Saturday, March 05, 2016

My baby, psychosis and me

Much of the focus on the two documentaries in the recent BBC In the Mind series has been on the Stephen Fry programme The not so secret life of the manic depressive: Ten years on (see previous post).  The other documentary My baby, psychosis and me was a realistic portrayal of the treatment of two women with puerperal psychosis in a specialised mother and baby unit. One woman, Hannah, made a suicide attempt and was treated with ECT, although the actual treatment was not shown. The other woman, Jenny, was transferred to an intensive care unit, but the treatment there was again not shown. Even the husband was advised not to visit her there.

 I have praised the In the Mind series (see previous post as mentioned) for showing what is happening in mental health services. It is important though that the 'sharp end' of psychiatry is not separated off and made invisible.
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3 comments:

  1. Anonymous6 March 2016 at 23:42

    Dear Dr. Double,

    I am horrified that a new mother would be given brain damaging, memory destroying ECT per your latest post. I would like to know your opinion on that. Dr. John Read recently did a three part series at Mad in America on ECT to protest its abuses while exposing its lack of efficacy, brain damaging effects, memory loss and risk of death based on several studies. I highly recommend the book, Doctors of Deception, as well as Dr. Peter Breggin's work on ECT as well as critiques written by several neurologists. Even Dr. H. Sackeim, former major promoter of ECT admitted toward the end of his sordid career that ECT did cause brain damage and memory loss though he tried to discredit such claims by his victims for many years. Of course, it only came out later that he had a vested interest in ECT devices. I see that the NIMH is now promoting ECT as a safe, effective alternative when they of all entities should be exposing the many dangers of ECT and the huge harm it causes including driving people to suicide though they pretend it prevents suicide with Ernest Hemingway and Sylvia Plath two of its major victims. With claims like this from the NIMH, it is obvious they have completely sold out the American public to not only Big Pharma but medical device companies and their own guild interests as Robert Whitaker and Dr. Lisa Cosgrove explore in Psychiatry Under the Influence.

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  2. cobweb17 March 2016 at 19:52

    It is unlikely that any mother would wish to enter that unit where she could end up being give 11 ECT treatments but no psychological help. where the other lady's health was declining and the nurse knew she was not taking medication - that should have been dealt with instead she ended up on an intensive ward where she would have been forcibly injected.she was unwilling to talk about it and neither was it shown. The psychiatrist was a self promoting narcissist. why was he dressed in flamboyant clothes whilst the team were in dull uniforms. the team meetings were patronising in the extreme . The public would not be in any way reassured that babies would be safe with mothers who had mental health problems. It was disgraceful

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  3. Aga19 March 2016 at 21:18


    Should think about

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