WeAreTheKey

The question is how...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26044935/page/2/

I really dont have much to say about this article, cause my brain is trying to comprehend how anyone would think it was a good idea..
Basically ElectroShock Therapy is making a comeback. a "difinitive" cure for depression.
Despite the memory loss and in some cases loss of brain function in certain areas...

And the fact that you are basically FORCING some one to have a GRAND MAL SEIZURE.. to cure DEPRESSION, which is caused by more than just your brain not working correctly by the way.

Sometimes I feel that the culture we live in thinks all depressionis caused by a chemical imbalance forgetting that the way we feel can also be linked to diet, exercize, life situations, personal dialog upbringing, the planet we live in... ect ect ect Really the list is huge...but we seem to only treat feeling down or "bad" as a disease rather than a possible reaction to something...

there was an article the other day on MSN( should have posted it) that basicailly due to insurance and pharmacutical companies offering the psychiatrists financial incentive, that the rate of actual talk therapy has plummited, people are just thaking the pills rather than working through the issues. I find this very saddening, and maddening, because

a) if these major companies procucing pills and insuance werent controlling what seems to be every aspect of healthcare, people would be healthier and happier, fewer poor and sick.

b) the qualtity of care you get now is based off of how much of your money you shell out, not how sick you are, not how much you need it

c) negative mental health related encounters seem to be on the rise, i suspect it is because people go off their meds and find they are incapable of funtioning in the real world (due to imo not treating the issue but suppressing the issue)


d) i think it is extreemly important to work through your issues, with yourself and someone else, if not just one break it up to multiple people work it out and it can be much better than masking all the pains with a giant painkiller.. this is not getting done..

I understand there are people out there who have actual imbalances in their brain chemistry and do need medication but I believe all psychologically related medication should be paired with at least monthly counseling to ensure that the paitent is able to work through whatever he or she is going throught.

Interesting how the article is surprisingly positive towards ECT, and even ends on an upbeat, happy note. All is well!
But the paragraph that got me was this:

...critics of the treatment who warn that the cognitive side effects, such as memory loss, are too severe, and that the fuzzy, foggy state of mind that ECT initially causes simply makes patients temporarily forget about their sadness. (Nearly every ECT patient experiences confusion, inability to concentrate and short-term memory loss during the treatment.)

"We talk about cognitive deficits and memory loss — really, that's brain damage,"

Ha, if I described the following to you, you'd swear I was talking about illegal drug use:
A fuzzy, foggy state of mind that makes people temporarily forget about their sadness... confusion, inability to concentrate, short-term memory loss - really, that's brain damage.

Tragic and irresponsible if you do that to yourself, but if a doctor does it to ya... hey man, whatever works, right?!?!

Insanity.

Ditto, Alluscion.

Your statements closely parallel my own opinions on "legal" drugs. Doctors hand the stuff out like candy. There are millions of Americans being doped up in some fashion or another. Yes, there is a small percentage of them that actually need chemical balancing, but I will go out on a limb and say that most do not. And don't even get me started on people that drug their kids for acting EXACTLY LIKE A KID IS SUPPOSED TO ACT. Frickin' lazy parents and their $h!tty doctors.

As for electric shock therapy, it's just plain stupidity. People getting zapped when their down to "feel good" for a while. I guess I can see a very small niche for it only for people who are imminently suicidal as a temporary "life-saving" measure. But even the article says the effects are temporary, so even suicide-prevention shock therapy should have mandatory counseling therapy to follow in order to help them get permanently over their extreme depression.

simultaneous postin'.
Jinx.

What's the jinx? I'm going to immediately fall into a deep depression and be prescribed a series of shock-therapy.

If my jinx worked correctly, then yes!
Let the punishment fit the crime....

Or something like that.

Interesting. Sure, some mild positive effects were found with ECT but the side effects and, yeah, brain damage, is the reason it became an archaic practice deemed too cruel to be functional. You shock the shit out of your brain enough times you just become a walking zombie (if additional neurological damage didn't take away walking too). And not to say that's a whole lot different from some people shoveling down handfuls of pills everyday...

Don't get me wrong, there are some amazing therapeutic 'possibilities that have been developed using electric current as of late. Such as the application of a mild electrical current to kill bacterial, viral and fungal pathogens within the blood and it's fairly common use in acupuncture and also sports medicine for muscular ailments. but bringing back ECT? forget that.

And as far as this goes:


SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN Article
Mind-altering psychedelics are back—but this time they are being explored in labs for their therapeutic applications rather than being used illegally... Current studies are focusing on psychedelic treatments for cluster headaches, depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), severe anxiety in terminal cancer patients, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), alcoholism and opiate addiction.... All the studies discussed in this article have received government approval, and their investigators are either in the process of recruiting human subjects or have begun or completed research on human subjects in the first or second stage of this trial process.'

At least these have shown to generally provide long term treatment. A major reason? The individual does not sedate the issues bothering them but must rather face them head on and work through it.

Yeah just like how they used to use LSD in a psychiatric setting to help people overcome their emotional blocks and supressed memories/traumas...before it was made illegal too.

But what are they using? I thought all psychedelics were classified as schedule-1, meaning 'no medical value'...
Are they using something new?!

Well, I know you're familiar with Dr. Strassman's DMT studies - there are also various studies on MDMA, psilocybin, Ibogaine, ketamine, and others going on...
One of the best places to keep up on research is the MAPS website (linked to research) their newsletter is handy too.

Huh, cool. I'll check that out.