1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910818435103321

Autore

Andre Linda <1959->

Titolo

Doctors of deception [[electronic resource] ] : what they don't want you to know about shock treatment / / Linda Andre

Pubbl/distr/stampa

New Brunswick, N.J., : Rutgers University Press, c2009

ISBN

1-282-03357-3

9786612033575

0-8135-4652-4

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (376 p.)

Disciplina

616.89/12

Soggetti

Shock therapy

Electroconvulsive therapy

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references (p. 316-348) and index.

Nota di contenuto

The trouble with time -- Eugenic conceptions I : ticking time bombs -- Eugenic conceptions II : useless eaters -- A little brain pathology -- Informed consent and the dawn of the public relations era -- The American Psychiatric Association Task Force -- The making of an American activist -- The ECT industry cows the media -- Long strange trip : ECT and the food and drug administration -- The Committee for Truth in Psychiatry -- Anecdote or evidence? -- Shaming science -- The lie that won't die -- Erasing history -- The triumph of public relations over science -- Should shock be banned? : the moral context -- Where do we go from here?

Sommario/riassunto

Mechanisms and standards exist to safeguard the health and welfare of the patient, but for electroconvulsive therapy (ECT)-used to treat depression and other mental illnesses-such approval methods have failed. Prescribed to thousands over the years, public relations as opposed to medical trials have paved the way for this popular yet dangerous and controversial treatment option. Doctors of Deception is a revealing history of ECT (or shock therapy) in the United States, told here for the first time. Through the examination of court records, medical data, FDA reports, industry claims, her own experience as a patient of shock therapy, and the stories of others, Andre exposes



tactics used by the industry to promote ECT as a responsible treatment when all the scientific evidence suggested otherwise. As early as the 1940's, scientific literature began reporting incidences of human and animal brain damage resulting from ECT. Despite practitioner modifications, deleterious effects on memory and cognition persisted. Rather than discontinue use of ECT, the