-Caveat Lector- From: Kay Lee & Joe Hart <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> From: "Kay Lee & Joe Hart" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> I had a close friend who underwent a series of sixteen shock treatments in a three month period over nine years ago. Whatever it was supposed to cure, she cries everytime I talk about something we did that she can't remember. All I know is it has got to be something rotten in the politics of medicine for them to deny me a plant to relieve my depression, but give a very secretive okay for doctors to put electrodes to my head and shock my brain into submission. And they expect me to believe they are concerned with Marijuana's short term memory displacement? And so, I pass this on to you. Kay Lee From: David Oaks - Support Coalition International <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Friday, September 24, 1999 9:14 PM Subject: DENDRITE: Electroshock & Clinton/Gore - ZAPBACK NOW! DENDRITE NEWS ALERT September 24, 1999 Copy/post to appropriate places on & off Internet. Win human rights in the "mental health system"! A project of Support Coalition International. http://www.MindFreedom.org <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ NEWS RELEASE -- IMMEDIATE RELEASE LEAKED COPY OF U.S. SURGEON GENERAL REPORT REVEALS CLINTON/GORE PLAN TO GIVE BLANKET ENDORSEMENT TO *ELECTROSHOCK* FEDERAL OFFICIALS SAID TO BE "PISSED" THAT U.S. PUBLIC IS GETTING PREVIEW VIA INTERNET ACTION: FAX & PHONE U.S. SURGEON GENERAL NOW! WASHINGTON, DC: Later this Fall, the Clinton/Gore Administration plans to release a major U.S. Surgeon General's report on "mental health." These Surgeon General reports (such as the ones on tobacco and AIDS) carry a lot of weight. The Administration also hopes this attention to "mental health" will help the Gore presidential campaign, because this is Tipper's main issue. Drafts of the report are secret. But their strategy is backfiring: A preview of the Surgeon General's report has been leaked out via e-mail to psychiatric survivor advocates, causing a furor: The Surgeon General's report is currently planning to give a clean bill of health to the controversial procedure of electroshock (also known as "electroconvulsive therapy" or ECT). Officials at the federal "Center for Mental Health Services" (CMHS) are said to be "pissed" at the "mental health consumer" who leaked the report. But early indications are that these federal officials' anger may be nothing compared to the anger of advocates and psychiatric survivors -- especially those who have experienced human rights violations via electroshock -- as they read about this U.S. whitewash and feel betrayed. ACTION ZAP BACK - ACTION ZAP BACK - ACTION ZAP BACK: FAX, PHONE AND WRITE THE U.S. SURGEON GENERAL NOW! Fax number: (202) 690-6960 Phone number: (202) 690-7694 David Satcher, M.D., Ph.D. U.S. Surgeon General Assistant Secretary for Health Hubert H. Humphrey Building, Rm 716G 200 Independence Ave. SW Washington, DC 20201 USA A sample message is at the BOTTOM of this alert. But *first*, here is the e-mail that *leaked* the Surgeon General's report. WARNING: Copying & forwarding the below e-mail is apparently angering the Clinton/Gore administration: So you know what to do!!! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ BELOW IS THE E-MAIL SAID TO "PISS OFF" THE CLINTON/GORE ADMINISTRATION -- WITH AN ADVANCE LEAK OF SURGEON GENERAL WHITEWASH ABOUT ELECTROSHOCK!!! COPY & FORWARD THIS ALERT FAR AND WIDE!!! The following are excerpts from two e-mails today and yesterday from Joseph A. Rogers, a mental health consumer activist in Pennsylvania who directs a federally-funded program. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ from Joseph A Rogers <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> I just got off the phone with the folks at Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS) and they are very pissed at me for sharing the little bit of the report I have shared. It seems that the Surgeon General's folks are very upset that there is a public debate going on about the report. I was told by the CMHS folks that I am in the dog house with them and they will never trust me again. This is odd as I don't think they have ever trusted me (at least they never acted that way). I hope people start writing to make a stink about this report as I think we can have our voices heard, but it needs to be more than just a couple of us to have an effect. I think the best bet is to write the Surgeon General. Even if you are not upset about the ECT part of the report you might just want to write and ask that the report be developed in a more open and public way and that you would like a draft copy so you can make pre-published comments. "ECT SAFE AND EFFECTIVE" SAYS U.S. SURGEON GENERAL I have seen a draft of the Surgeon Generals Report on Mental Health, and the section on ECT is as bad as it gets. It begins, "ECT is regarded as a safe and effective treatment for depression . . ." This is a really big deal, since the Surgeon General is regarded as the ultimate medical authority by many. This includes Ann Landers, who has often quoted the Surgeon General in her column. So the influence wielded by the Surgeon Generals Office is enormous. And there is a very short window of opportunity to do anything about this, since the Surgeon General's Office plans to issue a final report within a couple of months! According to the report, ECT has gotten a bad reputation because of how it was performed "decades ago," when the absence of anesthesia would sometimes cause people to break bones. But, it reassures us, "By the 1950s, these adverse effects were eliminated." Now, according to the report, "ECT has become a carefully regulated procedure" and there has been a "growing awareness of its benets and cost-effectiveness." The report refers to the "explicit written informed consent" that is supposedly required, and says that ECT works better than medication because it results in "more rapid resolution of symptoms." As for side effects, we are told that the most common is "confusion after each treatment, which generally clears within an hour. TRANSIENT [the report's emphasis] amnesia of varying degrees is also common, but it resolves within several months, except for some persistent loss of memory for the period immediately surrounding the treatment itself." (The report refers to the "OCCASIONAL [my emphasis] anecdotal evidence" of permanent memory loss but, in fairness, it does say that "permanent memory loss remains a legitimate topic for careful longitudinal study.") The report concludes by saying that "modern advances in treatment technique" have reduced the "adverse cognitive effects of ECT," and that, anyway, it's hard to tell if these are caused by the ECT or by depression. The report says, "Claims that ECT induces brain damage have been unsubstantiated by research," although it admitted earlier that "The reasons for ECT's effectiveness are not known (Weiner & Krystal, 1994)." There is no mention of the fact that many studies have shown that victims of brain damage also experience a period of euphoria, which is also short-lived. In fact, the report does not even mention that, even when ECT does cause some lifting of depression, this usually wears off relatively quickly. The report concludes, "The current practice of ECT is considered safe and clinically effective (Depression Guideline Panel, 1993)." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ FAX/WRITE/PHONE U.S. SURGEON GENERAL Even if your message is only *one* sentence. SAMPLE MESSAGE TO THE U.S. SURGEON GENERAL: by David Oaks, co-coordinator Support Coalition International <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> I've seen a leak of your "mental health" report! How dare you give a clean bill of health to electroshock! Advocates and psychiatric survivors are outraged! What about human rights concerns? What about informed consent issues? What about the many studies showing high rates of persistent loss of memories from before the electroshock? What about our voices? YOU claim shock is regulated. TRUTH: The FDA has still not investigated this device for safety and efficacy, in violation of the law. The shock device remains a "Class III" unregulated "hazardous" device. YOU claim new shock devices have improved. TRUTH: The newer devices can deliver even higher amounts of electrical energy ("joules") than before. No wonder the four U.S. shock manufacturers don't want any oversight of their devices. YOU claim there is adequate informed consent. TRUTH: Even the CMHS (1998) whitewash on shock admitted instances of illegal forced electroshock are continuing to this day. But even all those who *sign* for shock are given fraudulent information. YOU claim memory problems are transient. TRUTH: Even the NIH (1985) whitewash cited studies that more than half of those shocked report memory problems they attribute to shock even three years after the shock. YOU claim there are only occasional anecdotal reports of persistent loss of pre-electroshock memories. TRUTH: While some of those shocked do not report memory complaints, the medical and FDA record are filled with thousands of heart-breaking reports of electroshock survivors losing memories of their wedding, birth of children, vacation, neighborhoods, friends, relatives, careers and much more. Your lies threaten to re-traumatize these survivors. YOU claim shock is safe. TRUTH: You ignore studies showing the death rate following shock may be closer to 1 in 200, rather than the lies spread by the shock industry. YOU are being hoodwinked by a small group of psychiatric industry special interests. Your report threatens to destroy any remaining trust in the Clinton/Gore Administration with thousands in our community. Please respond soon, with the TRUTH. For more information on electroshock go to our web site and click on Campaigns and then Shock: http://www.MindFreedom.org ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This human rights alert is distributed via the DENDRITE e-mail list. SNOWBALL DENDRITE! Make copies of copies. YOU CAN GET DENDRITE HUMAN RIGHTS ALERTS & NEWS *FREE*! DENDRITE is a public Internet alert system about human rights in psychiatry, sponsored by Support Coalition International, sending out notices to thousands of concerned people, many of whom take ACTION NOW! **BRANCH THIS DENDRITE** Copy & forward to appropriate places on & off the Internet, just as your brain uses tree-like dendrites to network billions of neurons. Support Coalition International is an independent non-profit federation of more than 70 groups in 11 countries united to WIN campaigns for human rights in the "mental health system." Join Support Coalition and build strength in numbers and get Dendron news journal. For info see web site: http://www.MindFreedom.org Dendron is the print newsjournal for members of Support Coalition. DENDRITE is free public e-mail list for all. DENDRITE is a one-way occasional e-mail list, so you do not get too much e-mail this way. Sign up now! To join you can send tax-deductible donations to: Support Coalition; PO Box 11284; Eugene, OR 97440 USA. To get free DENDRITE alerts, simply e-mail to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> with these two words only in body of message: subscribe dendrite To unsubscribe from DENDRITE, e-mail to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> with these two words only in body of message: unsubscribe dendrite --------------------------- ONElist Sponsor ---------------------------- GET WHAT YOU DESERVE! A NextCard Platinum VISA: Get an APR as low as 2.9 Intro & NO annual fee! 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