Psych Observer – Exposing Bad Psychiatry

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DOmQ8zIkMj0[/youtube]

Diana Loper. “It only takes a minute to destroy a brain. At 24, Diana Loper was given electroshock for post-partum depression and an inability to sleep after the birth of her child. After 24 treatments, she was released in a far worse condition, and could no longer care for herself or her family . As a result, her husband divorced her and her child was taken away by the courts. This is her story: “My story is many stories. There are thousands. Over a hundred thousand persons per year receive ECT I don’t even like to use the term therapy–this is only a procedure.

“I had a premature child, post-partum depression, and sleep deprivation. The post-partum depression is, of course, what we call the baby blues, and the sleep deprivation was from having a very sick child. I was married to a preacher and we decided to go to a psychiatrist to talk about what was going on with me. This psychiatrist decided that I needed shock treatments. “I didn’t go for everything they said but my husband did. The psychiatrist told my husband, ‘Well, you know, she’s very depressed, and all we have to do is put her to sleep.

There will be a little bit of a jolt through her body, and she’ll have a little convulsion. It will be like going to sleep. And then she’ll wake up the next day and everything will be fine. She’ll be happy again. She won’t be depressed. ‘I remember looking at that psychiatrist and saying, ‘Let’s get real here. What are you going to do to me? Are you going to wipe out all the bad that ever happened to me. . . ?’ My husband then said, ‘Now, honey, listen to me. You cry all the time. Let’s try this procedure. It won’t hurt. It will only take a minute.’ “So, they gave me 24 shock treatments for my post-partum depression and sleep deprivation.

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Morimitsu Sakihama plans to plead not guilty for disclosing confidential information about a minor defendant to a journalist

The Japan Times
Tuesday, April 15, 2008

NARA (Kyodo) — A psychiatrist charged with leaking investigation records about a deadly arson case in Nara Prefecture to a freelance journalist refrained from entering a plea Monday at opening of his trial in the Nara District Court.

Morimitsu Sakihama, 50, has been charged with unlawful disclosure of confidential information for leaking to journalist Atsuko Kusanagi depositions of a male teenager who torched his home in Tawaramoto, Nara Prefecture, in June 2006, killing his stepmother, younger brother and sister.

Sakihama’s lawyers explained their plan to plead not guilty, saying an examiner is exempt from the charge and Sakihama had a legitimate aim to correct social recognition over the pervasive development disorder the teen was diagnosed with and that the boy had no murderous intent. He is expected to enter a plea at the next trial session May 1.

Kusanagi authored the book “Boku-wa Papa-wo Korosu Kotoni Kimeta” (“I decided to Kill Daddy”), citing the information she got from Sakihama. Kodansha Ltd. published it last May.

The publication led to the arrest of Sakihama and questioning of Kusanagi, which raised questions related to freedom of expression and the confidentiality of news sources.

Sakihama, who was appointed in August 2006 to conduct a psychiatric evaluation on the teen, is accused of showing copies of depositions he had kept from the Nara Family Court to Kusanagi at his house and a hotel, and handing her a copy of his report on the teen.

By SCOTT FARWELL / The Dallas Morning News
sfarwell@dallasnews.com

The Dallas VA Medical Center has effectively closed its psychiatric wing after a fourth mentally ill patient this year committed suicide.

On April 4, a man fastened a bed sheet to the bottom corner of a door frame, draped a noose over the top, and hanged himself. Before that, a veteran hanged himself on a frame attached to his wheelchair. And in January, two men who met in the psychiatric ward committed suicide in Collin County days after being released.

Officials said the government hospital, which was rated the nation’s worst VA facility in a 1995 study, stopped admitting patients the day after the most recent suicide.

Ten veterans remain on the north wing on the 51-bed psychiatric unit. The south wing is closed.

Joseph Dalpiaz, director of the VA North Texas Health Care System, ordered the shutdown a day after the latest suicide.

“He decided he wanted to … give us some time to assess the environment of care and make sure things were as safe as possible in our patient unit,” said Dr. Catherine Orsak, head of mental health for the VA’s North Texas health system. “It’s a horrible tragedy and it may not have been preventable, but we wanted to look again to see if anything can be done to increase safety.”

Investigators from the national Veterans Affairs office will be in Dallas next week to assess the safety of the Dallas psychiatric ward. Doctors sent patient records and other documents to Washington last week for review.

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