Well, buck up, friend, and know that things will get better soon—as long as you don’t pick up the phone and call a psychiatrist.
Whatever you do, don’t do that.
Why? Because once they falsely diagnose you with a “mental illness,” they’ll prescribe you electroconvulsive therapy (ECT). Then they’ll lie to you about its devastating effects, claiming they’re minimal, rare and quickly disappear. And you may soon find your life and memory utterly destroyed.
A new and frightening study from England is exposing the falsity of psychiatric propaganda and demonstrating the truly nightmarish damage wrought by ECT.
“I was like a zombie.”
The study shows that massive memory loss—both short-term and long-term—and a complete disruption of your life and personality can result if you allow a psychiatrist to shoot electricity into your brain.
Emily Shipwright of the School of Psychology, University of Plymouth in England, became curious about the lack of research on individuals who survived ECT. She conducted a narrative study. What she found shocked her.
“Woven throughout participants’ narratives were stories of participants feeling misunderstood, misinformed and silenced by the mental healthcare system, understandings that ECT had caused brain damage, and experiences of ECT as traumatizing,” Shipwright wrote. “All consenting participants felt that the process was flawed and that they did not understand the ECT procedure or its potential for long-term and life-changing impacts.”
One after another, Shipwright’s study subjects related their personal tales of the life-shattering effects of electroshock—horrifying stories of loss and tragedy:
- Charlotte (names changed for anonymity) was depressed and underwent 74 ECT treatments in five years. “During and following the final two ECT courses, she became aware of significant autobiographical memory loss and difficulties retaining information, later confirmed by neuropsychological tests. A key part of Charlotte’s identity has been her intellect; however, she can no longer work as an academic researcher. Since ECT, she continues to discover autobiographical memory loss,” Shipwright wrote. Charlotte said, “There is this sort of mist, haze in your mind when you’re having ECT that affects your memory. I was like a zombie.”
- Harriet, another patient, underwent six ECT treatments for depression. When she returned home, she experienced severe memory loss. “Harriet described herself before ECT as a reading and learning machine; she is now unable to read or work. Following ECT, Harriet had children, and she cannot remember them growing up,” the study states.
- Paula had six sessions of ECT in 2012 and “described herself before ECT as a voracious reader, and she is no longer able to retain enough information to read.”
- After six ECT sessions, Stella “did not realize the extent of her memory loss until she returned home, when she noticed that she was struggling to recognize people known to her. Stella now has autobiographical memory loss and difficulties with her short-term memory, which has affected her ability to cook and shop for herself.”
The Citizens Commission on Human Rights International (CCHR) warns, “People can become unwitting candidates for having … emotions misdiagnosed,” at which point they will often be “prescribed antidepressants.”
And if the antidepressants don’t work? CCHR warns, “ECT is often recommended when other treatments have not worked, especially antidepressants.”
That’s right: If you’re not smiling enough—if you didn’t, for example, laugh and swig your rum and eggnog like a good celebrant this past holiday season—there’s a chance that in virtually all states, you could be involuntarily committed and the long road to brain-numbing antidepressants or brain-scrambling ECT will begin.
Think it’s unlikely? Don’t kid yourself—it’s quite common. CCHR notes, “According to JAMA Psychiatry, ECT is recommended after two antidepressants have failed as ‘first-line’ treatments.”
If you fall into the greedy clutches of the mental health industry, you can end up spiraling down into a deep mental abyss from which there is no happy return.
It’s why CCHR and the World Health Organization have called for the banning of coercive ECT.
So put down that phone. It could save you from disaster.
