assinine professionals

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Well it can certainly cause amnesia, especially the more and more it's used. But it does seem to have some antidepressive effects. Probably because it's causing huge brain-wide seizures and thereby releasing loads of neurotransmitters during and in its wake. It's probably this which triggers the antidepressant effects by stepping up neurotransmitter release and receptivity for a time. But, like was said earlier, it's defintely not permanent.

I thought ECT was obsolete, that's terrible that they are still using it Seems they still do a lot of things that would get them arrested if it were anyone else doing it...

I know someone whose psychologist told him he couldn't possibly be autistic because he didn't act like Rainman, and then proceeded to do a Rainman impression! This was a so-called professional!!

I had a psychiatrist who diagnosed me with depression based on an inkblot test and a look-at-a-picture-and-make-up-a-story test. I was then given Paxil. I don't think my feelings or problems were really discussed much, if at all (this was a long time ago so I don't quite remember). Not too long afterwards I lied and said I was hearing voices telling me to stick my fingers in electrical outlets (a very silly thing to do, but I was only 12 at the time) and they slapped on a diagnosis of "psychotic tendencies" and gave me Risperdal. I was given all kinds of meds for the next two years. The real problems I was having-difficulty coping with change-were never really dealt with and I soon forgot about them anyway because the meds and hospitalization gave me a whole new set of problems.

I didn't know about the history of psychiatrists. That is pretty scary considering what asylums used to be like. They were probably worse than prisons.

Yep, definitely still used. I really don't find it frightening, the method that is. And it can work for a short period when all other antidepressants fail. However, the psychiatrists who PRESCRIBE it really scare me because they often do so unethically.

ECT is not the One-Flew-Over-the-Cuckoo's-Nest version. They give you a muscle relaxant so that you cannot injur yourself (which used to be the biggest problem) or anyone else. Then they send an electric current through you for a short time (I'm uncertain how long the current lasts, probably only 5-10 seconds at most). It takes awhile for the grand mal seizure to subside, after which the person basically acts like a zombie for about a day or more till they come out of the shock/anticonvulsant stupor and then they get to deal with the amnesia. Usually it's administered once a day for a couple weeks. This is one round of treatment. Many pdocs use it unethically as they seem to prescribe it right and left for just about anyone who crosses their path in in-patient, and they also give more rounds than recommended and keep using it till the person basically has such horrible amnesia that they have a whole NEW set of problems!



Some of these "professional" stories are almost unbelievable aren't they?

Ahh doctors betraying me...? I'm all to familiar with it!

I had been (it stopped in January, thank God) hearing voices since I was 14 (I am now 17), and I was seeing a therapist at first. She said that I was hallucinating, but said it was "temporary hallucinations caused by stress".

YEAH! WHEN I WAS 15 I ENDED UP IN PSYCH WARD WITH Acute Schizophrenia-Type Psychosis (the full name; psychosis for short).
(And AS later on)

My new doctor was good though (the locum one in the ward), he said although people with schizophrenia normally can't be diagnosed with AS (?), he believed that I actually had it, and he believed that the guidelines are not always right.

I was referred to a (NHS) psychiatrist by my (private) psychologist as the treatment he was trying to use was not working (sticking) as at the time i was severely depressed.
After listening me talk, reluctantly, about my life; the fact that i never went out with friends, and felt no desire to, felt uncomfortable socialising, enjoyed spending all my time in my room reading a book, that i failed to see the point to each day and that i wished to stay in bed all the time.
The psychiatrist informed me that i had low self esteem and that i should join a group, (this was after me telling him that i disliked socialising of any kind, especially large noisy groups), this reaffirmed my belief that all (ok, most) medical professionals couldn't care less and were looking for the option that least inconvenienced them, and i will never trust a psychiatrist.

I once went to meet a friends husband in the UCLA Psych ward. MAN, I hope they didn't hurt you emotionally, etc... I'd go NUTS in there! I met people with all sorts of wierd ideas. You said the reasonable doctor was "the locum one". Was he like some where they have a student, or nurse like person ACTING as doctor, or was he just filling in? Just curious. These things ARE rather arbitrary at times, and it is good that he was willing to allow for that.

Steve

Locum guy is a consultant adolescent psychiatrist and he is VERY good, believe me, at his job. He is inteliigent and he knows his stuff.
It is just the CAHMS service that is crap - most of the doctors there probably got thirds in their degrees. My clinical specialist is not that bad though. He's OK.
Yeah, I was hurt emotionally alright, see following link: http://www.wrongplanet.net/modules.php? ... ic&t=21266

Yeah, they still use it. I had it eight times, once every second day. It does play havoc with the memory, I've fogotten so much. The thing is, the memories don't come back. Once they're gone, they're gone. That can be depressing in itself, especially if you really want to remember something.
The short-term memory suffers a lot too. Now, a year after I had ECT, I still have short-term memory problems.

No kidding. My mother, who eventually became a shrink, was determined to find out what was "wrong" with me, and sent me to psychiatrists all through my childhood and adolescence. I never fully understood what I was dong there. One time I was told it was for an inability to follow auditory instructions, and for poor grades. The reality is, I think anyway, that I was all too consumed with whatever I was doing and heard nothing, and school bored me to tears, so I didn't do the work. That simple. If someone had just asked me nicely, I would have told them that.

No one figured out what was "wrong" with me. But, man, I'm highly suspicious of psychiatrists to this day after years of going to them for unknown/shady reasons. I'm looking into the diagnosis process, but if it involves shrinks... Well. We'll get there when we get there.

Isn't that called "Applied Behavioural Analysis"? Seriously, I have a relative who had ECT for depression, and although it seemed to cure her depression, her behaviour's now so eccentric that about half her family are driven nuts by her and the other half are so ashamed of her they don't want to be associated with her.

As for my experience with psychiatrists and other mental health professionals, I think their approach to people can be accurately described as torture the little ones, drug the big ones or placate them with BS. The first psychiatrist I was sent to to ask about AS was the one that serves the University of Aberdeen (Scotland) medical practice, and he said there was no way I could have it because "look, you're not mentally ret*d, you're not emotionally blank and you were capable of getting here this afternoon". Those were his exact words. He then went on to say I was a neurotic teen (I was 23 at the time) whose neuroses stemmed from leaving home (although I'd been living perfectly well on my own for four years) and said I just needed a counsellor to talk to.

I've just been let down by the NHS 'mental health services' (YEAH RIGHT!! !) AGAIN. It's just pathetic in this country. F*****g idiots, the lot of them.

YEAH, I had the SAME problem! I even said here how they once wanted to hold me back, because I never turned in the homework. They decided not to because I did very well on all the tests! That was when I cared about school and grades, but was bored silly. Someone here spoke of being bored while OTHERS learned to read. SAME HERE! When I was asked to read, I just ran through the sentences, while the others struggled to sound out. And they wonder why kids have learning problems. I would have loved school a LOT more, and done better, if they gave me work in areas I was NOT so good in. I ASKED!

BTW LATER, they said I could SKIP grades, and I didn't because I just kept thinking about how bullying would be worse, etc....

Steve

Ah, the everpresent ego of the mental health field. Innit wonderful?

One day, I truly suspect that diagnosticians will be able to diagnose (and refuse to diagnose) a person even before they've ever met them! Seems to be heading that direction anyways.

To sum a person up in a single meeting, or in a few minutes no less, is unethical.

SO, did you ask him why he couldn't read? I mean one of the first requirements of AS is that you are NOT mentally ret*d!

It also lists as two requirements:



Steve

No, and I later regretted not pointing it out to him. He'd just grilled me for two hour about the time when my parents split up (NO relevence whatsoever to the problems I was having at that time, I just made the mistake of mentioning that I stopped seeing my biological father and he latched on to this) and his manner was rude and agressive. I was very shaken and desperate to get out of his office.

Luckily, my therapist mentioned Asperger's fairly quickly and has been very supportive. <breathes sigh of relief> I'd actually suspected Asperger's on my own when doing some research and she just verified it. The difficult part is now I feel stigmatized by it..