Posted by tina on May 15, 2000, at 11:28:20
In reply to Re: Tina?, posted by Mark H. on May 15, 2000, at 9:53:28
It's not that I found your post offensive--not at all. I understand that ECT is an important topic and people need education. It's just that a lot of fighting and pettiness happens in my family and it upsets me. I'm not very good with conflict and in my warped way I guess I was trying to help diffuse a volatile situation. I just want the world to be a caring, understanding place where we can be supportive of eachother and even those we don't understand. That was the only point I was making. Forgive my interference, it was kindly meant.
> Dear Tina,
>
> I don't know if you picked my posting and Elizabeth's response at random for your plea to stop this thread, but I am sincerely interested in the answers to the questions I asked, and deeply concerned about the issues involved. I don't mind admitting that I'm ignorant about ECT. I've read some of the objections of those who are totally against its use -- medical and political -- and I've listened to my doctor about the cases of two clients who go to the city once or twice a year for an in-patient visit to have it done, but I am personally unaware of ECT being forced on anyone at this time, in no small part because of the intensity of attention its misuse received in the media in the past.
>
> So if it is still going on -- perhaps in another state -- I would really like to know. The wife of a friend and colleague produced a segment on private psychiatric care for adolescents that wound up shutting down one abusive, understaffed care facility back east. I have no influence whatsoever personally, but if there were a public or private facility that was still using ECT punitively or without some sort of protective means of consent, I am in a position to bring it to that producer's attention, but I would need hard facts before even mentioning it to her. Does that make sense?
>
> The core of this thread was interrupted with an understandably emotional interjection by someone who received what he considered abusive and improper treatment in the past. There are thousands of people who share his story, and it is a sad chapter in the history of the treatment of mental illness. However, whether it is relevant today or not was never questioned, as far as I can tell.
>
> I raised the issue of currency and relevance, because most of what you might have considered the destructive discussion that followed hinges on whether it's a current issue or not.
>
> When I write about, or talk about, the most difficult experiences I've had in the past, I frequently become temporarily irrational -- I'm back at 16, feeling very much persecuted. Often, just getting it out let's me see how much I have grown and changed, how much healthier I am today. If someone reading or listening to me responds to the content of what I've written, then somehow I get lost -- the issue takes on a life of its own. If the issue still applies (e. g., what are schools doing in the post-Columbine era to insure the civil rights of their students?), then its good fodder for discussion. But if high school boys vice principals haven't used corporal punishment in the last 15 or 20 years, then it doesn't do much good to discuss it as a separate issue while leaving the hurt poster in the dust.
>
> I don't know enough about the poster at this point to offer him any help. But I can help either lay the issue (forced ECT) to rest or bring it to light, either of which seems positive and helpful.
>
> I hope this helps clarify my intentions. If you still find my earlier posting or this one offensive, I apologize and would like to know about where I got off track. Perhaps I'm missing something important, and if so I would like to be told about it.
>
> Best wishes,
>
> Mark
poster:tina
thread:32651
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20000508/msgs/33477.html