A *psychiatrist* asks "Why is this terrible and devastating human rights abuse allowed to go on?"!!!

Of interest: "I am also against the forced use of ECT on any human being." Which forced psychiatric procedures (treatments?) are you not against?

News for those in Canada, living near Ottawa.
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Mother's Day Event - Demonstration Against Electroshock
"Stop Shocking our Mothers and Grandmother's"
May ll, 2008, Sunday
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Parliament Hill on Wellington Street
Meet at the Centennial Flame
1 to 4 p.m.
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We hope as many groups and people can come to the protest. Please spread this info far and wide.

50% of ECT is given to women over 60 years of age.

ECT always causes brain damage. The ICBE deems ECT as unethical, inhumane, barbaric and torture. ECT is an atrocity and it is a crime against
humanity and ECT must end now.

The ICBE is asking for a moratorium on the use of electroshock in Canada.

The ICBE is presently lobbying all politicians in Canada regarding this issue.

ECT should have been banned many years ago as there are many reports and studies that prove that ECT always causes brain damage.

Read the article by American psychiatrist Dr. Peter R. Breggin called "Disturbing News for Patients and Shock Doctors Alike" in which Dr. Breggin writes about a study that proves that ECT always causes brain damage.
See the full text of this article at this link:

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

Sue Clark-Wittenberg, Director of the ICBE had ECT given to her against her
will at the age of l7 years old in 1973 at the Brockville Psychiatric Hospital.
On her 5th ECT, her heart stopped and she had to be revived. She suffers from
permanent memory loss and has difficulty learning new things as a result of having ECT.

Sue's mom Theresa also had ECT given to her at the Ottawa Civic Hospital in the 1970s.

The statistics for ECTs given yearly are:

14,000 ECTs given yearly in Ontario, Canada
46,000 ECTs given in British Columbia, Canada in the past 5 years
USA - 100,000 Americans get ECT yearly, since 1940 when ECT was introduced
over 6 million Americans have had ECT
UK - 50,000 ECTs given yearly
Worldwide - 1 to 2 Million people get ECT yearly.

Sue says "no one should ever have to go through what I did", let's end this atrocity now".

Let's all help to end ECT today. Your voice counts. Send a letter to your politician today and tell them to stop ECT now.

Don Weitz from Toronto who is an anti-ECT activist and author and human rights activist has confirmed he will be at the protest.

The ICBE will be making the Mother's Day Event an annual event every year.

ECT is certainly not without its risks, but what medical procedure is?

ECT's effectiveness data is pretty strong - on par with 3-vessel CABG. If we want to get rid of ECT, let's come up with some non-shit medical treatments, huh?

And its brutality? Is electroshock really more brutal than getting your chest cracked with a bone-saw and rib-spreader?

ECT is the only medical procedure that I know of in my home state of Texas that a family member can't consent me for if I'm unable to consent for myself - so if I'm catatonic, failing to respond to meds, and unable to consent to ECT, I can't have access to the gold-standard treatment?

WTF?

I really don't know enough about ECT to comment on whether or not it is indeed "a holocaust of the brain" and "a brutal final solution". But as far as I can tell from the article (which I think was meant to be favorable), Dr. Corry has a big ideological ax to grind, as well as a penchant for woolly thinking and tasteless, overblown rhetoric. I hope this isn't all the anti-ECT cause has to offer, because if so, no wonder it isn't getting anywhere.

Ollie, you can always move to New York. Being in Texas myself, I thank my lucky stars I was not forced to have this gold-standard treatment. I was told ECT was my only hope, and thank god I was able to say hell no. I've been off all psych meds almost 6 years now. I guess I wasn't such a hopeless case after all.

I have personally met Michael Corry...
He is a beacon of compassion and hope for Mental health rights in Ireland..
He is a great man, very compassionate and humanist in his approach to the mind..
Great to see him getting the attention he deserves..
Good on ya Mr Corry..
:)

Ollie, Texas does recognize psychiatric advance directives, in which you can pre-consent to ECT.

Please contact me as I am at high risk in bC however Post MVA head trama they still have me down as a mental case as a result of ECT in 60s in Toronto. I require medical but fear hospital as health Canada have me profieled as does rcmp it is unsafe for seniors out here with a lable . Thank God for folks like us my fighting against the system has me labled as defient and rebelous . I attended the conference long time ago OUR TURN which was held in Quebec. I need help in BC do you know where I can get that support. Thanks pals see ya god bless all of us. ! Irene