Shock Therapy

Shock Therapy: A History of Electroconvulsive Treatment in Mental Illness Hardcover – December 21, 2012

Author: Professor Edward Shorter | Language: English | ISBN: 0813541697 | Format: PDF, EPUB

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• Book Details
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Shock Therapy: A History of Electroconvulsive Treatment in Mental Illness – December 21, 2012
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Review

"Shock Therapy is based on contemporary research that includes both manuscript and printed sources as well as interviews with individuals who have played key roles in the history of ECT. It is a controversial work, if only because its authors combine both historical analysis and advocacy. Nevertheless, the book—which includes discussions of such contemporary therapeutic innovations as VNS, DBS, and TMS—is a must-read and has relevance for those concerned with the treatment of mental disorders."

(Gerald N. Grob coauthor of The Dilemma of Federal Mental Health Policy: Radical Reform or Incr)

"This book has groundbreaking potential, and its readability is streng (Library Journal)

About the Author

EDWARD SHORTER is the Jason A. Hannah Chair of the History of Medicine at the University of Toronto. He is the author of numerous books, including A History of Psychiatry and Before Prozac.

DAVID HEALY is a professor of psychiatry in the department of psychological medicine at Cardiff University and the author of numerous books, including Let Them Eat Prozac. He was secretary of the British Association for Psychopharmacology.

Download latest books on mediafire and other links compilation Shock Therapy: A History of Electroconvulsive Treatment in Mental Illness Hardcover – December 21, 2012

• Hardcover: 398 pages
• Publisher: Rutgers University Press; 1 edition (December 21, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0813541697
• ISBN-13: 978-0813541693
• Product Dimensions: 0.9 x 6.3 x 8.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,136,944 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

In this book, the Edward Shorter and David Healy claim that, "it is not our goal to establish whether ECT causes memory problems beyond the relatively short-term difficulties that everyone agrees can arise for some people immediately after treatment." (p. 214)

The statement is typical of the shallow and disingenuous character of the book. To claim that it's not your goal to establish whether ECT causes memory problems, i.e., to imply that you are taking a "neutral" stance, and then proceed to argue only one side of the debate - this is the stuff of clever editorials, not legitimate historical analysis.

Psychiatry has always pursued a Don't Look, Don't Tell policy when it comes to shock treatment. For example, the American Psychiatric Association's 1990 task force report on ECT cited one 1986 study, by Freeman and Kendell, in claiming, "A small minority of patients, however, report persistent deficits." Compare this with what Freeman and Kendall actually wrote: "We were surprised by the large number who complained of memory impairment. Many of them did so spontaneously without being prompted, and a striking 30% felt that their memory had been permanently affected."

Shorter and Healy ignore this pattern and instead adopt it. They misrepresent the shock literature, leave out important studies, and completely avoid important issues, including the almost universal relapse of patients following shock, psychiatry's refusal to conduct proper studies of shock's effects, and the fact that, while patients in community settings are commonly shocked at electrical doses grossly in excess of the American Psychiatric Association recommended guidelines, researchers never employ such levels.

This is a credulous and poorly researched paean to shock treatment.

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