Do something, please! I need my freedom. I have all the rights of a respectable human being and all his duties."

It is virtually impossible to really hear this man and fail to realize that a great and tragic act of oppression has taken place in New York under the auspices of state sanctioned psychiatry.

Is his case or his eloquence unique? Not in my direct experience with scores of electroshock survivors. Paul Henri Thomas, like many others, is not being shocked because it is best for his "mental illness" that has rendered him dangerously incompetent. The sad truth is that he is shocked because psychiatry is bereft of understanding and compassion. Viewing individuals as dangerous and incompetent allows psychiatrists to treat them as less than human and justifies taking away their freedom and dignity and right of choice, hallmarks of their humanity.

As I grapple with attempting to understand how this horror is justified, the second thing I come up with is that those who force electroshock on people must assert that it is a good thing to do, a benevolent, helpful act. It would be hard to justify forced pain and brain damage---that's called torture, the stuff of cruel human rights violations evident throughout history and even to this day. Psychiatrists once acknowledged that electroshock's "therapeutic" effect was a result of brain damage, but have necessarily become more image conscious today. Autopsies of several decades ago routinely verified the brain damage, but autopsies following electroshock-related deaths are not performed today. Think about it- since the natural electrical activity of the brain is in millivolts (thousandths of a volt), how could a surge of 150 volts or more directly into the brain not cause brain damage? It is a challenge for all of us to retain our common sense in the face of confusing psychiatric rhetoric. The truth is pretty simple:

Electroshock always causes brain damage. The question is only how much.

Electroshock always causes memory loss. The question is only how much.

Electroshock causes death. Published studies suggest the electroshock death rate is about 1 in 1000. Mortality for the elderly is much greater, about 1 in 200.

Did you know that we mostly shock our elderly? I am always at a loss to explain how psychiatric rhetoric can so cloud our basic judgement, compassion and respect for our elders that we assault them in their declining years with brain damaging electroshock and call it medical treatment. One 82-year-old woman, Lucille Austwick, was being threatened with forced electroshock, and she said, "Bull! Ridiculous!" Her friends went to court against the psychiatrists and saved her; unfortunately, many more are not saved. Elders are the most frequent victims, even though they are also at greatest risk of suffering grievous harm from electroshock.

The list of effects goes on and on, and it is an ugly picture. My own specialty is in the emotional area. There is no time for me to describe this here, but I want you to at least know that terror and shame are the regular effects of electroshock, especially forced electroshock. A woman I know, 74-year-old Mimi Greenberg of Austin, Texas, received forced electroshock. Afterwards, she was so frightened of all doctors that she dangerously neglected the real medical help she needed for many years. She shared with me that a significant part of her healing from this trauma was when she read a book of remembrances of holocaust survivors. She told me that these descriptions finally put words to the anguish she still felt from her experience with electroshock. Forced electroshock is not medicine; it is cruel torture.

Even when they acknowledge the real damage done by electroshock, its defenders still might attempt to justify it by saying the benefit is worth the dangers. Psychiatry says it works. Psychologist Harold Sackeim, of the New York State Psychiatric Institute, keeps recommending it, even though he has just published an article which, when you get past all the verbiage, shows that virtually all of the patients had relapse within six months of receiving electroshock.1 Not only is electroshock dangerous and harmful. Not only is there no valid explanation for its effects other than brain damage. But also it simply has no positive lasting effects.

The plain truth is that there is no rational justification for forced electroshock. I appreciate your investigation today, and I urge you to pursue legislation ending the cruel practice of forced electroshock, and restoring the fundamental American rights of free choice inherent in authentic informed consent.

Thank you for listening. Are there any questions?

1 Sackeim, H.A.(2001) Continuation Pharmacotherapy in the Prevention of Relapse Following Electroconvulsive Therapy. JAMA, Vol. 285, No. 10.

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