stotland [1], MD, MPH, professor of psychiatry at Chicago's Rush University, stated: “…we can see differences between brain images of someone who is depressed and someone who is not depressed. And we if we give medications, the brain of the depressed person goes back to looking like a person not depressed."

Here, Stotland, no doubt, refers to functional brain imaging which provides pictures that correlate with the state of being depressed, in a normal person, but do not demonstrate an abnormality/disease. Asserting that such scans distinguish between “someone who is depressed and someone who is not, and going on to say that medication restores the scan to one “looking like a person not depressed,” leaves no doubt that Stotland is claiming to have diagnosed and successfully treated an objective abnormality (abnormality = disease; no abnormality = normal = disease-free) when that is not so.

Asserting that such scans distinguish between “someone who is depressed and someone who is not, and going on to say that medication restores the scan to one “looking like a person not depressed,” leaves no doubt that Stotland is claiming to have diagnosed and successfully treated an objective abnormality/disease, when that is absolutely not the case.

Stating there is no more debate than is witnessed over drugs used in other fields of medicine, Stotland, is asserting that psychiatry deals with diseases just as do other medical specialties. In fact, she is on record as saying just this. In a “special advertising feature” in the November 20, 2001, Family Circle magazine, Stotland claimed: “Depression is associated with changes in brain chemistry…” “Antidepressants are not ‘uppers’…” “They restore brain chemistry to normal.” “No woman needs to suffer from this terrible disease.” Again, no known or detectible abnormality—gross, microscopic or chemical--has been found in depression or any single, psychiatric diagnosis/disorder. With no abnormality known or demonstrable, it cannot be said there is an abnormal phenotype (abnormal phenotype = macroscopic, microscopic or chemical abnormality = disease) due to an abnormal genotype (abnormal gene or chromosome). With no chemical abnormality proven, it cannot, legitimately be said that antidepressants “…restore brain chemistry to normal.” So much for Stotland’s claims that depression is a disease. It is not Cruise who is wrong or lying, it is Stotland, a physician, responsible—as all physicians are--for distinguishing abnormality/disease from the state of being normal/disease-free.

In the second WebMD article [2] to weigh-in on the Cruise-instigated “chemical imbalance” debate, psychiatrist Darrel Regier, MD, MPH, director of research for the American Psychiatric Association--APA states: "It is clear that antidepressants which focus on altering the neurotransmission of norepinephrine and serotonin are effective in the treatment of depression.”. What Regier suggests is that because drugs that affect the norepinephrine and serotonin systems “work” on depression, there must be an abnormality of these chemical systems. Nowhere does he reference proof of a chemical, microscopic or macroscopic abnormality in depression confirming it is an actual disease, as they invariably claim.

Despite the fact that no psychiatric entity--depression included--has been proved to be an abnormality disease, it is standard practice, both in psychiatric research and practice to state or imply to research subjects and patients alike, that they are “chemically imbalanced” “abnormal”/ “diseased” thus abrogating their right to informed consent while hopelessly biasing them against non-biological interventions in favor of biological interventions such as drugs, ECT and psychosurgery. Not only are they lied to from within by psychiatric researchers, teachers, social workers, physicians and other mental health professionals, they are lied to from without through the press releases of organized psychiatry—the APA, NIMH, all of psychiatric and psychological academia, and through ads from the pharmaceutical industry (such as the Zoloft “chemical imbalance” ad that pops up incessantly throughout the pages of WebMD) countenanced by the FDA and FTC who know full-well that the “chemical imbalance” lie is nothing but a market stratagem, but who opt to allow it and continue to aid and abet the deception.

With the “chemical imbalance” lie having been made our “common knowledge,” virtually all “biological” psychiatric/psychological/mental health research is invalidated.

Psychiatrist Defends Psychiatric Drug Use—Experts Warn Patients Not to Stop Medication After Tom Cruise Comment. Daniel DeNoon, WebMD Medical News, June 28, 2005; Reviewed by Michael Smith, MD

Battle Brews Over Antidepressant Use—Researchers Say They Are Ineffective and Overused. Salynn Boyles, WebMD Medical News, July 15, 2005; Reviewed by Michael Smith, MD

************************************************************************************

Pro Shock Book Out - OH NO!!

2007-10-30T22:02:00.000-07:00

CAPA Press Release Oct 5, 2007

2007-10-20T04:24:00.000-07:00

For Immediate Release - October 5,2007

A Coalition Against Psychiatric Assault Press Statement

NEW STUDY PROVES ELECTROSHOCK ("ECT") DAMAGES CONCLUSIVELY

CAPA CALLS FOR ACTION

A new and extensive study by psychiatrist and long-time shock promoter Harold Sackeim puts the lie to what psychiatrists have been claiming for decades about electroshock. The research, which was reported in Neuropsychopharmacology 2007, 32, 244-254, tracked 347 electroshock survivors for six months after treatment. This is the most extensive research ever conducted on electroshock and proves conclusively that electroshock therapy, or electroconvulsive therapy, otherwise known as ECT causes lasting memory and mental impairment. Psychiatrists have long denied such damage or claimed that problems such as memory impairment and other impairment are created by some types of electroshock but not others. The study proves statistically and conclusively, however, that memory and other cognitive impairment is caused by all forms of electroshock, including shock commonly described as new, safe, and improved. Moreover, that the impairment is lasting. It also proves statistically two other important claims long held by anti-shock activists:

1) that women are more damaged by electroshock than men.
2) that the elderly are more damaged that the younger.
"Advancing age, lower premorbid intellectual function, and female gender," concludes Sackeim, "were associated with greater cognitive deficits."

Given that shock is disproportionately given to women and to the elderly (See Burstow, Violence Against Women, 2006), these scientific findings are harrowing. It also makes the sabotage of accurate shock statistics on the part of the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care even more alarming (See Cribb, The Toronto Star, September 28, p.A8).

On the basis of these new findings, CAPA (Coalition Against Psychiatric Assault) calls on government to cease and desist shocking its citizens, to find ways to protect its citizens, and in particular, to find a way of protecting the people who, tragically, are the primary targets of ECT as well as the ones most hurt by ECT--women and the elderly.

On the basis of these findings, additionally, we demand that henceforth, medical information given to shock recipients that omits, denies, or minimizes the reality of the lasting cognitive damage be treated as instances of fraud, violations of informed consent, and prosecuted accordingly. We likewise demand that accurate, timely, and gender and age specific electroshock statistics be made readily available to the public.

The public has a right to be protected from treatment proven to impair cognitive functions.

Medical professionals should not be able to get away with giving people blatantly inaccurate information about damaging treatments. The public has a right to know.

CAPA Contacts: Dr. Bonnie Burstow (416) 538-7103; Don Weitz (416) 545-0796. For copy of article, see CAPA website: capa.oise.utoronto.ca
-----------

The CAPA websites are: http://capa.oise.utoronto.ca
http://capacanada.wordpress.com

2007-09-29T06:14:00.000-07:00

Above is a picture of Heather Bruce who interviewed Sue on the Sound Mind Radio Show - CKCU Ottawa on April 25, 2007

I was on the Sound Mind Radio show in Ottawa on April 25th. Heather Bruce interviewed me.
I spoke about my life and about the electroshock I had etc. Don Weitz called me after the radio
show and said he liked the way I spoke out about psychiatry. Don is very supportive of me and has been for almost 20 years now.

After the radio show, I emailed Heather for a cassette tape of the radio show and she said she would mail me a copy of the cassette tape. After a month I sent an email asking Heather for the cassette tape and she told me that the Sound Mind office was being renovated and that she would send me a copy as soon as she could.

About two months later she said she would send me a copy of the cassette. For three more months
I waited. I told her I was not impressed and would not be a guest on the radio show again.

Yesterday, after 5 months, on September 28th she told me to come in with a blank CD and copy the tape myself. I told her to forget it and I did not have time to waste going down to the radio show.
I told her I would call it a bad experience and that she did not treat me fairly and she did not.

One excuse after another and I have not yet received the tape of the radio show.

It goes to show you that some people in radio are not nice. You would expect a guest on the radio show to treated with respect. Some things in life are not fair and this one example.

2007-09-10T04:31:00.000-07:00

KITTY DUKAKIS PROMOTES HER BOOK & SHOCK - OCT. 15
from Don Weitz (dweitz@pathcom.com)
some survivors & human rights groups shoulddemonstrate against this pro-shock event featuring Kitty Dukakis on Oct 15 at Northeastern U in Mass - info below
Don
-------------------------
Subject: Ford Hall Forum on ECT

"Shock" - Kitty Dukakis, Michael Dukakis, & Larry Tye
October 15th , 6:30-8pm, Raytheon Auditorium, Egan Research Ctr, Northeastern
University - Book signing will follow lecture and discussion.

"After suffering for decades from severe depression, substance abuse problems, and hospitalizations, Kitty Dukakis now credits her recovery to electroconvulsive therapy (ECT). Opponents of ECT would like to see the
treatment banned on the basis of its common side effects, such as memory loss. Many patients say these are a small price to pay for control over a disabling condition. Governor Michael Dukakis and author Larry Tye join
Kitty Dukakis for a discussion on how this medical treatment - along with the support of family and loved ones - can potentially help individualsthrough the horrors of clinical depression."

Information: 617-373-5800
HYPERLINK "mailto:info@fordhallforum.neu.edu"info@fordhallforum.-neu.edu
HYPERLINK "http://www.fordhallforum.org"www.fordhallforum.-org

The Anti-Electroshock Proclamation

2007-08-02T14:53:00.000-07:00

Above is a picture of Dr. Bonnie Burstow

The Anti-Electroshock Proclamation
We who care,
We who are committed to decency,
We who behold with horror the disrespect for humans around us
We who shudder at the knowledge
Of women whose memory has been turned into ember and ashes,
Of families brutally torn asunder by pulse waves or sine waves
Of the elderly, whose final life reward is electrocution,
We who hold this fearful knowledge can be silent no longer.
LEGISLATORS, on this Mother's Day, we hold you directly accountable and call
On you to withdraw your authorization for electroshock
FELLOW CITIZENS who think this "practice" stopped decades ago, on this
Mother's Day
We tell you that the carnage continues and that you too are responsible.
On this Mother's Day, May 13, 2007, as survivors and allies, we come together to
Raise our voices to protest
And we vow to return
Return,
And return again
Until this abomination

Is no more.

Written and read aloud by Bonnie Burstow on May 13, 2007, Mother's Day, in Toronto during the anti-shock demonstration STOP SHOCKING OUR MOTHERS AND GRANDMOTHERS.

Bonnie Burstow co-founded with Don Weitz the Coalition Against Psychiatric Assault (CAPA). CAPA's websites:
http://capa.oise.utoronto.ca
http://capacanada.wordpress.com

Sue to be on two radio shows in August

2007-07-28T12:08:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone, I will be two radio shows in August that you can listen to:

August 29th, Wednesday at 4 p.m. EST
I was on David's radio show. I emailed David before the show and told him I had a mini stroke and I sometimes say the wrong thing for what I want to say and that sometimes I slur my words as I have
Bell's Palsy on the left side of my face and he graciously emailed back and said not to worry that the
radio show would be fun and it was. I have done lots of radio show but after my stroke I was not feeling as confident as I was before. David made me feel at ease and we had fun and it was a good radio show.

I talked about my life and about my 18 years of being psychiatrized from 1972 - 90. I forgot to give the title of my online book which is called "Behind the Locked Ward - The Sue Clark Story " and it can be found at the URL: http://symclark.blogspot.com. Karen called me from Oregon with a question about kids labelled with ADHD. I referred Karen to Dr. John Breeding of Texas who does not believe kids should be labelled at all nor given psychiatric drugs. His website is at the URL: http://www.wildestcolts.com Don Weitz called in from Toronto. South Africa Mindfreedom sent in an email. I want to thank David for being an excellent host and interview and for inviting me on his show. I also want to thank Karen, Don Weitz, and Mindfreedom South Africa and to all that listened. This radio show will be in the archives so you can listen to it later. It was a good experience. David is a nice man and a good person who has been fighting psychiatric oppression for almost 30 years now. His website is at the URL: http://www.mindfreedom.org

It was a pleasure to be on David's radio show. I listen to David's radio every Wednesday at 4 p.m.
a radio show not to miss!
************************************************************************************

Sue Clark: electroshock survivor & activist

by David W. Oaks — www.mindfreedom.org David's email: oaks@mindfreedom.org

Wednesday, 29 August 2007, at 4 pm ET, "click and listen" to a live interview with electroshock-survivor SUE CLARK in Ontario, Canada. Phone in with your questions & comments live. Host is David Oaks.

Sue Clark: electroshock survivor activist from Ontario, Canada

This Wednesday, 29 August 2007, 4 pm ET:

Sue Clark of Canada on MindFreedom Free Live Internet Radio

Sue Clark-Wittenberg is a survivor of electroshock, also known as electroconvulsive therapy or ECT.

During the 18-year period from 1972 to 1990, Sue was diagnosed with 15 different psychiatric labels, prescribed 14 different types of psychiatric drugs, and was locked up in a variety of psychiatric institutions in Ontario, Canada.

Sue says, "I was tortured with electroshock in 1973 at the age of l7 years old which was given to me against my will. On my 5th ECT my heart stopped and I had to be revived." Sue says she suffers from permanent memory loss and has a difficult time learning new things to this day.

Sue and her husband Steven Wittenberg founded The Wittenberg Center to End Electroshock in Ottawa. Says Sue, "We are working with others all around the world to ban ECT universally."

For more info see her web site: http://wittenbergces.blogspot.com/

The MindFreedom News host is David Oaks, who also sums up the latest "mad news."

Phone numbers to call in live are announced during the show. If you can't get through keep trying. The show may start a minute or two late. You may e-mail in with any questions, comments or technical problems at any time. Your comments may be read live during the show. E-mail to: radio@mindfreedom.org

If you miss the live show this Wednesday, 29 August 2007, at 4 pm ET at http://prncomm.net/, recent shows from the MindFreedom News Hour are archived by Progressive Radio Network here:

http://oaks.progressiveradionetwork.org/

The Story of MindFreedom Free Live Internet Radio

For more than a year, since June 2006, MindFreedom Radio Show has supported a nonviolent revolution in the mental health system. Leaders, authors, activists, mental health professionals, psychiatric survivors and others who are actively changing and challenging the current mental health system have been featured in live interviews. Listeners have called in from around the world.

The weekly show is hosted by psychiatric rights activist David Oaks, director of MindFreedom. David also experienced the mental health system as a youth when he was institutionalized five times and diagnosed "schizophrenic."

The Progressive Radio Network produces the show along with several others from its studio in New York City. PRN was founded by radio personality and health activist leader Gary Null.

If you listen LIVE to the MindFreedom News Hour jot down the toll free call-in number for the USA or the special call-in number for outside the USA as it is announced during the show. Please keep trying, sometimes it takes more than once to get through.

You may e-mail at any time before or during the show to radio@mindfreedom.org. E-mail is checked during the show, and your comments may be read live on "the air." Include where you are calling from. If pronunciation of your name is not obvious please tell us how to do that, or ask us to keep your comment anonymous.

After the distinctive drum beats of the intro music Crazy by Gnarls Barkley, on each MindFreedom News Hour you'll hear a brief summary of the latest news. Then you'll hear an interview about changing the system of care for mental and emotional well being.

Shows have explored the history of the psychiatric survivor movement, innovative alternatives to the conventional mental health system, how psychiatric survivors and concerned mental health professionals are working together on human rights campaigns, and more.

Regular features include updates about breaking stories and networking announcements about successful activism and alternatives.

It's your mind! It's your freedom! Free your mind with the MindFreedom News Hour hosted by David Oaks.

Just click on http://prncomm.net Wednesday at 4 pm eastern time!

Or hear recent archives later at:

http://oaks.progressiveradionetwork.org/

Help create your own media for a nonviolent revolution in mental health. Please spread the word!

Don't miss this radio show on Wednesday, it is great!

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

August 31, Friday at 6:30 p.m. EST

I was on Don Weitz's radio and it was a great radio show. Don is a great interviewer and host. I talked about ECT mostly and about the Wittenberg Center to End Electroshock. I thank Don for giving me the opportunity to be on his radio show. It is always a pleasure to be on Don's radio show. I have known Don for over 20 years. He is a nice man and a good person who has been fighting psychiatric oppression for over 30 years now. His radio show is not to be missed.
*************************************************************************************
Sue will be on Don Weitz's antipsychiatry show on Friday, August 31st at 6:30 p.m. Sue will be discussing her antipsychiatry work and especially her and her husband Steven's work to ban
electroshock. Sue and Steven founded the Wittenberg Center to End Electroshock in May 2007 in Ottawa.

Don Weitz a psychiatric survivor and antipsychiatry activist and anti-ECT activist hosts a show called
"Shrink Rap" on CKLN 88.1 FM in Toronto, Canada. The website for the radio show to listen live is: www.ckln.fm The show is the last Friday of every monthand it starts at 6:30 p.m. EST It is a great show, don't miss it.

Anti-Psychiatry Radio Shows

2007-07-26T05:01:00.001-07:00

DON WEITZ's Shrink Rap Radio Show

Above is a picture of Don Weitz, antipsychiatry activist and anti-ect activist
from Toronto, Ontario, Canada

SHRINK RAP - Don Weitz's hosts this radio show on CKLN (88.1 FM) in Toronto. The show is aired on the last Friday of every month at 6:30 p.m. EST (Eastern Standard Time) This is a fantastic show. The website to listen live to this show is

Harold Sackeim exposed

2007-07-24T08:00:00.000-07:00

Dr. Harold Sackeim exposed. Harold Sackeim has long been a defender of ECT and then he had a study done more or less saying that electroshock damages the brain and now he is saying ECT is the best treatment. See all the articles that quote Harold Sackeim and decide for yourself.

Dr. Peter R. Breggin wrote an article about

Sibile Morency

Shirley Wang

Shirely Wang's ECT article "Shock Value" in Washington Post

2007-07-24T05:57:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone, I just read the ECT article by Shirley Wang, in the Washington Post today. It is a one sided article, pro ECT and I am not surprised as she is completing an internship at Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. Sackeim and Fink are in this article praising ECT.

A disgusting article to say the least. How many brownie points will Wang get from her school for doing this article? The URL for this article is detailed below. You can send a letter to the editor of the Washington post if you like to: letters@washpost.com

Regards, Sue Clark-Wittenberg

Link to article:

www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/20/AR2007072002098.html?hpid=topnews
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I sent the editor of the Washington Post this email today, July 24, 2007

Dear Editor:

I read today the article called "Shock Value" about electroshock (ECT) by Shirley Wang who is completing an internship at the Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic at the University of Pittsburgh.

I am an electroshock survivor who suffers from permanent memory loss and has difficulty learning anything new as a result of having had ECT. This impedes my everyday life significantly.

Shirley Wang's article I feel is biased. She did not interview any electroshock survivors like me who have had adverse effects from ECT

She does not bring up the recent article by Dr. Peter R. Breggin, a psychiatrist in NY State called "Disturbing News for Patients and Shock Doctors Alike" where Dr. Breggin mentions in his article "Something most remarkable and unexpected has occurred in the field of psychiatry. Lead by a lifelong defender and promoter of shock treatment, Harold Sackeim, a team of investigators has recently published a follow up study of 347 patients given the currently available methods of electroshock, including the supposedly most benign forms--and confirmed that electroshock causes permanent brain damage and dysfunction" See the article in full at this URL: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-peter-breggin/

Harold Sackeim is quoted in this article praising ECT, but the information Dr. Breggin had in the above article about Dr. Sackeim was not mentioned. I sent this article to Shirley Wang before she published her article today.

How many brownie points will Shirley Wang get in the field of psychiatry, I can only imagine.

My husband Steven and I founded the Wittenberg Center to End Electroshock. Our center is located in Ottawa. Our center was formed to educate people about the harm caused by electroshock. Our center wants to help ban electroshock universally.

Sue Clark-Wittenberg
Executive Director
The Wittenberg Center
to End Electroshock
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
(613) 721-1833
Websites: http://wittenbergces.blogspot.com
http://psychiatrybuster.blogspot.com

Speak out about ECT at NY hearings

2007-07-23T11:40:00.000-07:00

Stop Forced Shock! Speak out at July 2007 public hearings in New York State!

by David W. Oaks — last modified 2007-07-19 14:27

You can speak out at four (4) public hearings in the next two weeks in New York State to oppose their practice of giving forced, involuntary electroshock over the expressed wishes of the subject!

Say No! New York State government is aggressively pursuing forced electroshock of its citizens.

MindFreedom New York Alert - 19 July 2007
urgent: please forward!

Concerned about forced electroshock in New York State by the Office of Mental Health (OMH)?

Here's how you can speak out!

Go to one of these four (4) OMH public events in the last two weeks of July 2007!

As you may know, the New York Office of mental health is aggressively pursuing involuntary (forced) electroshock over the expressed wishes of some of their clients, such as "Simone D."

Now you can speak out peacefully but forcefully face to face with OMH officials at four (4) OMH public briefings and hearings in the next two weeks.

One event is on the subject of "recipient affairs," and the other three on their "Comprehensive Plan" will include OMH Commissioner Hogan.

~~~~~~~~~~

Brief Background about Forced Shock in NY State:

Courageous attorneys Kim Darrow and Dennis Feld have fought hard for clients facing forced electroshock, also known as electroconvulsive therapy or ECT.

Unfortunately, in the case of Simone D., they lost.

Now Simone's right to say "no" to forced electroshock is in the court of public opinion.

For a news release about this campaign including how to lobby about Simone D. by e-mail go to:

http://www.mindfreedom.org/kb/mental-health-abuse/electroshock

Now New York State residents can speak out directly face-to-face at OMH public events in July 2007!

The Office of Mental Health has announced a number of public events where *YOU* can speak out.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

There are four (4) known OMH public events left in July!

**** RECIPIENT MEETING

An OMH Recipient Advisory Committee will be held on Monday, 23 July 23 2007, at 3 pm, and will continue on Tuesday. We hear these are fairly large events. Just show up early, fill out your own name tag, and join in! Location: Comfort Inn, 99 Miller Road, East Greenbush, New York. Phone for Comfort In: (518) 479-3217.

For more info and directions to this Recipient Affairs meeting on 23 July go to:

http://www.mindfreedom.org/as/act/us/new-york-state/recipient-affairs

**** "COMPREHENSIVE PLAN" MEETINGS

Three (3) briefings and public hearings will also be held with OMH Commissioner Hogan about their "Comprehensive Plan" in these next two weeks!

These three (3) public meetings are on the 20th (Syracuse), 30th (New York City), and 31st (at Pilgrim Psychiatric Center in Long Island). Each of these "Comprehensive Plan" meetings has a 10 am briefing followed by a 2 pm public hearing.

You can find the exact date, time and locations for the three "Comprehensive Plan" hearings here:

http://www.mindfreedom.org/as/act/us/new-york-state/omh-meetings

Or go directly to the OMH web page here:

http://www.omh.state.ny.us/omhweb/News/Briefing_Hearing_Announcement.html

Or use: http://tinyurl.com/ywae4t

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

WHY SPEAK OUT ABOUT FORCED ELECTROSHOCK IN NEW YORK STATE?

OMH Commissioner Hogan intends to be at these hearings asking about their "Comprehensive Plan." In OMH's own words he will ask, "Are services consumer and family centered and consumer and family driven?"

Even one single forced electroshock means the answer is: "No, No, No!"

You are encourage to attend all or any of these four events and speak out!

While of course you may want to sign up early for the public hearing, given the urgency of the situation some individuals may want to consider nonviolent creative ways to make their concerns known at other times during the event including the "briefing": banner, sign, symbol, hand-outs, etc.

Perhaps you can find out some answers.

For instance, at the recipient meetings especially, you can ask why did John Allen, director of OMH Recipient Affairs, claimed to MindFreedom recently that "less than a dozen" New York State citizens received court-ordered electroshock without their consent last year at OMH facilities, and that the number of forced shocks is going down?

What is his data based on? What are the exact numbers?

Why has just one region of NY State, the few counties served by Darrow & Feld, had more than 15 OMH applications for forced shock in just the past six months for 2007, alone? And that's just one region?

Why does OMH claim that Commissioner Hogan's hands are tied by the courts, when John Allen at the same time also claims OMH has been able to take pro-active steps to lower the amount of forced shock in the past few years?

Whether or not OMH actually did lower the number of forced shock in the last few years, by his statement then of course OMH admits to having discretion.

At the very least Commissioner Hogan can make a public announcement of a goal to end forced shock! Commissioner Hogan spoke out during the President's New Freedom Commission that he supported empowerment and self-determination.

Now is his chance to show it!

And isn't it true that each and every court-ordered involuntary electroshock must begin with a REQUEST initiated by OMH to the courts?

Stand up... speak out... spread the word!

Stop Forced Electroshock in New York State!!

~~~~~~~~~

THIS JUST IN!

MindFreedom Free Live Internet Radio will have a special call-in show about forced electroshock in New York State with one or both lawyers for Simone D.! Listen and call-in live by clicking on http://prncomm.net this Wednesday, 25 July 2007, at 4 pm ET.

Info on MindFreedom Internet radio here:

http://www.mindfreedom.org/radio

~~~~~~~~~~

And remember, no matter what, keep up the peaceful pressure on the five New York State officials listed in the human rights alert. It takes you just a moment to e-mail in your concern... about the same time it takes to administer a forced electroshock!

http://www.mindfreedom.org/kb/mental-health-abuse/electroshock

~~~~~~~~~~

More information about NY State, including getting on this news list:

http://www.mindfreedom.org/as/act/us/new-york-state/

More info about MindFreedom, including how to join as a member and get on NY State discussion list:

http://www.mindfreedom.org/

URGENT: Please forward this to others who care about human rights in New York State!

ABC News article on ECT, July 20, 2007

2007-07-21T05:28:00.000-07:00

ABC News reporter Sibile Morency did an article recently about ECT. Don Weitz, Dr. John Breeding, Dr. Peter R. Breggin, and David Oaks are quoted in this article. A job well done by all.
See my comments re this article at the end of this article I posted at the abc.news page

Article URL is:

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=3397685&page=1

Electroshock Therapy Gets a Makeover

Despite Changes, ECT still stirs controversy

By Sibile Morency
July 20, 2007

Amy, a New York resident, had her first electroshock treatment at the age of 72 … and despite the stigma that electroshock is a brutal, outdated procedure for treating psychiatric health, she said it's been a miracle for her.

And it's probably more common than most people believe.

"I started 10 years ago when I was very depressed. I was diagnosed as bipolar. I took medicine -- Prozac, a whole slew of them -- but they didn't help," she said. "Then a psychiatrist told one of my friends that I should have ECT. My friends told me to get ECT. It was the only solution, I couldn't go on the way I was. After ECT, everyone told me it was a miracle."

Amy, who asked that her last name not be used, is now 82 and continues to receive electroshock therapy regularly.

Although she admits that after each procedure she has a headache and her memory is temporarily "a little bit off," she insists that ECT has been a success for her.

"I know there's a lot of negative. I think it's a rather painless procedure. It's wonderful," she said. "If medicine doesn't work, then yes, I would recommend it to someone else."

The New Face of ECT

Since its terrifying depiction in the movie "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," electroshock, or electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) has changed dramatically. According to doctors who use it, the administration of the anesthetic, changes in the type of electricity used and the way seizures are triggered have transformed the procedure, making it safer and more effective.

The latest clinically available form of ECT, called ultrabrief pulse unilateral, uses a briefer stimulus that lasts for .25 to .3 milliseconds, according to Dr. Sarah Lisanby at the New York State Psychiatric Institute. The difference in the type of electricity used allows doctors to induce seizures with lower amounts of electricity then was previously possible.

"It does away with lifelong memory loss," said Dr. Harold Sackheim, a leading proponent of ECT and chief of the department of biological psychiatry at the New York State Psychiatric Institute. "If there is any memory loss, it's markedly reduced."

ECT Not Uncommon

Although there are no national reporting requirements for the number of procedures performed, experts estimate that approximately 100,000 patients a year in the United States and several million worldwide receive ECT. According to Dr. Mustafa Husain, the director of the Geriatric Psychiatry Training Program at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, the newer version of ECT is becoming the standard in practice, particularly at academic medical centers and clinics due to its relatively low amount of adverse effects on the brain.

"We started the new ECT almost a year ago. All of our equipment is now ultrabrief pulse," he said.

Critics Call ECT Russian Roulette

Despite support from many well-respected physicians, ECT is still controversial. Critics view the procedure as a dangerous game of Russian roulette that should be banned.

"You hear from people who succeed. You don't hear from people who lost wedding or childbirth memories," said David Oaks, director of MindFreeedom, a nonprofit organization focused on human rights campaigns in mental health.

Dr. Peter Breggin, founder of the International Center for the Study of Psychiatry and Psychology, is a staunch opponent of the practice.

"If you were in your kitchen, touched your stove and got a convulsion, you would be in the hospital. It would be treated as an emergency. You might even be given anti-seizure medication to ensure that you do not get another convulsion," Breggin said. "Psychiatry is the only place where you damage the brain and call it a cure."

Because unilateral ECT is a shock to the nondominant, nonverbal side of the brain, controls a person's intuition, creativity and emotions, Breggin said patients may have a harder time explaining the side effects they might experience.

"So people when damaged on the nonverbal side can't tell you about it. It's a ruse," Breggin insisted. "Ultrabrief pulse unilateral is still damaging the brain, but it's less obvious. It cures by creating a delirium in which the patient is incapable of normal human emotion."

John Breeding, an Austin, Texas, psychologist, is alarmed by the state of the industry.

"The shock industry is the Enron of mental health. If they're honest, and you ask them, 'How does shock work,' they'll say they don't really know," Breeding said.

Oaks agreed.

"They look at a problem as physical -- drug, drug, drug, drug, drug -- then they'll try shock. The system is so oriented toward this medical model approach. Relapse rate is enormous, so what's their answer? Maintenance shock," he said. "What has happened in the industry is that research has discounted people's memories."

ECT experts recognize the controversial history of the procedure and acknowledge the stigma attached to it.

"The stigma affects providers and patients. The treatment is perceived by the public as brutal," Sackheim said. "Undoubtedly people don't receive the treatment, because they're afraid of it. In some cases it's quite tragic because they may not live."

ECT proponents hope that the newer form of ECT will encourage more people to seek the procedure to cure their depression.

"Finding ways to make ECT safer, beneficial, lowers barriers to accessing the efficacy of this procedure," said Dr. Lisanby.

Still Searching for a Cure

Doctors who use ECT are the first to admit that the complete cure for severe depression still eludes them.

"ECT can be rapidly effective in treating [depression] but always needs maintenance treatment to maintain effects," Lisanby said.

Don Weitz, co-founder of the Coalition Against Psychiatric Assault, a group that opposes the use of ECT, said that the American public is in the dark about its use as a treatment.

"Most people think it no longer exists. When I meet people in the street, they say, 'You're kidding!' And it's increasingly for elderly women," Weitz said. "Two-thirds of people who get ECT are women. This is not a treatment. It always causes brain damage and it targets women."

------------------------

Sue's comments made below this article on the ABC.com re the above article:

I thank the reporter for giving David Oaks, Dr. John Breeding, Don Weitz, and Dr. Breggin the chance to speak their mind about electroshock (ECT) also known as electroconvulsive therapy.

I am Sue Clark-Wittenberg of Ottawa, Canada. My husband Steven and I founded in 2006, the Wittenberg Center to End Electroshock (WCEE) Our websites: http://wittenbergces.blogspot.com and http://psychiatrybuster.blogspot.com My email is: 2005.sueclark@gmail.comI

I had electroshock against my will when I was l7 years old in 1973 at the Brockville Psychiatric Hospital, in Ontario, Canada. On my 5th ECT my heart stopped and I had to be revived. I suffer from permanent memory loss and have difficulty in learning new things as a result of having had ECT. ECT should have been banned many years ago as there have been many reports and studies done to prove that ECT always causes brain damage.

Dr. Peter R. Breggin wrote an article recently called "Disturbing News for Patients and Shock Doctors Alike" that is on his website at www.breggin.com

Dr. John Breeding's websites are: http://endofshock.com and www.wildestcolts.com

Don Weitz and Bonnie Burstow's websites are: http://capa.oise.utoronto.ca and http://capacanada.wordpress.com

David Oaks, is head of Mindfreedom International and his website can be found at: http://www.mindfreedom.orgOther

ECT websites: www.ect.org, www.banshock.org, www.antipsychiatry.org, www.stopshrinks.org

Stats for ECT yearly, 14,000 ECTs given in Ontario, Canada. 100,000 Americans, 50,000 ECTs given in the UK and worlwide it is estimated that 1 to 2 million get ECT.

ECT is barbaric, unethical, inhumane, torture and a crime against humanity and it must be banned now
---------------------------------------------
Sue's comments made on the Message Board at abc.com in the health section
message board. Here is my comment:

I thank the reporter for giving David Oaks, Dr. John Breeding, Don Weitz, Dr Bonnie Burstow and Dr. Breggin the chance to speak their mind about electroshock (ECT) also known as electroconvulsive therapy.

I am Sue Clark-Wittenberg of Ottawa, Canada. My husband Steven and I founded in 2006, the Wittenberg Center to End Electroshock (WCEE) Our websites: http://wittenbergces.blogspot.com and http://psychiatrybuster.blogspot.com My email is: 2005.sueclark@gmail.comI had electroshock against my will when I was l7 years old in 1973 at the Brockville Psychiatric Hospital, in Ontario, Canada. On my 5th ECT my heart stopped and I had to be revived. I suffer from permanent memory loss and have difficulty in learning new things as a result of having had ECT.

ECT should have been banned many years ago as there have been many reports and studies done to prove that ECT always causes brain damage.Dr. Peter R. Breggin wrote an article recently called "Disturbing News for Patients and Shock Doctors Alike" that is on his website at www.breggin.comDr.

John Breeding's websites are: http://endofshock.com and www.wildestcolts.com

Don Weitz and Bonnie Burstow's websites are: http://capa.oise.utoronto.ca and http://capacanada.wordpress.com

David Oaks, is head of Mindfreedom International and his website can be found at: http://www.mindfreedom.orgOther

ECT websites: www.ect.org, www.banshock.org, www.antipsychiatry.org, www.stopshrinks.orgStats for ECT yearly, 14,000 ECTs given in Ontario, Canada. 100,000 Americans, 50,000 ECTs given in the UK and worlwide it is estimated that 1 to 2 million get ECT.ECT is barbaric, unethical, inhumane, torture and a crime against humanity and it must be banned now

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Amnesty Canada does not recognize ECT as torture

2007-07-15T01:04:00.000-07:00

CAPA's ECT Video

2007-07-14T23:59:00.000-07:00

Coalition Against Psychiatric Assault (CAPA) made an ECT video regarding the electroshock hearings they held in Toronto in April 9, and 10th, 2005. It is an
excellent video. Bonnie Burstow read my ECT testimony at this event. This video
with electroshock survivors speaking out about their experiences is very
riveting and emotionally charged, a video not to be missed. When you watch it, you will see what I mean.

Here is the link URL:

http.video.google.com/videoplay?docid=73823771430158954219&hl=en

Sue Clark-Wittenberg's life in pics

2007-07-14T10:40:00.001-07:00

ACTIVISTS WORKING TO BAN ECT

2007-07-11T03:16:00.000-07:00

Here is a list of my allies fighting electroshock everyday.

Don Weitz and Dr. Bonnie Burstow are co-founders of the 4 year group called "Coalition Against Psychiatric Asssault (CAPA) which is located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada

I am member at large for CAPA. CAPA organized a protest on Mother's Day of this year in Toronto to protest the use of electroshock on women. 140 people showed up and it was a very successful event. This event will be held again next year on Mother's Day in Toronto. I will post the info when I get it next year on this website here.

For pics and audio of this protest go to these websites:

http://capa.oise.utoronto.ca
http://capacanada.wordpress.com

To contact Don Weitz: email: dweitz@pathcom.com or by telephone in Toronto:
416-545-0796 Don is an insulin shock survivor

To contact Dr. Bonnie Burstow: email: bburstow@oise.utoronto.ca or by telephone: 416-923-6641 ext. 2740

Don and Bonnie co-edited the book called "Shrink Resistant: The Struggle Against Psychiatry in Canada.

Don and Bonnie are my mentors.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
David Oaks head the organization called "Mindfreedom International"

Dr. John Breeding

Leonard Roy Frank

Jim Gottsein, Psychrights.org

ECT.org -

July 13th, ECT protest in Austin, Texas at hospital

2007-07-11T02:51:00.000-07:00

Above is a picture of the Seton Shoal Creek Hospital in Austin, Texas

The Coalition for the Abolition of Electroshock (CAEST), is holding an ECT protest July 13th at th Seton Shoal Creek Hospital in Austin, Texas. Dr. John Breeding, a psychologist and author heads this group.

CAEST's website is: http://endofshock.com

Here are the details for the protest:

Dear Allies,

We have made some waves in the community, at the legislature and at the City Council. You can see our progess notes on the website, www.endofshock.com.

We have had an effect on the numbers of people shocked at Seton

Now it is time to go back to Seton and let them know we are still intent on protecting central Texans from electroshock induced brain damage. We will be there this Friday the 13th morning, bright and early when they are actually laying people on gurneys and electroshocking them.

For more information call 512-326-8326

you have made a difference. Come join us again and let's keep the pressure on!!!

RALLY WITH SPEAKERS AND OPEN MIC

7:30am –9:00 am,

Friday, July 13th

Seiders Spring Park

(38th and Shoal Creek, adjacent

to Seton Shoal Creek Hospital on

the north side) in Austin, Texas

ANTI -ECT WEBSITES

2007-07-07T06:06:00.001-07:00

Above is a picture of a woman having electroshock

List of anti-ECT websites:

http://www.breggin.com
http://www.ect.org
http://endofshock.com
http://www.wildestcolts.com/mentalhealth/shock.html
http://capa.oise.utoronto.ca
http://capacanda.wordpress.com
http://idiom.com/~drjohn/ect.html
http://www.mindfreedom.org
http://www.banshock.org
http://www.antipsychiatry.org
http://www.stopshrink.org
http://www.sntp.net/
http://www.psychnet-uk.com/psychiatry/antipsychiatry.htm

REACH

2007-07-05T21:13:00.001-07:00

http://reach.ca

ARCH Law Center

2007-07-05T20:59:00.001-07:00

ARCH DISABILITY LAW CENTER, TORONTO

Website: http://www.archdisabilitylaw.ca/index.asp

ARCH mailing address		ARCH Disability Law Centre 425 Bloor Street East, Suite 110 Toronto, Ontario M4W 3R5

PLEASE NOTE: If you wish to contact us for legal information, summary legal advice, or legal referrals, please use our telephone service at:

Voice		(416) 482-8255 (866) 482-ARCH (2724)

TTY		(416) 482-1254 (866) 482-ARCT (2728)

Fax		(416) 482-2981 (866) 881-ARCF (2723)

We would be happy to communicate via email as a form of accommodation. If you need us to communicate with you via email as a form of accommodation, please tell us this in your email. Please note that there is a time delay in retrieving messages from this account, and therefore, expect a wait of at least five working days for a reply. If the matter is urgent, please call our telephone or TTY line.
Email		archlib@lao.on.ca

Web site address		www.archdisabilitylaw.ca

SIMONE D's appeal in New York State

2007-07-05T20:57:00.001-07:00

Simone D. Wins !!!

MindFreedom International News - 28 August 2007
http://www.mindfreedom.org - please forward

For 2nd time in 1 month a forced electroshock is STOPPED!

Simone D. wins! John Kelly wins!

Simone D. is a psychiatric inmate in the Creedmoor psychiatric
institution in New York State.

New York State’s Office of Mental Health (OMH), using taxpayer money,
aggressively pursued obtaining a court order to give Simone D. forced
electroshock over her expressed wishes.

Simone D. had clearly said electroshock caused her pain and
suffering. She knew what she was talking about.

Simone D. had previously had 200 electroshocks, also known as
electroconvulsive therapy (ECT).

Making it worse, Simone D. speaks only Spanish, but for years she's
been denied counseling or even staff fluent in Spanish, except for a
few week period.

Today, Simone D.'s attorneys announced that she won!

This morning, 28 August 2007, a court ruled that the two-year-old
order to give her forced electroshock had been set aside.

Said Kim Darrow, one of her attorneys, "I was able to get the
original judge to order a hearing, on the ground that his main reason
for granting the shock order -- that Simone might not eat and starve
-- no longer applies."

Simone D.'s attorneys were able to show that during the nearly 20
month delay as they fought for her right to say "no" to electroshock,
Simone did not starve as the doctors had predicted.

Far from it.

Free from electroshock during the court battle, Simone D. actually
experienced a 34 pound weight gain!

Kim explained, "The hearing was held this morning before a different
judge. He ruled that Creedmoor failed to carry its burden of proof."
The judge canceled out OMH's court order for Simone D.'s forced
electroshock, that has hung over her head these past two years, since
2005.

This is the second person to win a victory in one month over forced
electroshock by the New York State Office of Mental Health following
a campaign of public alerts and court battles.

David Oaks, director of MindFreedom International said, "Thank you to
Simone D. and her great attorneys, Dennis Feld and Kim Darrow. And
thank you to the many people who spoke out against her forced
electroshock. The fact that John Kelly and now Simone D. have both
been able to stop their planned forced electroshock shows there is
hope! Keep up the pressure. Let's end all forced electroshock!"

You are encouraged to read and act on original alert for Simone D. at
the end of the news release on this web page. This time call for
ending all future forced electroshock in New York State!

http://mindfreedom.org/kb/mental-health-abuse/electroshock/simone-d

Or use this web address: http://tinyurl.com/26b28h

Read about John Kelly's victory earlier this month here:

http://mindfreedom.org/as/act/us/new-york/john-kelly-electroshock

More updates will be on the MindFreedom Free Live Internet Radio Show
tomorrow, Wednesday, 29 August 2007, at 4 pm ET when electroshock
survivor Sue Clark of Canada is the guest. At that time click on
http://prncomm.net/ You may phone in comments and questions live, or
e-mail to radio@mindfreedom.org.

More info on the weekly MF Web Radio Show:

http://mindfreedom.org/campaign/media/mfradio/sue-clark

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

More news at the MindFreedom News Web Site:

http://www.mindfreedom.org

Don't see an important news item? Submit it to news@mindfreedom.org

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Support MINDFREEDOM INTERNATIONAL!

While you're on the MFI web site... just click on the button on the
RIGHT to join or donate now, or go directly to:

http://www.mindfreedom.org/join-donate

Become a member or renew your membership now! Build united strength
in numbers!

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Do you want to...

* Win human rights campaigns in mental health?

* End abuse by the psychiatric drug industry?

* Support self-determination of psychiatric survivors?

* Promote safe, humane, effective options in mental health?

MindFreedom is for people who care enough about human rights to take
united action!

MindFreedom is a nonprofit human rights group that unites 100 sponsor
and affiliate groups with individual members, and is accredited by
the United Nations as a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) with
Consultative Roster Status.

MindFreedom is one of the very few totally independent groups in the
mental health field with no funding from governments, drug companies,
religions, corporations, or the mental health system.

While most of MindFreedom's members are psychiatric survivors, *all*
who support human rights are invited to join and become active.

Join or donate here:

http://www.mindfreedom.org/join-donate

For hard-to-find books and gear (including to pre-order new book
Alternatives Beyond Psychiatry) go to the Mad Market! Proceeds
support the work of MindFreedom. The Mad Market now has its own web
address at:

http://www.madmarket.org

MindFreedom International Office: 454 Willamette, Suite 216 - POB
11284; Eugene, OR 97440-3484 USA

web site: http://www.mindfreedom.org
e-mail: office(at)mindfreedom(dot)org
office phone: (541) 345-9106
toll free: 1-877-MAD-PRIDe or 1-877-623-7743
fax: (541) 345-3737

Please forward.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

More news at the MindFreedom News Web Site:

http://www.mindfreedom.org

Don't see an important news item? Submit it to news@mindfreedom.org

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Support MINDFREEDOM INTERNATIONAL!

While you're on the MFI web site... just click on the button on the
RIGHT to join or donate now, or go directly to:

http://www.mindfreedom.org/join-donate

Become a member or renew your membership now! Build united strength
in numbers!

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Do you want to...

* Win human rights campaigns in mental health?

* End abuse by the psychiatric drug industry?

* Support self-determination of psychiatric survivors?

* Promote safe, humane, effective options in mental health?

MindFreedom is for people who care enough about human rights to take
united action!

MindFreedom is a nonprofit human rights group that unites 100 sponsor
and affiliate groups with individual members, and is accredited by
the United Nations as a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) with
Consultative Roster Status.

MindFreedom is one of the very few totally independent groups in the
mental health field with no funding from governments, drug companies,
religions, corporations, or the mental health system.

While most of MindFreedom's members are psychiatric survivors, *all*
who support human rights are invited to join and become active.

Join or donate here:

http://www.mindfreedom.org/join-donate

For hard-to-find books and gear (including to pre-order new book
Alternatives Beyond Psychiatry) go to the Mad Market! Proceeds
support the work of MindFreedom. The Mad Market now has its own web
address at:

http://www.madmarket.org

MindFreedom International Office: 454 Willamette, Suite 216 - POB
11284; Eugene, OR 97440-3484 USA

web site: http://www.mindfreedom.org
e-mail: office(at)mindfreedom(dot)org
office phone: (541) 345-9106
toll free: 1-877-MAD-PRIDe or 1-877-623-7743
fax: (541) 345-3737

Please forward.

No need to email anyone as of August 28, 2007, Simone D. won!!!! no more forced shocks!!!
----------------------------------
Please help Simone D. who is being forced to undergo more ECT in Creedmoor's Psychiatric Hospital in New York State. SimoneD., a 58 year old woman in state care since 1994 Simone has had 148 electroshocks (ECTs), over 200 ECTs in her life. As of last week, Simone D. is slated for 30 more ECTs as the appeals court disregard her own words and the great work of lawyers Dennis Feld and Kim Darrow, and upheld more forced ECT.

Please stop Simone D. from having more ECT. ECT always causes brain damage.
ECT is an atrocity, torture, and a crime against humanity. ECT must be banned
universally.

For action please see these websites: http://www.mindfreedom.org, http://endofshock.com, http://psychrights.org, http://capacanada.wordpress.com

For information on Simone D's case please read the following the following emails and letters.

Thank you for taking time to help Simone D. It is very much appreciated.
This may help Simone D. in stopping the forced torture called ECT upon her.
Sue Clark-Wittenberg email: 2005.sueclark@gmail.com or telephone me in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada at: 613-721-1833
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
LETTERS

Dr. John Breeding, an American psychologist and author and head of the Coalition for the Abolition of Electroshock in Texas (CAEST) writes a letter:

Dear Allies,

Two of the CAEST legal advisers have been fighting forced ECT hard in New York for a very long time. Kim Darrow and Dennis Feld were the lead guys on the Paul Henri Thomas case in 2001 that lead to New York Assembly hearings, a ton of media and the release of Thomas and another immigrant, Adam Szysko, who they were trying to force shock at the same time.

Lately, Kim and Dennis have been fighting for Simone D., a 58-year-old woman in state care since 1994, 148 shocks since 1999, over 200 in her life. As of last week, she is slated for 30 more as the appeals court disregarded her own words and the great work of Dennis and Kim, and upheld more forced ECT. My attached letter is going to Assemblyman Peter M. Rivera, chairman of the New York State Assembly Standing Committee on Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities. We want to light a fire under him to address Simone's case and the ongoing escalation of forced electroshock in New York. His mailing address and email are below. My attached letter should give you the basic details. Please send a letter or email.

thanks,

john

riverap@assembly.state.ny.us

Chairman Peter M. Rivera

New York State Assembly Standing Committee on Mental

Health, Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities.

1973 Westchester Avenue

Bronx, NY 10462
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Coalition for the Abolition of Electroshock in Texas

5306 Fort Clark Dr.
Austin, Texas 78745
(512) 326-8326

Chairman Peter M. Rivera 7-7-07
New York State Assembly Standing Committee on Mental
Health, Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities.
1973 Westchester Avenue
Bronx, NY 10462

Dear Chairman Rivera,

I am a Texas psychologist, currently involved with a citizens group called the Coalition for the Abolition of Electroshock in Texas. In 2001, when I was on the advisory board of the World Association of Electroshock Survivors, I testified twice to your committee when Martin Luster held special hearings on forced electroshock (ECT) in New York. Chairman Luster ended up initiating some legislation to improve your state's way of handling electroshock. Regrettably, none of those bills became law, and forced electroshock is worse than ever in your state.

I am writing now to call your attention to, and request action related to the case of Simone D., a 58-year-old woman who has been in New York State psychiatric care since 1994. Simone has suffered at least 148 electroshock treatments since 1999 (and over 200 in her lifetime). Just last week, the New York Court of Appeals turned back a challenge brought by Mental Hygiene Legal Service to an order authorizing 30 additional forced electroshock treatments over Simone D.'s objection, which order was issued in late November, 2005 and had been stayed by the appellate process.

It is likely that Simone D. will very soon be strapped to a gurney and wheeled into Creedmoor's ECT suite for "maintenance" shock treatments beyond the 200 during her lifetime. This is both tragic and troubling for a host of reasons, including:

Electroshock always causes some degree of brain damage and memory loss.
Records reported to the court show that previous shock treatment had neither brought about a remission of Simone D.'s depression nor restored her capacity to make her own treatment decisions, and that the treatment had never brought Simone D. to a condition where Creedmoor was willing to discharge her to the community.
The efficacy of maintenance shock at that extraordinary high end is virtually nonexistent.
Simone D. speaks Spanish. This case underscores the Office of Mental Hygiene' s failure to explore non-medical alternatives such as transferring Simone D. to a unit/facility that has Spanish speaking clinicians who can approach and try to treat her in her primary language and also provide her cultural accommodations. Here is an excerpt from her appellate brief: " After appellant had been subjected to more than a decade of linguistic isolation at Creedmoor, the hospital gave up on transferring her to a ward with a Spanish speaking psychiatrist after less than six weeks. Yet Creedmoor had not abandoned more intrusive treatment with multiple drugs, even after several years of admitted failure."
Simone D's own voice has been muffled by her being primarily a Spanish language speaker in a unit where no one except her MHLS on-site attorney speaks Spanish. But what the record reveals is when approached by the State clinicians for her to submit to more ECT Simone stated shock "causes more pain, I suffer more from shock treatment."

Chairman Rivera, the 2001 special hearings held by Martin Luster were triggered by public outcry and press attention regarding the forced electroshocking of two immigrants, Paul Henri Thomas of Haiti and Adam Szysko from Poland. Now a similar specter of tragedy is present in the case of Simone D.

I have two requests. One, please take a close look at this case and intervene on behalf of Simone D., before she is hurt further by unnecessary psychiatric electroshock. Two, please launch a full scale investigation into the utter disregard of the standard of care called "least restrictive alternative" in New York; failure to heed this standard results in unnecessary electroshock and situations like the case of Simone D.

I pray that one day your great state will join mine in making forced electroshock illegal. Until then, I deeply appreciate your attention to Simone D. and these related concerns.

I am available if I can be of help in any way.

Sincerely Yours,

John Breeding, PhD
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dr. John Breeding is a an American psychologist and author who heads the Coalition for the Abolition of Electroshock in Texas (CAEST) in Austin, Texas

Dr. John Breeding has two websites. One of his websites is against ECT.
The URL is:

http://endofshock.com

Dr. Breeding's other website is about speaking out against children taking
psychiatric medications. The URL for this website is:

http://www.wildestcolts.com

You can contact Dr. Breeding by email at:
wildcolt@austin.rr.com
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
MINDFREEDOM.ORG ACTION ALERTS FOR SIMONE D.
Contact: David Oaks, Executive Director of Mindfreedom International
Email: oaks@mindfreedom.org

MindFreedom International Alert - 7 July 2007 - please forward
http://www.mindfreedom.org/kb/mental-health-abuse/electroshock

HUMAN RIGHTS ALERT:

New York State wins in court to give more forced electroshock to
"Simone D."

Simone D.: "Electroshock causes more pain! I suffer more from
shock treatment!"

How you can easily use the web to say "No!" to four key NY State
officials!

The State of New York won its battle in court to order even more
forced electroshock for Creedmoor Psychiatric Center inmate "Simone
D.," who has already had more than 200 electroshocks, also known as
electroconvulsive therapy or ECT.

Now it is time for the international court of public opinion to weigh
in!

Here is how you can easily use the web to speak out and say "No!" to
this overwhelming human rights abuse. It takes only a moment... about
as long as an electroshock.

The New York Court of Appeals recently upheld a lower court order
forcing Simone D., an inmate at Creedmoor Psychiatric Center, to
undergo 30 more electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) treatments against
her will.

Simone D.'s attorney Dennis Feld said, "Her battle cry has been
muffled by her being primarily a Spanish language speaker in a unit
where no one except her MHLS on-site attorney speaks Spanish."

Court records reveal that when approached by the State clinicians for
her to submit to more electroshock, Simone stated clearly enough in
Spanish that, "Electroshock causes more pain! I suffer more from
shock treatment!"

New York State's Office of Mental Health (OMH) has a long-standing
policy of vigorously pursuing legal action to force ECT on unwilling
people whom it determines are not capable of making their own
decisions. Interestingly, the capacity of people who agree to ECT is
never called into question.

To read two updates from Simone D's attorney Dennis Feld about her
court hearings go here:

http://www.mindfreedom.org/kb/mental-health-abuse/electroshock/simone-
d/200705

http://www.mindfreedom.org/kb/mental-health-abuse/electroshock/simone-
d/200707

It's time for us all to speak up and demand that New York State end
this appalling, inhumane practice!

It just takes a moment to use e-mail to contact the below four New
York State officials! If you can also phone or write that is helpful,
but at least e-mail them!

Let New York State officials know that forced ECT is wrong and must
be stopped!

A draft sample message is included below, though using your own words
and personal experiences are encouraged. Please be civil but firm.

Please contact these New York State officials immediately!

** Gov. Eliot Spitzer:

Complete the web form at: http://161.11.121.121/govemail Phone:
(518) 474-8390. Fax: 518-474-1513.

** Lieutenant Gov. David Paterson:

He is legally blind and has been charged by the Governor with dealing
with disability issues. Complete the web form at: http://
161.11.121.121/emailltgov Phone: (518) 474-4623. Fax: (518) 486-4170

** OMH Commissioner Michael Hogan:

Complete the web form at: http://www.omh.state.ny.us/omhweb/email/
feedback.asp Phone: (518) 474-4403 Fax: (518) 474-2149.

** Peter M. Rivera, Chair, New York State Assembly Standing
Committee on Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Developmental
Disabilities.

Email: riverap@assembly.state.ny.us Phone: (718) 931-2620. Write:
1973 Westchester Avenue; Bronx, NY 10462 USA.

~~~~~~~~~

Draft sample message - though your own words are best:

~~~~~~~~~

Dear ___________:

The New York Court of Appeals recently upheld a lower court
order forcing Simone D., an inmate at Creedmoor Psychiatric Center,
to undergo 30 more electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) treatments against
her will. Ms. D. has already been subjected to more than 200 ECT
sessions.

It is time for the State to reverse the New York Office of
Mental Health's long-standing policy of vigorously pursuing legal
action to force ECT on people who do not want this controversial
intervention. We believe it is time to revise the laws that allow
forced electroshock. ECT is of questionable efficacy, but it does
have well-documented serious side-effects effects, including
permanent memory loss. This memory loss can be so severe that people
may not recognize family members or be able to practice their
professions. This is an invasive irreversible intervention.

The World Health Organization has called for a ban of
involuntary electroshock. It is time that New York ends such shameful
practices.

New York Office of Mental Health Commissioner Michael Hogan
chaired the President's New Freedom Commission on Mental Health,
which promoted the idea that people with psychiatric disabilities
must direct their own care in order for recovery to be possible. This
stands in stark contradiction to OMH's zealous legal activities to
force ECT on those who do not want it.

We call on the State of New York to renounce this harmful
policy, and on the Governor to propose legislation that would end the
possibility of ECT being forced on any citizen.

Sincerely,

[Your name & address.]

~~~~~~~~~

This alert is also on the MindFreedom web site with hyperlinks to the
four NY officials along with additional information:

http://www.mindfreedom.org/kb/mental-health-abuse/electroshock/simone-d

UPDATE #2 on below alert:

The New York Office of Mental Health Commissioner Michael Hogan has
made their form for public comments via the web inoperative (the
'submit' button is grayed out if you go to the page directly from the
link provided).

You can instead go to the very bottom of the OMH web page provided,
and use the small print link to "Web Site Administrator" to e-mail in
a comment.

However, we recommended that you all instead PHONE and FAX
Commissioner Hogan starting on Monday, and don't stop. Be civil, but
keep it up.

Commissioner Hogan led President Bush's Commission on Mental Health,
and claims to support empowerment, recovery and self-determination.
Phone and fax Commissioner Hogan starting on Monday and ask in a
civil but firm way how he can reconcile his statements with the way
his OMH aggressively pursues more and more forced electroshock over
the expressed wishes of people like Simone D.

We have updated the alert below.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

MindFreedom International Alert - 7 July 2007 - please forward
http://www.mindfreedom.org/kb/mental-health-abuse/electroshock

HUMAN RIGHTS UPDATE:

New York State wins in court to give more forced electroshock to
"Simone D."

Simone D.: "Electroshock causes more pain! I suffer more from
shock treatment!"

How you can easily use the web to say "No!" to four key NY State
officials!

The State of New York won its battle in court to order even more
forced electroshock for Creedmoor Psychiatric Center inmate "Simone
D.," who has already had more than 200 electroshocks, also known as
electroconvulsive therapy or ECT.

Now it is time for the international court of public opinion to weigh
in!

Here is how you can easily use the web to speak out and say "No!" to
this overwhelming human rights abuse. It takes only a moment... about
as long as an electroshock.

The New York Court of Appeals recently upheld a lower court order
forcing Simone D., an inmate at Creedmoor Psychiatric Center, to
undergo 30 more electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) treatments against
her will.

Simone D.'s attorney Dennis Feld said, "Her battle cry has been
muffled by her being primarily a Spanish language speaker in a unit
where no one except her MHLS on-site attorney speaks Spanish."

Court records reveal that when approached by the State clinicians for
her to submit to more electroshock, Simone stated clearly enough in
Spanish that, "Electroshock causes more pain! I suffer more from
shock treatment!"

New York State's Office of Mental Health (OMH) has a long-standing
policy of vigorously pursuing legal action to force ECT on unwilling
people whom it determines are not capable of making their own
decisions. Interestingly, the capacity of people who agree to ECT is
never called into question.

To read two updates from Simone D's attorney Dennis Feld about her
court hearings go here:

http://www.mindfreedom.org/kb/mental-health-abuse/electroshock/simone-d/200705

http://www.mindfreedom.org/kb/mental-health-abuse/electroshock/simone-d/200707

It's time for us all to speak up and demand that New York State end
this appalling, inhumane practice!

It just takes a moment to use e-mail to contact the below four New
York State officials! If you can also phone or write that is helpful,
but at least e-mail them!

Let New York State officials know that forced ECT is wrong and must
be stopped!

A draft sample message is included below, though using your own words
and personal experiences are encouraged. Please be civil but firm.

Please contact these New York State officials immediately!

** Gov. Eliot Spitzer:

Complete the web form at: http://161.11.121.121/govemail Phone:
(518) 474-8390. Fax: 518-474-1513.

** Lieutenant Gov. David Paterson:

He is legally blind and has been charged by the Governor with dealing
with disability issues. Complete the web form at: http://
161.11.121.121/emailltgov Phone: (518) 474-4623. Fax: (518) 486-4170

** OMH Commissioner Michael Hogan:

Go to web form at: http://www.omh.state.ny.us/omhweb/email/feedback.asp

UPDATE: THE WEB FORM FOR COMMENTS TO COMMISSIONER HOGAN IS APPARENTLY
INOPERATIVE IF YOU GO THERE DIRECTLY. (The "submit" button is grayed
out.) You can get to an operative version of this form indirectly via
the small print "Web Site Administrator" link at the very bottom.

However it is recommended that you instead phone and fax during
business hours, and don't stop! Be civil, be firm, but ask how
Commissioner Hogan can claim to support empowerment and recovery
while leading President Bush's Commission on Mental Health, but now
his office is pushing more and more forced electroshock!

Let's make this into a phone campaign -- be civil, but don't stop!

Phone: (518) 474-4403 Fax: (518) 474-2149.

** Peter M. Rivera, Chair, New York State Assembly Standing
Committee on Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Developmental
Disabilities.

Email: riverap@assembly.state.ny.us Phone: (718) 931-2620. Write:
1973 Westchester Avenue; Bronx, NY 10462 USA.

~~~~~~~~~

Draft sample message - though your own words are best:

~~~~~~~~~

Dear ___________:

The New York Court of Appeals recently upheld a lower court
order forcing Simone D., an inmate at Creedmoor Psychiatric Center,
to undergo 30 more electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) treatments against
her will. Ms. D. has already been subjected to more than 200 ECT
sessions.

It is time for the State to reverse the New York Office of
Mental Health's long-standing policy of vigorously pursuing legal
action to force ECT on people who do not want this controversial
intervention. We believe it is time to revise the laws that allow
forced electroshock. ECT is of questionable efficacy, but it does
have well-documented serious side-effects effects, including
permanent memory loss. This memory loss can be so severe that people
may not recognize family members or be able to practice their
professions. This is an invasive irreversible intervention.

The World Health Organization has called for a ban of
involuntary electroshock. It is time that New York ends such shameful
practices.

New York Office of Mental Health Commissioner Michael Hogan
chaired the President's New Freedom Commission on Mental Health,
which promoted the idea that people with psychiatric disabilities
must direct their own care in order for recovery to be possible. This
stands in stark contradiction to OMH's zealous legal activities to
force ECT on those who do not want it.

We call on the State of New York to renounce this harmful
policy, and on the Governor to propose legislation that would end the
possibility of ECT being forced on any citizen.

Sincerely,

[Your name & address.]

~~~~~~~~~

This alert is also on the MindFreedom web site with hyperlinks to the
four NY officials along with additional information:

http://www.mindfreedom.org/kb/mental-health-abuse/electroshock/simone-d

or use:

http://tinyurl.com/262xma

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

URGENT: Please act IMMEDIATELY. Then FORWARD this alert to all
appropriate places on and off the Internet! Add a brief personal note
that you have acted, and you encourage your friends, colleagues and
relatives to act too!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

More news at the MindFreedom News Web Site:

http://www.mindfreedom.org

Don't see an important news item? Submit it to news@mindfreedom.org

~~~~~~~~~~~~

And while you're on the web site... click on the button on the RIGHT
to join or donate now, or go directly to:

http://www.mindfreedom.org/join-donate

Become a member or renew your membership now! Build united strength
in numbers!

Do you want to...

* Win human rights campaigns in mental health?

* End abuse by the psychiatric drug industry?

* Support self-determination of psychiatric survivors?

* Promote safe, humane, effective options in mental health?

MindFreedom is for people who care about human rights who want to unite!

MindFreedom is a nonprofit human rights group that unites 100 sponsor
and affiliate groups with individual members, and is accredited by
the United Nations as a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) with
Consultative Roster Status.

MindFreedom is one of the very few totally independent groups in the
mental health field with no funding from governments, drug companies,
religions, corporations, or the mental health system. While most of
MindFreedom's members are psychiatric survivors, *all* who support
human rights are invited to join and become active leaders.

Join or donate here:

http://www.mindfreedom.org/join-donate

For hard-to-find books and gear go to:

http://www.mindfreedom.org/mad-market

MindFreedom International Office: 454 Willamette, Suite 216 - POB
11284; Eugene, OR 97440-3484 USA

web site: http://www.mindfreedom.org
e-mail: office(at)mindfreedom(dot)org
office phone: (541) 345-9106
toll free: 1-877-MAD-PRIDe or 1-877-623-7743
fax: (541) 345-3737
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sue Clark-Wittenberg' and Steven Wittenberg's ECT videos about the Simone D. court appeal

Apppeal to NY State to stop the forced ECT on Simone D.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkkq5QM33Yo

Simone D. being forced to undergo more ECT in NY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DpHDGBEmn90

A song about Simone D. being forced to have ECT

http://www.youtube.com/v/QWIFwqRxO3c
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Steven Wittenberg telephones the Governor of New York, Lt Govenor of New York, Michael
Hogan of OMH, Mr. Rivera and Mrs. Clinton and the White House on Friday, July 13th appealing to them to help stop the torture of Simone D. who is being forced to have more electroshock at the Creedmoor Psychiatric Center in New York State. Thanks Steven for a job well done - Sue
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sue sent an email tot the head of the Amnesty International Canada on Saturday on July 14, 2007 to appeal to this organization to help the stop the torture of Simone D. being forced to have 30 more ECTs: Here is the email:

The Wittenberg Center to End Electroshock
108 New Orchard Ave, Apt 601
Ottawa, Ontario K2B 5E7

July 14, 2007

Attention: Alex Neve

Executive Director

Amnesty International/Canada

Dear Mr. Neve:

I am Sue Clark-Wittenberg, executive director of the Wittenberg Center to End Electroshock in Ottawa, Ontario. I am an electroshock
survivor.

I am appealing to you to help stop the torture of Simone D. with being forced to undergo
electroshock against her will.

The State of New York won its battle in court to order even more forced electroshock for Creedmoor Psychiatric Center inmate "Simone D.," who has already had more than 200 electroshocks, also known as electroconvulsive therapy or ECT.

The New York Court of Appeals recently upheld a lower court order forcing Simone D., an inmate at Creedmoor Psychiatric Center, to undergo 30 more electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) treatments against her will.

Simone D.'s attorney Dennis Feld said, "Her battle cry has been muffled by her being primarily a Spanish language speaker in a unit where no one except her MHLS on-site attorney speaks Spanish."

Court records reveal that when approached by the State clinicians for her to submit to more electroshock, Simone stated clearly enough in Spanish that, "Electroshock causes more pain! I suffer more from shock treatment!"

Dr. Peter R. Breggin, an American psychiatrist and author
wrote an article in April of this year which denotes that
electroshock does in fact damage the brain. Dr. Breggin's website is at the URL: www.breggin.com. Below is Dr. Breggin's article in full. I felt it was necessary to include this article in this email as it ground breaking news.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-peter-breggin/disturbing-news-for-patie_b_44734.html

Disturbing News for Patients and Shock Doctos Alike, by Dr. Peter R. Breggin

Something most remarkable and unexpected has occurred in the field of psychiatry. Lead by a lifelong defender and promoter of shock treatment, Harold Sackeim, a team of investigators has recently published a follow up study of 347 patients given the currently available methods of electroshock, including the supposedly most benign forms--and confirmed that electroshock causes permanent brain damage and dysfunction.

Based on numerous standardized psychological tests, six months after the last ECT every form of the treatment was found to cause lasting memory and mental dysfunction. In the summary words of the investigators, "Thus, adverse cognitive effects were detected six months following the acute treatment course." They concluded, "this study provides the first evidence in a large, prospective sample that adverse cognitive effects can persist for an extended period, and that they characterize routine treatment with ECT in community settings."

After traumatic brain damage has persisted for six months, it is likely to remain stable or even to grow worse. Therefore, the study confirms that routine clinical use of ECT causes permanent damage to the brain and its mental faculties.

The term cognitive dysfunction covers the entire range of mental faculties from memory to abstract thinking and judgment. The ECT-induced persistent brain dysfunction was global. In addition to the loss of autobiographical memories, the most marked cognitive injury occurred in "retention of newly learned information," "simple reaction time," and most tragically "global cognitive status" or overall mental function. In other words, the patients continued to have trouble learning and remembering new things, they were slower in their mental reaction times, and they were mentally impaired across a broad range of faculties.

Probably to disguise the wide swath of devastation, the Sackeim study did not provide the percentages of patients afflicted with persistent cognitive deficits; but all of the multiple tests were highly significant (p<0.0001>

Many patients also had persistent abnormalities on the EEGs (brain wave studies) six months after treatment, indicating even more gross underlying brain damage and dysfunction. The results confirm that the post-ECT patients, as I have described in numerous publications, were grossly brain-injured with a generalized loss of mental functions.

Some of the older forms of shock--and still the most commonly used--produced the most severe damage; but all of the treatment types caused persistent brain dysfunction. The greater the number of treatments given to patients, the greater was the loss of biographical memories. Elderly women are particularly likely to get shocked--probably because there is no one to defend them--and the study found that the elderly and females were the most susceptible to severe memory loss.

Destroying Lives

The study does not address the actual impact of these losses on the lives of individual patients. Like most such reports, it's all a matter of statistics. In human reality the loss of autobiographical memories indicates that patients could no longer recall important life experiences, such as their wedding, family celebrations, graduations, vacation trips, and births and deaths. In my experience, it also includes the wiping out of significant professional experiences. I have evaluated dozens of patients whose professional and family lives have been wrecked, including a nurse who lost her career but who recently won malpractice suit against the doctor who referred her for shock. Her story is told on my website, www.breggin.com.

Even when these injured people can continue to function on a superficial social basis, they nonetheless suffer devastation of their identities due to the obliteration of key aspects of their personal lives. The loss of the ability to retain and learn new material is not only humiliating and depressing but also disabling. The slowing of mental reaction time is frustrating and disabling. Even when relatively subtle, these disabilities can disrupt routine activities of living. Individuals can no longer safely drive a car for fear of losing their concentration or becoming hopelessly lost. Others can no longer find their way around their own kitchen or remember to turn off the burner on the stove. Still others cannot retain what they have just read in a newspaper or seen on television. They commonly meet old friends and new acquaintances without having any idea who they are. Ultimately, the experience of "global" cognitive dysfunction impairs the victim's identify and sense of self, as well as ruining the overall quality of life.

Although unmentioned in the Sackeim article, in addition to cognitive dysfunction, shock treatment causes severe affective or emotional disorders. Much like other victims of severe head injury, many post-shock patients become emotionally shallow and unable to relate on an intimate or spiritual level. They often become impulsive and irritable. Commonly they become chronically depressed. Having been injured by previously trusted doctors, they almost always become distrustful of all doctors and avoid even necessary medical care.

Decades of Opposition to Shock Treatment

This breaking scientific research has confirmed what I've been saying about shock treatment for thirty years. In 1979 I published Electroshock: Its Brain-Disabling Effects, the first medical book to evaluate the brain damaging and memory wrecking effects of this "treatment" for depression that requires inflicting a series of massive convulsions on the brain by means of passing a traumatic electric current through it. After many rejections, the courageous president of Springer Publishing Company, Ursula Springer, decided to publish this then controversial book. Dr. Springer told me about venomous attacks aimed at her at medical meetings as a result of her brave act in publishing my work. She never regretted it.

Over the years, I have continued to write, lecture, testify in court and speak to the media about brain damage and memory loss caused by electroshock (e.g., Breggin 1991, 1992, 1997, and 1998). At times my persistence has resulted in condemnation from shock advocates such as Harold Sackeim and Max Fink whom I have criticized for systematically covering up damage done to millions of patients throughout the world. It would require too much autobiographical detail to communicate the severity of the attacks on me surrounding my criticism of ECT. It was second only to the attack on me from the drug companies for claiming that antidepressants cause violence and suicide.

Given the vigor with which shock doctors have suppressed or denigrated my work, the study further surprised me by citing my 1986 scientific paper "Neuropathology and cognitive dysfunction from ECT" published in the Psychopharmacology Bulletin, noting that "critics contend that ECT invariably results in substantial and permanent memory loss." They contrast this critical view with "some authorities," specifically citing Max Fink and Robert Abrams, who have argued against the existence of any persistent shock effects on memory. The implication was clear that the critics were right and the so-called authorities were wrong. Sackeim was among those authorities.
Fink's "authoritative" testimony at a number of malpractice trials has enabled shock doctors to get off Scott free after damaging the brains of their patients. Abrams used to testify successfully on behalf of shock doctors until I disclosed his ownership of a shock machine manufacturing company.

Unfortunately, the Sackeim group did not cite the work of neurologist John Friedberg who risked his career to criticize electroshock treatment. Nor did their article give credit to the published work of psychiatric survivor Leonard Frank or the anti-shock reform activities of the survivor moment lead by David Oaks of MindFreedom. They also didn't cite Colin Ross's 2006 review and analysis showing that ECT is no more effective than sham ECT or simply sedating patients without shocking them.

Will the latest confirmation of ECT-induced brain damage cause shock doctors to cut back on their use of the treatment? Not likely. Psychiatrist and their affiliated neurosurgeons always knew that lobotomy was destroying the brains and mental life of their patients and that knowledge did not daunt them one bit. It required an organized international campaign to discredit, to slow down and to almost eliminate the surgical practice of psychiatric brain mutilation in the early 1970s (Breggin and Breggin 1994). The ECT lobby is much larger and stronger than the lobotomy lobby, and much better organized, with its own journal and shock advocates positioned in high places in medicine and psychiatry. Stopping shock treatment will require public outrage, organized resistance from survivor groups and psychiatric reformers, lawsuits, and state legislation.

This essay will appear in Dr. Breggin's column, "Politics, Practice and Breaking News," in a forthcoming issue of the journal Ethical Human Psychology and Psychiatry, sponsored by the International Center for the Study of Psychiatry and Psychology ( www.ICSPP.org)

References

Breggin, P. (1979). Electroshock: Its brain-disabling effects. New York: Springer Publishing Company.
Breggin, P. (1991). Toxic psychiatry. New York: St Martin's Press.
Breggin, P. (1992). The return of ECT. Readings: A Journal of Reviews and Commentary in Mental Health, 3 (March, No. 1), 12-17
Breggin, P. (1997). Brain-Disabling treatments in psychiatry. New York: Springer Publishing Company.
Breggin, P. (1998). Electroshock: Scientific, ethical, and political issues." International Journal of Risk & Safety in Medicine 11, 5-40.
Breggin, P. and Breggin, G. (1998). The war against children of color. Monroe, Maine: Common Courage Press.
Frank, L. (1978). (Ed.). The history of electroshock. Available from L. Frank, 2300 Webster Street, San Francisco, CA 94115. Also available on www.Amazon.com.
Frank, L. (1990). Electroshock: death, brain damage, memory loss, and brain washing. Journal of Mind and Behavior, 11, 489-512.
Frank, L. (2006). The electroshock quotationery. Ethical Human Psychology and Psychiatry, 8, 157-177.
Friedberg, J. (1976). Electroshock is not good for your brain. San Francisco: Glide Publications.
Friedberg, J. (1977). Shock treatment, brain damage, and memory loss: A neurological perspective. American Journal of Psychiatry, 134, 1010-1014.
Ross, Colin (2006). The sham ECT literature: Implications for consent to ECT. Ethical Human Psychology and Psychiatry, 8, 17-28.
Sackeim, H., Prudic, J., Fuller, R., Keilp, J., Lavori, P. and Olfson, M. (2007). The cognitive effects of electroconvulsive therapy in community settings. Neuropsychopharmacology, 32, 244-254.

-------------------
Simone D. is being forced to undergo brain damaging electroshock and that is not ok. No one should have to go through what I did.

In 1993 at the age of l7 years old, I was forced to have electroshock against my will at the Brockville Psychiatric Hospital in Ontario. On my 5th electroshock, my heart stopped and I was revived. I suffer from permanent memory loss and with have difficulty learning new things which has impeded my everyday living greatly.

Electroshock should have been banned many years ago.
There have many countless studies and reports proving that electroshock damages the brain. I feel electroshock is
unethical, barbaric, torture and a crime against humanity.

Electroshock should be taken seriously as a form of torture.
In other countries when some people are detained by their governments, electroshock is given to them as a form of torture, yet in Canada, Amnesty International Canada has not deemed electroshock as torture which it is. It is a very grave matter indeed and one that needs to addressed immediately.

In Ontario, 14,000 ECTs are given yearly
In the USA, 100,000 Americans get ECT yearly
In the UK, 50,000 ECTs are given yearly
Worldwide, it is estimated that 1 to 2 million get ECT yearly

Horrendous statistics I say.

The Wittenberg Center to End Electroshock was founded by myself and my husband Steven Wittenberg in 2006. We felt there was a need to educate the public about electroshock and its brain damaging effects and also to lobby governments in order to make legislative changes to ban electroshock from Canada.

I can be reached by phone in Ottawa at 613-721-1844 or by email: 2005.sueclark@gmail.com

More information about the case of Simone D. can be found at these websites: http://www.mindfreedom.org, http://capacanda.wordpress.com, http://psychrights.org

Sincerely,

Sue Clark-Wittenberg
Executive Director
The Wittenberg Center to End Electroshock
Ottawa, Ontario

Other ECT websites for info:

http://mindfreedom.org
http://www.breggin.com
http://capa.oise.uroronto.ca
http://capacanada.wordpress.com
http://psychrights.org
http://ect.org
http://endofshock.com
http://www.idiom.com/~drjohn/ect.html
www.banshock.org
http://www.wildestcolt.s.com
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

PsychRights.org

2007-07-05T20:55:00.001-07:00

http://psychrights.org/index.htm

Sue and Steven's ECT videos on youtube.com

2007-07-05T20:14:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone, here is a list of electroshock (ECT) videos done by Sue Clark-Wittenberg and her husband Steven Wittenberg of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada that were posted on youtube.com

on July 5th to 8th, 2007. We have been very busy for sure for the past 4 days making videos about ECT.

The videos are amateur but we tried our best. We used a small digital camera that is not the best quality. Our videos are very short.

The links for each video are listed below:

Regards, Sue Clark-Wittenberg
(613-721-1833) Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
------------------------------
Psychiatry - the biggest medical fraud today

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFcwwOIT4o4

ECT Room 3105 - ROH, Ottawa, Ontario

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RyPuZzbImi4

Outside the Royal Ottawa Mental Health Centre

http://www.youtube.com/v/c1hAGR8qPAl

Outside the grounds of the Royal Ottawa Mental Health Center

http://www.youtube.com/v/_rgHEqdU5cY

Steven Wittenberg speaks about his wife who had ECT

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPJ1RIL5t3c

Steven Wittenberg speaks about Simone D.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAsI3Rs4Mwg

ECT Room 3105 - Royal Ottawa Mental Health Center

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQrd0ivSjws

Appeal to New York State to stop forced ECT on Simone D.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkkq5QM33Yo

A song about Simone D. being forced have ECT

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QWIFwqRxO3c

Simone D. being forced to undergo more ECT in NY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DpHDGBEmn90

Steven Wittenberg speaks on how ECT harmed his wife Sue

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BATnu_H7TGg

Sue Clark-Wittenberg says ECT should be banned

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SH_u9v0q5Xo

Sue and Steven Wittenberg speak about ECT

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6u2e48AkI9E

Sue and Steven Wittenberg discuss ECT

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5Lo_Fd3ulE

Sue and Steven Wittenberg discuss ECT Stats

http://youtube.com/watch?v=FF0x7xjzIuk

Sue Clark-Wittenberg speaks about electroshock
http://youtube.com/watch?v=_u2Ioj9pgcA

Steven Wittenberg talks about ending ECT

http://youtube.com/watch?v=1r8NTOs3ey0

Electroshock and Me

http://youtube.com/watch?v=6v94zfB1S_c

Sue's Websites

http://wittenbergces.blogspot.com
http://psychiatrybuster.blogspot.com
http://symclark.blogspot.com

Anti-ECT websites:

http://www.breggin.com
http://endofshock.com
http://www.ect.org
http://idiom.com/~drjohn/ect1.html
http://capa.oise.utoronto.ca
http://capacanada.wordpress.com
http://banshock.org
http://www.mindfreedom.org
http://wildestcolts.com

"Electroshock is a crime against humanity and it must be banned now"

The Psychiatric Patient Advocacy Office (PPAO)

2007-07-05T05:27:00.000-07:00

The Psychiatric Patient Advocate Office (PPAO)

Website: http://www.ppao.gov.on.ca/ Main page
http://www.ppao.gov.on.ca/inf-alpha.html Info Guides A to Z

- the first and largest provincial mental health advocacy program in Canada - was established in 1983 as an arm’s length program of the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care to protect the legal and civil rights of inpatients in provincial psychiatric hospitals. We continue to provide a full range of independent advocacy and rights advice services in those facilities.

Since 2001 PPAO also provides rights advice to patients in most Ontario general hospitals with a mental health unit, and to individuals living in the community who are being considered for community treatment orders.

Please visit our site again as we update content regularly, and let us know if you have suggestions for improving the site, at ppao.moh@ontario.ca.

LOCATIONS OF THE PPAO OFFICES:

Head Office: Psychiatric Patient Advocate Office 55 St. Clair Avenue West Suite 802, Box 28 Toronto, Ontario M4V 2Y7 Telephone: (416) 327-7000 Toll Free: 1-800-578-2343 Fax: (416) 327-7008
Field Offices: (alphabetical by city) Psychiatric Patient Advocate Office Brockville Psychiatric Hospital A Division of the Royal Ottawa Health Care Group Highway 2 Prescott 1st Floor Admin. Bldg., Rm 1322 Brockville, ON K6V 5W7 Tel: (613) 345-1461 Ext. 2530/2531 Fax: (613) 345-4352	Psychiatric Patient Advocate Office St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton Centre for Mountain Health Services P.O. Box 585 100 West 5th St., Room F136 "A" Hamilton, ON L8L 3K7 Tel: (905) 388-2454 Fax: (905) 381-5622
Psychiatric Patient Advocate Office Providence Continuing Care Centre Mental Health Services 752 King St. W., Room 1009 Kingston, ON K7L 4X3 Tel: (613) 548-5575 Fax: (613) 540-6107	Psychiatric Patient Advocate Office Regional Mental Health Care London 850 Highbury Ave., Rm B111 London, ON N6A 4H1 Tel: (519) 455-9380 Fax: (519) 679-7022
Psychiatric Patient Advocate Office North Bay Psychiatric Hospital Highway 11 North, Rm 35, Box 3010 North Bay, ON P1B 8L1 Tel: (705) 474-1377 Fax: (705)495-7889	Psychiatric Patient Advocate Office Penetanguishene Mental Health Centre 500 Church Street Penetanguishene, ON L9M 1G3 Tel: (705) 549-3663 Fax: (705) 549-3172
Psychiatric Patient Advocate Office Regional Mental Health Care St. Thomas 467 Sunset Drive St. Thomas, ON N5P 3V9 Tel: (519) 631-1427 Fax: (519) 631-8216	Psychiatric Patient Advocate Office Lakehead Psychiatric Hospital 580 North Algoma St., Rm Ba207b Thunder Bay, ON P7B 5G4 Tel: (807) 343-4309 Fax: (807) 343-4374
Psychiatric Patient Advocate Office Centre for Addiction and Mental Health Queen Street Division 1001 Queen Street W., Room 167 Toronto, ON M6J 1H4 Tel: (416) 535-8501 Ext. 3099 Fax: (416) 583-3428	Psychiatric Patient Advocate Office Whitby Mental Health Centre 700 Gordon Street, Rm 7-2035 Whitby, ON L1N 5S9 Tel: (905) 430-4047 Fax: (905) 430-4044

Proof that ECT causes 100% brain damage

2007-07-05T05:26:00.000-07:00

Above is a picture of Dr. Peter R. Breggin

Dr. Peter R. Breggin, an American psychiatrist and author in the New York State wrote a news breaking article about electroshock and the new study that proves that electroshock cause brain damage which is detailed below. Dr. Breggin wrote many books one of which is entitled "Electroshock and Its Brain Disabling Effects". His books can be found on his huge website at the URL: www.breggin.com

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-peter-breggin/

DISTURBING NEWS FOR PATIENTS AND SHOCK DOCTORS ALIKE

by Dr. Peter R. Breggin

Something most remarkable and unexpected has occurred in the field of psychiatry. Lead by a lifelong defender and promoter of shock treatment, Harold Sackeim, a team of investigators has recently published a follow up study of 347 patients given the currently available methods of electroshock, including the supposedly most benign forms--and confirmed that electroshock causes permanent brain damage and dysfunction.

After traumatic brain damage has persisted for six months, it is likely to remain stable or even to grow worse. Therefore, the study confirms that routine clinical use of ect causes permanent damage to the brain and its mental faculties.

Destroying Lives

Decades of Opposition to Shock Treatment

References

Welcome to the Wittenberg Center to End Electroshock

2007-06-14T01:00:00.002-07:00

ttttttttttttttt

Above is a picture of Sue and Steven Wittenberg of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada taken in April 2006 at
their wedding reception.

Steven and Sue Wittenberg founded the "Wittenberg Center to End Electroshock" in 2007 because:

Electroshock (ECT) always causes brain damage 100% of the time. 100,000 Americans get ECT
yearly - 50,000 people in the UK get ECT yearly - in Ontario - Canada 14,000 ECTs are given yearly -
worldwide 1 to 2 million people get ECT yearly. Our Center wants to end electroshock -

Electroshock is a crime against humanity. Electroshock is unethical, barbaric, and it should have been banned years ago. There are countless tests and studies proving electroshock causes brain damage but the American Psychiatric Association and the Canadian Psychiatric Association routinely lie on their position papers about electroshock and say it is safe. It is not safe and the ECT machines are not safe at all.

Help spread the word about the harm done by electroshock. Electroshock is torture. Remember those who have died, or gone into a coma as a result of having electroshock. Remember those like
Sue who was maimed by electroshock and now suffers from permanent memory loss and has
difficulty learning new things. Sue was given electroshock against her will at the age of l7 years
old in 1973 at the Brockville Psychiatric Hospital. Sue was depressed as she had been abused by her parents for l7 years. Electroshock must end now - it is a crime against humanity!

Welcome to "The Wittenberg Center to End Electroshock" (WCEE) which is located in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The center is founded by Sue and Steven Wittenberg.

The center opened on May 20, 2007. Sue and Steven Wittenberg decided there was a need for a center to lobby all levels of governments in Canada to help ban electroshock (ECT). Sue is an electroshock torture victim/ survivor.

Sue had 5 electroshocks (ECT) at the Brockville Psychiatric Hospital in 1975 given to her against her will. Sue was 17 years old. On her 5th ECT, her heart stopped and she had to be revived. Sue suffers from permanent
memory loss and finds it difficult to learn new things as a result of having had ECT. Sue did not have any
learning difficulties prior to ECT. Sue was an average student in school.

There is documented studies and reports proving that electroshock causes brain damage.
See the website of American psychiatrist Dr. Peter R. Breggin at the URL: www.breggin.com for more information on electroshock. Dr. Breggin wrote an article this year called "Disturbing News for Patients and Shock Doctors Alike" which depicts the study done by Dr. Sackeim which proves that electroshock always causes brain damage. The article can found at this URL: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-peter-breggin
Scroll down this blog until you find the article.

The centre wants to educate people about the harm done by electroshock and wants to help ban electroshock
from Canada and universally.

Every province in Canada has their own Mental Health Act and that will take lots of legislative work to ban electroshock. We are looking for a student lawyer to help our center one day a week on a volunteer basis. A letter of reference will be given to those volunteers who help the center.

Our center has no funding as of yet and no office. We need 2 good working modern computers with monitors, keyboards and we also need a scanner, fax, and photocopier built into one. If anyone can assist us, it would be very helpful to us. We need two big filing cabinets as well.

You can reach Steven or Sue Wittengberg at the WCEE by telephone at 613-721-1833 or by email at: 2005.sueclark@gmail.com

Thank you.

The Wittenberg Center to End Electroshock

Vote Now for ECT Coalition Documentary

Request for data about involuntary ECT in Oregon

ECT propaganda - It's the pencillin of Psychiatry"

psychiatric disorders are a fraud

Canadian neurologists do not expose ECT

Pro Shock Book Out - OH NO!!

CAPA Press Release Oct 5, 2007

The Anti-Electroshock Proclamation

Sue to be on two radio shows in August

Anti-Psychiatry Radio Shows

Harold Sackeim exposed

Shirely Wang's ECT article "Shock Value" in Washington Post

Speak out about ECT at NY hearings

Stop Forced Shock! Speak out at July 2007 public hearings in New York State!

Concerned about forced electroshock in New York State by the Office of Mental Health (OMH)?

Here's how you can speak out!

Go to one of these four (4) OMH public events in the last two weeks of July 2007!

Brief Background about Forced Shock in NY State:

There are four (4) known OMH public events left in July!

WHY SPEAK OUT ABOUT FORCED ELECTROSHOCK IN NEW YORK STATE?

ABC News article on ECT, July 20, 2007

Electroshock Therapy Gets a Makeover

The New Face of ECT

ECT Not Uncommon

Still Searching for a Cure

Amnesty Canada does not recognize ECT as torture

CAPA's ECT Video

Sue Clark-Wittenberg's life in pics

ACTIVISTS WORKING TO BAN ECT

July 13th, ECT protest in Austin, Texas at hospital

ANTI -ECT WEBSITES

REACH

ARCH Law Center

ARCH mailing address

Voice

TTY

Fax

Email

Web site address

SIMONE D's appeal in New York State

PsychRights.org

Sue and Steven's ECT videos on youtube.com

The Psychiatric Patient Advocacy Office (PPAO)

Proof that ECT causes 100% brain damage

Welcome to the Wittenberg Center to End Electroshock