Is ECT totally safe and appropriate, especially when administered by involuntary orders

@avant-garde Sadly we have a lot in common, though we are a generation apart. I am surprised I was not admitted myself when I was a young mum. I approached family therapists and they assessed my children.

I am guessing your mother had far more ECT than mine.

My mother was not readmitted after I returned from the orphanage and had another baby. It was weird hearing her say 40 years later that ECT was good. Mostly her attitude to what she called the Mental Hygeine was outrage or disgust, or denial.

Hearing you @Dimity about questioning the nature of informed consent. There are many pressures, subtle or direct that can lead to an official consent.

That is utterly horrific what you endured. I can only imagine. I am grateful I had the least interventions in my family.

The delicate balance between expressing one’s truth and being retraumatised can be tricky. I hope you have a reasonable night tonight.

@Appleblossom

I don't talk about it much... but I'll never get it... not if I have a choice...

It's not something I've ever really talked about...

@AuntGlow @tyme

Caring for a mother with schizophrenia is way too much for small children @avant-garde. Only talk in the amounts that feel right for you.

I studied a lot to understand and reflect. Even still I minimise the level of dysfunction and try to focus on the good, but the trauma was real. There are usually reasons….

@Appleblossom

She was misdiagnosed as bipolar but she never had the highs, met more of the schizophrenic markers...

I'm not sure when the multiple personalities started...

I just know that one was my mother, a bunch didn't recognise me or ignored me, one abused me...

I think that's enough for now... it's all a bit too hard...

Just walking slowly with you. @avant-garde

Sharing among women

Thanks @Appleblossom

As horrible as it is, I'm glad I'm not alone

Yep. Me too @avant-garde

Apple 🍎 🍏

@Dimity @Appleblossom

Informed consent... I think it's very much to the chagrin of many therapists that they are obliged to inform, and to get consent. I think that many of them prefer to think of the job as something akin to herding mindless livestock around into whatever pasture or woolshed the therapist sees fit.

Sort of digressing from ECT to medication here, but I'll always remember what it was like when my first therapist assigned me medication.

He handed me a script about 2 minutes before our session ended. I didn't have the presence of mind to ask any of the questions I ought to have; the questions occured to me on the way to the pharmacist.

The pharmacist was very helpful in terms of warning me about side effects, and clarifying things like compatability with alcohol, Panadol, ect.

Then about a month later, when I had my next appointment with the therapist, I mentioned that the pharmacist had informed me of all these details about the meds. He responded with: "Oh, I wish they wouldn't do that!"

He was unhappy that the pharmacist had given me information I was entitled to know about the medication I'd been perscribed. He didn't want me to be an informed patient; rather, a blindly obediant one.

And, of course, there was one important well-known side effect which neither the therapist, nor the pharmacist bothered to mention to me.

So yeah, informed patient consent... I think the concept is very much a nuisance to a lot of therapists; one that they prefer to artfully dodge, rather then work with.

That's been my experiance with medication; I would think it plays out more or less the same with ECT.

@Appleblossom, yeah I've had similar problems with supporting posts, including a few of yours. I just give the like button one tap, and if it works, great; if not, I just move on.

@Appleblossom

Part of her tried to protect me... for a little while anyway...

having cared for her for over 10 years... I still battle with the guilt of leaving her behind...

The hospital realised when she ended up in ICU after my older brother found her unconscious... mistreated diabetes... around 10 years ago now...

She's still with my dad so I can't see her or talk to her... I have my ways of keeping tabs though... I also check the cemetery website...