Fact Checking Psychiatry
by Niall McLaren, MBBS, FRANZCPI have been having another round of to and fro with psychiatrists over whether ECT is “essential, helpful, safe, effective…” and all the other stuff the mainstream claims. My case is that, using figures supplied by ECT advocates themselves, it is crystal clear that every such claim is false.1 The fact that there are parts of the world where it is banned and many other places where it is severely restricted or just not available shows that it isn’t essential. Psychiatrists use ECT because they like it, and they like it for a number of reasons:
1. They believe that mental disorder is a biological disturbance of brain function that requires physical methods of treatment. This is an unproven ideological claim.2 2. They have run out of options, don’t know what else to do. If so, they should get help from somebody who does know.
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