I recently found a post by SueK about DBS here. It aroused my interests that I had to speak out and here is my response.
In the first paragraph of your argument I agree that psychiatrists use tricky jargon and misleading statistics. I would just say to you there are really no answers or cures for mental illnesses. (But there is mounting evidence) In this regard they have to convey some type of answer or treatment. They argue 70-90 percent of people with depression recovers or does better. This is very misleading. They forget to tell you they chalk a success if your symptoms are reduced by 50%. The real success rate of current treatments are 33 to 50 percent. I believe its fraudalant to inflate success rate numbers, yet it’s better than 0%. In addition, these numbers come more from pharmaceuticals that want to make a huge profit on the world.
“Psychiatrists use the stigmatizing term "last resort" to marginalize ECT patients and shift responsibility for treatment from themselves to the patients.”
I must say I disagree with this; you basically are condemning psychiatrists that want to help. If anything is stigmatizing it is society, such as you, not psychiatry. People believe that depression is an individual flaw, yet that’s far from the truth. There are thousands of studies to contradict this uninformed notion. Moreover, it seems, in your opinion, you would send someone mentally ill to the wolves. What do you expect someone treating a person with a debilitating illness to do? Sit idle and ask the spirits to heal them? You underestimate the epidemic of depression. There are so many flaws in your statement it’s really not worth further discussion.
“And just how do you decide who is the "sickest of the sick" in the absence of any biological tests for mental illness?”
True there are no biological tests, yet there are significant brain shrinkage in people who suffer from depression. (Once again, post back if you want to see the studies) Additionally, in MRI, and f MRI scans there is over activity in certain regions of the brain. Finally, the sickest of the sick is when an individually conveys life is not worth living anymore. Certainly, that is a good enough indicator to decide if your sick.
“A more cautious look at DBS is taken by American neurologist Joseph H Friedman in an article he wrote last year about the comeback of psychosurgery in the form of DBS:”
"...the lobotomy procedure represents a terrible, dark stain on the history of modern medicine which those of us involved in brain medicine must never forget. This "cure" for schizophrenia demonstrates what may happen when a converted few lose objectivity and a host of willing believers subvert their disbelief in the hopes that their own eyes deceived them."
HERE IS FRIEDMAN'S ARTICLE
The introduction to your quote of Friedman is misleading. You take this quote out of context. Friedman is only stating the history of lobotomies; he is not equating lobotomies to DBS. Also, you mislead by saying “a more cautious look at DBS”. Again you are scotch taping his words to make your argument sufficient. In fact, when he writes about the, “comeback of psychosurgery in the form of DBS”, you fail to leave out this comes from the first paragraph of his commentary; which actually states, “DBS is wonderful example of progress”.
Although, he continues in his first paragraph that “it’s a substantial implicit threat”. The reason he thinks this is stated at the end of his commentary. He basically is worried about the ethics of DBS if it is successful. For example, should we obtain DBS for every disorder imaginable to cure us? However, this is not your argument so I’ll leave it at that.
In addition, DBS is not a lobotomy it is brain surgery. A lobotomy is when there is actual cutting or destroying the tissue of the brain. In DBS there is no cutting or destroying of brain tissue. It is simply an electrode that emits a pulse to slow down the over activity of the area of the brain called broadman 25.
And another distinct difference is DBS is reversible, lobotomies are permanent. Furthermore, when lobotomies started in the 1930’s there was basically very limited knowledge in what they were doing. DBS is back up by 15 years of PET, MRI, and thousands of research papers of the under and over activities of mental illnesses in the brain. (If you want to see the research simply post back and I’ll be more than happy to refer you to them).
