ect.org note: This article is appearing in numerous publications and websites, so to avoid repeating the same information again and again, an ongoing list of publications will be posted below. ----------- Forbes Electroconvulsive Therapy Causes Permanent Amnesia and Cognitive Deficits, Prominent Researcher Admits 12.21.06, 3:38 PM ET NEW YORK, Dec. 21 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- In a stunning reversal, an article in the journal Neuropsychopharmacology in January 2007 by prominent researcher Harold Sackeim of Columbia University reveals that electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) causes permanent amnesia and permanent deficits in cognitive abilities, which affect individuals' ability to function. "[T]his study provides the first evidence in a large, prospective sample that adverse cognitive effects can persist for an extended period, and that they characterize routine treatment with ECT in community settings," ... (more...)

Added: Dec 22, 2006 5:05 pm | 37 Comments |  Email This Post  | Print

Linda Andre's new book scheduled for 2008 publication If you visit ect.org next year, expect that I'll be promoting Linda Andre's new book! And you'd better plan on buying. Her book was purchased this week by a major publisher! This book will shed light on an industry that has fed on a plague of self deception, of defensiveness, and of outright lies. Might as well put the shock industry on official notice: the chipping away at your ivory wall continues. This time, Ms. Linda Andre will be wielding a jackhammer. I confess I've had a peek, and the writing is stunning. That's not a surprise to me and won't be to anyone who knows Linda's skills. It may be a surprise to the "gang" ... (more...)

Added: Mar 11, 2007 11:04 pm | 3 Comments |  Email This Post  | Print

NEWS Journal editor quits in conflict scandal Neuropsychopharmacology's chief steps down after a paper he co-authored omitted significant financial disclosures By Stephen Pincock [Published 28th August 2006 05:28 PM GMT] The editor of a leading psychiatry journal announced last Friday (August 25) that he was stepping down after he published a paper about a treatment for depression without disclosing that eight of nine authors--including himself--had financial ties to the company that makes the device. Charles B. Nemeroff, editor in chief of Neuropsychopharmacology, a publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ACNP), will not serve another term as editor, the college told its members in an Email. The decision was made "in part, based on the recent adverse publicity to the journal and the ACNP," the Email ... (more...)

Added: Aug 29, 2006 11:05 pm | Comment |  Email This Post  | Print

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

By LINDA A. JOHNSON, AP Business Writer July 30, 2006 For eight months during his infancy, Sean Van Duyn gagged, retched and vomited daily. Now 6, the Winter Haven, Fla., boy still can't eat or drink by mouth, instead being fed by a permanent tube in his belly. Beset by multiple medical problems in his first months, the boy had to have a breathing tube inserted through a hole cut in his neck. The gagging began and continued until his mother, Susan, discovered the tube was misshaped at the end and had been poking the back of his throat the whole time. The tube was replaced, but by then Sean's developing brain was programmed not to swallow; he still cannot. The family alleged the ... (more...)

Added: Jul 30, 2006 6:30 pm | Comment |  Email This Post  | Print

March 31, 2004 Letters Editor The Toronto Star fax: 416-869-4322 Email: lettertoed@thestar.ca Dear Editor: As hi-risk or unsafe medical devices, I call readers' attention to electroshock ("ECT") machines ("Medical devices called risky," Mar.31). Auditor-General Sheila Fraser probably did not specifically mention electroshock machines in her recent audit report on Health Canada. However, since 1978 the US government's Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has officially classified these hi-risk machines in "Class-III", its lowest approval category which indicates unsafe or high-risk. Nevertheless, Health Canada hasn't even  bothered classifying these machines, it hasn't bothered to evaluate or conduct independent tests of their medical safety. Instead, it has  routinely relied on the self-serving, biased reports of the manufacturers (US-based companies Somatics, Mecta). FDA also has refused to conduct independent medical safety tests, it still relies on manufacturers' unsubstantiated claims of safety and ... (more...)

Added: Jul 29, 2006 1:17 am | Comment |  Email This Post  | Print

As has been reported extensively on ect.org, the couple that has owned Mecta Corporation for years also owns Easybar Beverage Management Systems. Mecta makes shock machines, and Easybar makes machines that dispense beverages, primarily marketed to casinos. Compare the two devices, the Easybar and a Mecta ECT device: (Easybar has the cocktail in front) While they obviously aren't the same machine (one gives electricity, the other gives booze), the similarity in design is striking. Perhaps that's because, according to a former engineer with the company, the designers/engineers sometimes co-mingle and try to troubleshoot design flaws. While searching the Internet, I came across some interesting websites, ... (more...)

Added: Jul 26, 2006 3:26 pm | 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

A National Survey of Provisions in Clinical-Trial Agreements between Medical Schools and Industry Sponsors Kevin A. Schulman, M.D., Damon M. Seils, M.A., Justin W. Timbie, B.A., Jeremy Sugarman, M.D., M.P.H., Lauren A. Dame, J.D., M.P.H., Kevin P. Weinfurt, Ph.D., Daniel B. Mark, M.D., M.P.H., and Robert M. Califf, M.D. ABSTRACT Background Concerned about threats to the integrity of clinical trials in a research environment increasingly controlled by private interests, the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) has issued revised guidelines for investigators' participation in the study design, access to data, and control over publication. It is unclear whether research conducted at academic institutions adheres to these new standards. Methods From November 2001 through January 2002, we interviewed officials at U.S. medical schools about ... (more...)

Added: Jul 25, 2006 12:14 am | 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

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

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 | Comment |  Email This Post  | Print

Note: This page was at http://members.aol.com/noshock/machines/machtest3.htm and the site has disappeared. Thanks to the wonders of the Wayback Machine, I was able to get a copy of this page. If the person who owns this sees this, and will contact me with a new URL, I would be happy to redirect people to the new address, if you have one. I just didn't want to see this page gone from the net.....Juli ECT Machines The main aim of Electroconvulsive Therapy is to cause a massive convulsion in the brain (a massive epileptic fit).  This is achieved by giving the brain an electric shock using ... (more...)

Added: Jul 22, 2006 12:18 pm | Comment |  Email This Post  | Print

USA Today Series 12-06-1995 Doctor's financial stake in shock therapy When medical students learn about shock therapy, they turn to the only textbook on the subject: Electroconvulsive Therapy, published by Oxford University Press. Richard Abrams, a professor of psychiatry at the Chicago Medical School, writes that shock therapy is proven safe and effective for depression and other problems, even in children and the elderly. He advises that shock should be considered as the first treatment given, not as the last resort. He concludes with an attack on doctors who criticize shock treatment and attaches a form to have patients sign when they consent to shock therapy. But Abrams doesn't tell the medical students one thing: He owns Somatics Inc., one of the nation's two shock machine manufacturers. He ... (more...)

Added: Jul 22, 2006 12:03 pm | Comment |  Email This Post  | Print