An Open Letter to The Icarus Project:

September 6. 2006

To All Members of The Icarus Project Collective:

I am writing this letter in order to address the Icarus Project's apparent lack of concern in regards to the issue of electroshock, or electroconvulsive (ECT), therapy. I could have written to any number of mental health organizations, like National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI), or the American Psychiatric Association , but I chose the Icarus Project because of your stated commitment to social justice and self-determination on the part of the patient. Your magazine describes the collective as a grassroots mental health network gathering people locally for mutual aid, activism, and access to alternatives. Mainstream groups like NAMI are pretty much a lost cause for anyone concerned with human rights because of their vocal support for the forced treatment and incarceration of mental health patients. So I was hopeful when I saw a critique of consumerism and its relationship with the pharmaceutical industry within the pages of the Icarus Project magazine. I was hopeful that concepts like social justice and civil liberties could finally be applied to the abuse of patients at the hands of the mental health industry. So maybe you can understand why I was surprised and disappointed to discover that the collective has not taken a stance against electroshock therapy. In a recent thread on the Icarus Project web forum, one member wrote that her doctor had recommended ECT and she was unsure of whether to follow his advice. Out of 11 responses, most made comments like "electroshock is making a comeback...my quirky, laid back psych doc does ECT..." or, "It's not like One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest anymore...". (1) The vast majority of people who responded to the ECT thread were under the impression that electroshock therapy is a valuable procedure that saves lives. Of course it is possible that the aforementioned thread doesn't necessarily reflect the views of the governing body of the Icarus Project, the Icarus Collective, but I think the ECT thread is a good representation of the kind of culture the Icarus Project represents.

For example, the forums are divided into several different sections; one of these sections, Psychiatric Medications and Mainstream Treatments, lists seven pages of topics. One topic within the psych meds forum was started by a patient who was in distress about the side effects of her medication. Many forum members responded with the advice that she should try raising her dosage. No one suggested stopping the medication altogether. Another section, Alternative and Holistic Treatment, lists 3 pages of topics, while Stand Up For Your Rights: Oppression, Advocacy and Activism contains only a pitiful 2 pages of topics. the Icarus Project magazine contains numerous stories written by members of the collective detailing how involuntary hospitalization has turned their lives around. I don’t want to believe that the Icarus Project’s goal is to develop an activist culture receptive to forced treatment and abuse, while giving lip service to ideas like community organizing. The issue of electroconvulsive therapy, particularly when it is done against the patient’s will, is a prime opportunity for members of the Icarus Project collective to step forward and voice their opposition to this flagrant abuse of patients’ rights. Surely an organization devoted to mutual aid and antiauthoritarian values could take a few moments to issue a statement written in support of electroshock patients with no means of legal recourse. Since many of you have first-hand experience with being held within the confines of a mental institution, you must know that those individuals the hospital staff judges to be a danger to themselves or others are frequently denied access to pen and paper, much less the ability to contact a lawyer.

But is it possible that the Icarus Project is unaware of the long history of electroshock therapy? You may not know that the idea of using electroshock on human patients came about when neurologist Ugo Cerletti observed how slaughterhouse workers produced a temporary calm in hogs by electroshocking them in order to prepare the hogs for slaughter. (2) Did any of you read the American Journal of Psychiatry article in which Cerletti opened with the statement, “A generalized convulsion leaves a human being in a state in which all that is called personality has been extinguished”? (3) Members of your collective may have also missed A History of Shock Treatment, the ground-breaking book by Leonard Roy Frank, who documented over 400 deaths from ECT since its invention in 1942. According to Frank, effects of electroshock include brain damage, memory loss, cardiovascular problems, apathy, emotional dullness, spontaneous seizures, and a loss of creativity, energy, enthusiasm, and moral awareness. I would encourage members of the Icarus Project to read the article in the Journal of Neuropathology that showed that in one case of ECT therapy, a 45-year-old women displayed numerous brain hemorrages, as well as evidence of swelling and tissue death. (4) You may also be interested in a transcript from a meeting of the American Neurological Association providing the following quote from ECT therapist Abraham Myersson,,”…the disturbance in memory is probably an integral part of the recovery process. I think it may be true that these people have, for the time being at any rate, more intelligence than they can handle and that the reduction of intelligence is an important factor in the curative process.” (5) Any of these books or articles would be a good starting point for the members of the Icarus Project to begin educating themselves on the practice of electroconvulsive therapy.

It is very challenging for me to see how an organization as articulate and creative as your own can possibly fail to see how issues like race, class, age and gender play a factor in who gets “treated” with electroshock. One study showed that over 2/3 of ECT victims are women, while over half are elderly.(6) In New York City, another study revealed that the majority of electro-shock victims are African-American. Is it possible that electroshock serves to silence those elements of society considered to be threatening or, in the case of the elderly, expendable? Frankly, my opinion is that any mental health organization that is fully informed about the damaging effects of electroshock and still supports its practice, whether openly or through ambivalence, is deeply conscienceless. So I prefer to think that the Icarus Project’s ambivalence on the issue of electroshock comes as a result of a lack of information, rather than a pronounced lack of compassion for the very group of people you claim to represent. In coming days, I hope to see your organization join the growing ranks of human rights groups leading the mental health industry out of a very dark place indeed.

Sincerely,

Lauren Claborn

Notes;

1.http://theicarusproject.net/community/dscussionboards/viewtopic.php?t=5448

2. a. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electroconvulsivetherapy#Historical_usage

b.http://www.answers.com/topic/electroconvulsive-therapy

3.http://www.endofshock.com/102C_ECT.PDF#search=%22electroshock%20%20quotationary%22

4.http://www.endofshock.com/102C_ECT.PDF#search=%22electroshock%20%20quotationary%22

5.http://www.endofshock.com/102C_ECT.PDF#search=%22electroshock%20%20quotationary%22

6.http://www.wildestcolts.com/mentalhealth/shock.html Original source is from the Texas Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation Report

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