Paul - To believe that patients' self-reported improvement following ECT stems from a desire to avoid the treatment, one would also need to believe that:
(1) Even though most patients describe the procedure as no more threatening than a trip to the dentist, their report is not especially plausible or at least not plausible enough to be taken on its own merits (see Paul's message below); (2) Even though scores of published studies on ECT assure patients' that their self-report reports of depression are confidential, they somehow don't believe this assurance of confidentiality, and instead think believe the treatment team will gain access to this information and use it to decide on the course of future treatment; (3) Even though most (today, probably all) patients in published controlled outcome studies of ECT give full informed consent regarding to whether to receive the treatment (and therefore the treatment is voluntary), they somehow don't believe that their participation is voluntary and instead believe that the treatment will be forced upon them against their will. (4) Even though patients in contemporary controlled studies of ECT are told they will be randomly assigned to either a treatment arm or an alternative treatment arm, they don't actually believe that the assignment is random, and instead believe that the investigative team can decide at will whether to alter the treatment plan on the basis of their self-reports. Paul, I don't find this hypothesis for the effects of ECT on self-reported depression in published studies at all plausible. This isn't to say that lots of reasonable questions can't be raised concerning the reported efficacy of ECT (e.g., integrity of the blinding in sham ECT studies), only that I don't think that this hypothesis holds water. ....Scott Scott O. Lilienfeld, Ph.D. Professor Department of Psychology, Room 473 Emory University 36 Eagle Row Atlanta, Georgia 30322 [email protected]; 404-727-1125 The Master in the Art of Living makes little distinction between his work and his play, his labor and his leisure, his mind and his body, his education and his recreation, his love and his intellectual passions. He hardly knows which is which. He simply pursues his vision of excellence in whatever he does, leaving others to decide whether he is working or playing. To him - he is always doing both. - Zen Buddhist text (slightly modified) -----Original Message----- From: Paul Brandon [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Tuesday, March 20, 2012 10:28 AM To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) Subject: Re: [tips] How ECT Works? Again possible, but needs to be -systematically- demonstrated, not just anecdotally. On Mar 20, 2012, at 5:47 AM, Lilienfeld, Scott O wrote: > It also does not square with the findings of several studies indicating that > many or most patients who have undergone ECT describe the treatment as less > disturbing or frightening than a trip to the dentist: > > See e.g., http://bjp.rcpsych.org/content/137/1/8 > > ....Scott > > Scott O. Lilienfeld, Ph.D. > Department of Psychology, Room 473 > Emory University > Atlanta, Georgia 30322 > > > ________________________________________ > From: Allen Esterson [[email protected]] > Sent: Tuesday, March 20, 2012 4:10 AM > To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) > Subject: Re:[tips] How ECT Works? > > Paul Brandon wrote on ECT: >> And then there's the hypothesis that people change the way that they >> talk about themselves in order to avoid going through it again. > > Paul: Only someone who has no conception of the indescribable > nightmare of living through prolonged clinical depression could > believe something like that. > > Allen Esterson > Former lecturer, Science Department > Southwark College, London > [email protected] > http://www.esterson.org > > ------------------------------------------------------------- > From: Paul Brandon <[email protected]> > Subject: Re: How ECT Works? > Date: Mon, 19 Mar 2012 19:34:59 -0500 > > And then there's the hypothesis that people change the way that they > talk about themselves in order to avoid going through it again. > > On Mar 19, 2012, at 6:19 PM, Michael Palij wrote: > >> A new research study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of >> Sciences (PNAS) claims that electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) reduces > the >> "crosstalk" among three neural networks in the brain, bringing their >> level back to that of nondepressed "normal" people. One population >> media is available here: >> > http://www.latimes.com/health/boostershots/la-heb-electroshock-therapy > -depression-20120319,0,5132405.story >> >> The PNAS article can be obtained here: >> http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2012/03/12/1117206109 >> >> -Mike Palij >> New York University >> [email protected] > > > --- > You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. > To unsubscribe click here: > http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13509.d0999cebc8f4ed4eb54d5317367e9b > 2f&n=T&l=tips&o=16823 or send a blank email to > leave-16823-13509.d0999cebc8f4ed4eb54d5317367e9b2f@fsulist.frostburg.e > du > > ________________________________ > > This e-mail message (including any attachments) is for the sole use of > the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged > information. If the reader of this message is not the intended > recipient, you are hereby notified that any dissemination, > distribution or copying of this message (including any attachments) is > strictly prohibited. > > If you have received this message in error, please contact the sender > by reply e-mail message and destroy all copies of the original message > (including attachments). > > --- > You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. > To unsubscribe click here: > http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13438.3b5166ef147b143fedd04b1c4a6490 > 0b&n=T&l=tips&o=16824 or send a blank email to > leave-16824-13438.3b5166ef147b143fedd04b1c4a64900b@fsulist.frostburg.e > du Paul Brandon 10 Crown Hill Lane Mankato, MN 56001 [email protected] --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. 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