Dr. Kimon Efstathianos - Shocked! ECT Hall of Shame Award

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Dr. Kimon Efstathianos

Dr. Kimon Efstathianos of Belleville, Illinois

This man nearly ruined my life, and I'm sorry that I didn't just sue him ragged. I've now found plenty of lawyers who would LOVE to take the case, but my statute of limitations has run out. It took too long to get my life back after he fried my brain, and in that time, my time ran out. Such is life...

Kimon is called Dr. E by most. He thinks he's a gift from god, especially towards women. He's a condescending male chauvinist pig. In talking to other patients and former patients, one thing is clear: men relate to him, women hate him. He graduated in the 1950s from Greece and it's obvious he hasn't kept up-to-date, other than visits with pharmaceutical reps who bring him the coffee mug or other gift of the month.

I've never heard legitimate charges that he has sexually abused a female (or male) patient, but frankly, it wouldn't surprise me to learn of such things. He very obviously thinks very little of women, and this is evident in his shock practice. He lies, tells women not to worry about things, and to simply do as they're told.

Yes, Master.

When I had shock treatment, he told my family the following lies:

It would cure me. (It didn't)
He would use unilateral ECT (in fact, most psychiatrists talk about unilateral, but don't use it, because it's not very effective, unless the amount of electricity is extremely high, and the stimulus dosage quite long).
There would be no lasting damage.

After his treatments didn't work, he told my family to write me off, to save themselves. Screw you for that, you Nazi bastard. Fortunately, they didn't write me off and once I found a competent, caring psychiatrist and the love and support of my family, friends, and the compassion in the psychiatric survivor's movement, I recovered. Completely. Despite his predictions that I was doomed to live my life in a mental hospital.

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Dr. E also doesn't know much about current psychiatric treatments. During my ECT, he changed my diagnosis from clinical depression, to bipolar disorder. I do believe the bipolar diagnosis is valid, but not based on his reasoning. He gave me the Dexamethasone Suppression test, which is an outdated test that is not efficient. When I told other psychiatrists (who keep current, not stuck in the 1950s) how he based his new diagnosis, they guffawed at his idiocy. This test has absolutely nothing to do with bipolar disorder.

Another time, I took in some studies about a new medication. Instead of simply saying "You're a woman, women are inferior to men, and you're a retarded mental patient and should stay quiet and submit," he grabbed the papers from me, threw them to the ground, and screamed, "I don't care how the hell they do it at Columbia University!!! THIS is how we do it here."

Gee, not defensive about your lack of medical knowledge, are you?

Another time, Dr. E hospitalized me against my will because I questioned his medical knowledge. How dare I! I was not suicidal, nor a danger to anyone but his own self confidence. But he put in my records that I was suicidal, which led me to a locked ward. When I inquired about the possibility of signing out, I was greeted with massive doses of Haldol (an antipsychotic used to drug people into submission) and threats of being sent to the state hospital (a place of horrors).

I later learned that the only way I could get out was to kiss his ass, and as ugly as that was, I did so. I told him he was a great man, and he immediately got a giant woody and smiled. The words he wanted to hear. I also asked why he had put in my records that I was suicidal, when I wasn't, and he replied "So the insurance would pay the bill."

So now we've got a little insurance fraud going on.

So what does Dr. E stand for:

Lies to patients and families
Hates women and thinks they are inferior
Insurance fraud
His medical knowledge is stuck in the 1950s
Very defensive
One lousy son of a bitch

If you live in the Belleville, Illinois area (a suburb of St. Louis), I would advise you to avoid this man at all costs, unless you're into being a Stepford patient.

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