Here are a number of clips from the videotaped deposition of Harold Sackeim (2004). Sackeim was the expert witness for Mecta in a lawsuit in California. You can read most of the deposition here, in PDF format. I'm splitting the videos into two pages to reduce your load. If the page loads slowly, or the videos don't load, try again in thirty minutes...it's likely YouTube is down. Richard Abrams is defensive, says Harold Sackeim Harold Sackeim, king of ECT, discusses his complaints about Richard Abrams, president of Somatics, Inc., saying that Abrams is defensive because of the "fascist" groups, and goes too far with his defensiveness by ignoring the "problems" inherent with ECT. Meow! [gv data="G9zm6Cqabc4"width="425" height="350"][/gv] Harold Sackeim tells ... (more...)

Added: Aug 3, 2006 12:21 am | 2 Comments |  Email This Post  | Print

The Awakening This clip is an interesting explanation of why psychiatrists have apparently been unaware for 70 years that ECT can and does cause profound memory loss and cognitive damage. The reason? Because until a few years ago, the only persons who complained of severe memory loss also said it didn't help them. It took finding some patients who experienced devastating memory loss who would also proclaim it "saved their life" before Harold Sackeim would listen. Hey, I'm not the one who said it...Harold is. He's the champion of the shock patient, at least in his own head. Maybe he needs to revisit the early years of Sackeimology, when his research revolved around self deception, the lies we tell ourselves. Harold (call him ... (more...)

Added: Aug 3, 2006 12:20 am | Comment |  Email This Post  | Print

Parents sue online pharmacy, doctor: MENLO PARK TEEN'S SUICIDE SHINES LIGHT ON SHADOWY MARKET 3/14/2006 San Jose Mercury News Barbara Feder Ostrov John McKay's family may never know why he turned to the Internet to heal his psyche. But they believe that what he found there killed him. Last summer, just after his freshman year at Stanford, the nationally known debate champ from Menlo-Atherton High School bought a generic version of Prozac from an Internet site believed to be based in Texas. A Colorado doctor with a troubled past signed off on McKay's request for the anti-depressant without seeing or talking to him. A pharmacy in Mississippi filled the prescription and mailed it to McKay's Menlo Park home. He never told his parents. Less than seven weeks later, ... (more...)

Added: Aug 1, 2006 5:05 pm | 1 Comment |  Email This Post  | Print

‘Monster’ Scot paid by CIA to brainwash patients EAMONN O’NEILL October 19 2004 UK Herald A MAVERICK Scottish doctor conducted inhuman experiments funded by the CIA using LSD and electro-shock therapy to brainwash unsuspecting patients, a documentary will reveal tonight. Dr Ewen Cameron, from Bridge of Allan, Stirlingshire, believed he could wipe the mind clean of "bad" thoughts with a combination of electricity and a cocktail of powerful drugs. His experiments in Canada in the 1950s were funded by the CIA, which wanted to see if his methods could be used to help agents withstand hypnotism and other brainwashing techniques. By 1951, his research ex-panded to help find out how brainwashing a captured enemy spy might help "turn" him to become a double agent. The first experiments ... (more...)

Added: Jul 28, 2006 10:10 am | Comment |  Email This Post  | Print

HOW TO GET INTO THE SHOCK MACHINE BUSINESS: The true story of Gorham and Robin Nicol! by Linda Andre Note: The following may seem incredible, but it comes straight from the horses' ass---er, mouth. It is based on the testimony of Gorham Nicol at the trial of his shock machine company Mecta in October 2005. All quotes are from the court transcript. With all the media coverage on the "comeback of ECT" over the past thirty years, you've probably been wondering how you can get a little piece of the action. You may have thought about starting your very own shock machine company, but didn't know how. Perhaps you thought you didn't qualify to run a medical device ... (more...)

Added: Jul 26, 2006 12:01 pm | Comment |  Email This Post  | Print

By Linda Andre LYING FOR FUN AND PROFIT In 1975, when he was a graduate student in psychology at the University of Pennsylvania, young Harold Sackeim wrote his masters thesis on self deception. And his PhD dissertation was titled "Self Deception: Motivational Determinants of the Non-Awareness of Cognition." So Harold became a doctor by self deception. He then seemed headed for a dead-end career in academic psychology, publishing on such decidedly unsexy topics as "Classroom seating and psychopathology." He published a book chapter called "The Adaptive Value of Lying to Oneself" and an article titled "Self Deception: A concept in search of a phenomenon." Clearly Harold needed a product to pitch, a big-ticket tie-in; if he didn't ... (more...)

Added: Jul 23, 2006 7:00 pm | Comment |  Email This Post  | Print

Disclaimer: This is NOT the Charles (Chuck) Kellner who is an engineer. That Chuck Kellner seems like a very nice guy and I regret that people trying to find him come upon this page. He has nothing to do with Charles Kellner the shock doc. Public Misinformation Manager Welcome our newest member to the ECT Hall of Shame, Dr. Charles Kellner. Dr. Kellner makes a career out of distorting the truth in order to make ECT look better to the public. He has lied on other television shows, covering up his ties to the manufacturers, and distorting available research. However, this is the first time we have it on tape for your review. From the talk show ... (more...)

Added: Jul 23, 2006 12:00 pm | 3 Comments |  Email This Post  | Print

Christian Hageseth III promoted himself as the "Compassionate" Shock Doc. And he lived up to his name, sharing his passion with a former patient and losing not only his license to practice, but a lawsuit filed by the husband of his paramour. Hageseth first made the ect.org Hall of Shame when I was contacted by a former patient of his, who had bad things to say about him. This was before his sexual scandal began. She introduced me to one of Hageseth's books about the use of laughter. While I agree emphatically with the idea of using humor as a way of coping with stress and unfortunate circumstances, I found the book to be condescending and ... (more...)

Added: Jul 23, 2006 12:00 pm | Comment |  Email This Post  | Print

Grandpa Max used to claim that ECT worked by causing brain damage. He argued for years that the therapeutic effect from ECT is produced by brain dysfunction and damage. He pointed out in his 1979 textbook that "patients become more compliant and acquiescent with treatment," and he connected the improvement with "denial, disorientation," and other signs of traumatic brain injury and an organic brain syndrome. Fink was even more explicit in earlier studies. In 1956 he stated that the basis for improvement from ECT is "cranio-cerebral trauma." In 1966, Fink cited his own research indicating that "there is a relation between clinical improvement and the production of brain damage or an ... (more...)

Added: Jul 23, 2006 12:00 pm | Comment |  Email This Post  | Print

Dr. Kimon Efstathianos of Belleville, Illinois, now deceased. This man nearly ruined my life, and I'm sorry that I didn't just sue him ragged. I've now found plenty of lawyers who would LOVE to take the case, but my statute of limitations has run out. It took too long to get my life back after he fried my brain, and in that time, my time ran out. Such is life... Kimon is called Dr. E by most. He thinks he's a gift from god, especially towards women. He's a condescending male chauvinist pig. In talking to other patients and former patients, one thing is clear. Men relate to him, women hate him. He graduated in the ... (more...)

Added: Jul 23, 2006 12:00 pm | Comment |  Email This Post  | Print

Richard Abrams is the king of self promotion and conflict of interest. His grimy hands are dipped in every pot of electric gold he can find. Not only has he written *the* textbook on ECT (Electroconvulsive Therapy by Oxford Press, 1997), he co-owns Somatics, Inc., manufacturer of the ThymatronTM, the hottest new product in brain assault. And if that isn't enough, Abrams' company also manufactures the mouth guard to prevent dental injury during ECT. When a doctor wrote in the medical journal Convulsive Therapy that doctors could save money by using sports mouth guards instead of more expensive ones, Abrams' Somatics partner wrote a letter attacking the idea. He didn't bother to mention ... (more...)

Added: Jul 23, 2006 11:55 am | 2 Comments |  Email This Post  | Print

Marquis de Sade Awards Three doctors are receiving special awards in the ect.org Hall of Shame, the Marquis de Sade Award for sadism in psychiatry. Congratulations to Gary C. Aden, HC Tien, and D. Ewen Cameron! * The first two inductees were the original co-founders of the International Psychiatric Association for the Advancement of Electrotherapy (later renamed Association for Convulsive Therapy). * Gary C. Aden, co-founder and first president, had his license revoked after being accused of sexually abusing patients in a sadistic manner. In 1989, he gave up his license after allegations that he had sex with patients, beat them, and branded two of the women with heated metal devices, including an iron that bore his initials. In another story, a patient describes Aden as ... (more...)

Added: Jul 23, 2006 11:00 am | Comment |  Email This Post  | Print

Here are a couple of fan mails from the son and wife of Christian Hageseth. I've gotten others, but they're just too boring to post. I've also received a number of emails from women who say they were former patients of Hageseth. Let's just say they're all disgruntled and have one theme in common: they all believe Hageseth does not like assertive women. Interesting, then, that he has his wife write his emails for him, as well as his son. Seems like Hageseth is missing a sac if he can't even write his own emails. I have to admit that Christian the 4th's line "Any crazy bitch can get a website" is my all-time favorite! Love it! He's so darned cool. Date: Thu, 10 ... (more...)

Added: Jul 23, 2006 11:00 am | Comment |  Email This Post  | Print

Video Review Beyond Stigma: The Compassionate Application of Electro-Convulsive Therapy by Linda Andre The only reason shock treatment has gotten such an undeserved bad rap is because doctors who give it don't treat patients nice enough. What's wrong with this statement? If you said nothing, I can think of some prime real estate in Brooklyn that's for sale real cheap. Most people would probably say, "While I have no personal knowledge about shock treatment and haven't researched it myself, I am willing to take the word of a psychiatrist and member of the American Psychiatric Association, who must know what he's talking about. Besides he wouldn't have produced and marketed a tape with such nice music, and couldn't sell it for so much money, and ... (more...)

Added: Jul 23, 2006 6:00 am | Comment |  Email This Post  | Print

By Steve Porter The Coloradoan 1998 A Fort Collins psychiatrist is being sued in Larimer District Court for contributing to the end of a marriage by establishing a friendship with a patient that grew into a sexual relationship. Christian Hageseth III is being sued by Paul Burson for professional negligence, breach of fiduciary duty and outrageous conduct. The lawsuit, which is being heard by a six-person jury, does not ask for specific damages. Burson claims Hageseth's treatment of his wife, Laurel, eventually resulted in Hageseth and Laurel Burson forming a sexual relationship and Laurel Burson filing for divorce. The parties in the lawsuit disagree over several significant points, including when Laurel Burson's therapy with Hageseth ended and when the sexual relationship began. Hageseth, in one court document, ... (more...)

Added: Jul 23, 2006 5:55 am | Comment |  Email This Post  | Print