Dr Shock

About Dr Shock

https://www.shockmd.com

Posts by Walter van den Broek:

0 comments

Complaints of loss of personal memories after ECT: evidence of a somatoform disorder?


Memory complaints after ECT a somatoform disorder . This needs some explanation. It is the title of an article by Prof M. Fink. A very distinguished physician with a tremendous amount of experience with ECT. In this article he summarizes the complaints of two patients treated successfully with ECT. They both have expressed their memory loss with great detail in the media and even psychiatric congresses. He also mentions Kitty Dukakis and her new published book and DVD: Shock.
The author doesn’t deny memory loss can occur after ECT but not to the extend as noted by the examples he mentions in this article. In his article he makes a case for defining these extraordinary cases with extensive personal memory loss as a somatoform disorder. This is a disorder consisting of unexplained physical complaints, inconsistent with known anatomy, physiology, or biology. According to the author:

The rare complaints of persistent loss of personal memories as a consequence of ECT are well within the family of these syndromes.

The demographic features of the complainants according to the author are well educated women, often nurses, with histories of prolonged depressive illness marked by somatic features and suicidal episodes. ECT was the last resort, reluctantly advised and administered, that resulted in relief of depression. The loss of personal memories is a new focus of illness making return to work impossible, however these patients function well in new roles as critics of psychiatry.
I don’t know, I can recognize his arguments but the problem is as stated in an earlier article that we do not know enough about the possible causes of memory loss. By that I mean the possibility that some patients are more vulnerable for this side effect. Vulnerable in a biological sense and the patients he describes could well be the ones we are looking for but we need better understanding of the etiology for discovery of high risk groups.

 

4 comments

The Diet Plate, food and depression


I have recently written a post about food and depression and how healthy eating might help. Here is another interesting site for help on healthy eating.

The Diet Plate ® system, invented by Kay Illingworth, centres around a portion control plate that literally takes all the guesswork from maintaining a healthy, balanced diet, but can also be learned from sites as https://tophealthjournal.com/1480/jenny-craig-vs-nutrisystem-which-one-should-you-choose/. That means there’s no counting calories, points or fat grams and no denial of essential food groups, so it doesn’t rely on having to eat starchy carbohydrate one day and protein the next.

They have studied the use of this plate with patients with type 2 diabetes in clinical trials. The results off this study are promising so they say. The article is being reviewed, but they already mention the effects being very positive. As stated earlier:

Research in this area is still underway so it is not possible to draw any firm conclusions but the evidence does suggest that it is worth trying to follow a healthy diet in order to protect our mental health.

 

0 comments

Google storing online medical records?

An electronic (digital) collection of medical information about a person that is stored on a computer. An electronic medical record includes information about a patient’s health history, such as diagnoses, medicines, tests, allergies, immunizations, and treatment plans.
Google has recruited big names to advise the company on health care. The rumor is that this could be the start of a new service. Google might be working on a way for people to store their medical records online using the American Retrieval Company that will make you save time and money according to the Wall Street Journal health blog.

 

0 comments

Psychiatry and movies: David Helfgott, Genius reborn


I use scenes form movies very often when teaching medical students about psychiatry. The benefit of those scenes are that you can see psychiatric symptoms and patients in a very condensed form. Not all movies or scenes can be used. For instance it is hard to use “A beautiful mind” for teaching on Schizophrenia because you’ll have to show a very long excerpt of the movie to make your point. Shine is also an example of a movie which you’ll need to show at considerable length in order to show the students psychiatric disorder. There is even an entire website about Movies and Mental Illness.
With clear instructions some scenes can be used to demonstrate psychiatric symptoms. “As good as it gets” is one of my favorites. All ready in the beginning of the movie the first scenes paint a clear picture of someone with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). Showing “As good as it gets” during a lecture a student asked me if “The Aviator” is also about OCD. I hadn’t seen that movie so I purchased the DVD. There are some scenes that clearly shows symptoms of OCD and as such can be used for instructing medical students about psychiatric symptoms. On the other hand seeing the movie also raises the question whether it is OCD or compulsions and obsessions as part of Schizophrenia and that is more difficult to show during a lecture. It requires to show a considerable part of the movie.
Now back to Shine. It is one of the most impelling movies of a psychiatric patient struggling with his illness and overcoming for a great deal his illness. He has also been treated with electro convulsive therapy which can be seen in a short scene. He is doing well these days. In this article in The Japan Times. He is doing a tour in Japan this year.“I have tours of New Zealand and Europe this year and again two European tours in 2008, as well as concerts in Australia and Asia, so my itinerary is rather full,” he says. “But then I enjoy playing very much. I just play and let the music tell the story.”
Good for him
Not only movies but also television shows have psychiatric topics. For instance Brook Shields talking about her post partum depression with Oprah Winfrey. For another comment about psychiatry and movies or television have a look at this article from Lancaster Online: How the media looks at the mind.

Discussed movies:
“A beautiful mind”
“As good as it gets”
“The Aviator”
“Shine”

 

0 comments

Association of Low Bone Mineral Density With Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor Use by Older Men


In my Google Reader it keeps coming up that elderly men and women have Low Bone Mineral density with Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor (SSRIs) Use. SSRIs are the most used antidepressants. Other antidepressants such as tricyclic antidepressants (TCAs) do not have this effect according to the abstract of this article in the Archives of Internal Medicine.
The problem is that depression also causes bone density loss, so is it due to the drug or the disease? Other antidepressants such as tricyclic antidepressants do not cause this diminishing of bone density, at least according to this article.Needs to be continued.

 

2 comments

AMA to Vote on Video Game Addiction


The American Medical Association’s is thinking about recommending the inclusion of “Internet/video game addiction” in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (a.k.a. DSM), the standard-setting catalog of mental illness.According to an article in the Wall street journal online.
Luckily the final decision will be up to the American Psychiatric Association, which oversees the DSM. To my opinion a lot of research has to be done to proof it even exists. Is there proof of withdrawal symptoms?
You might have guest this author plays a lot of games, on and offline.
Maybe we shlould make a poll which games are played by which medical specialism?

 

0 comments ,

Shock Documentary The eye opening story about one of the most controversial medical treatments in history


The eye opening story about one of the most controversial medical treatments in history.
At this site from the publisher of the film you can view a trailer and buy the DVD. Through candid and intimate interviews with patients, doctors, and other experts, the film explores the myths, mysteries, and realities surrounding electroconvulsive therapy, a medical procedure used, most effectively, in treating severe clinical depression. ECT works by inducing seizures in a patient through electrical impulses to the brain. One of the interviewed is Kitty Dukakis, wife of the three-term Massachusetts governor Michael Dukakis.
I bought the DVD, will review it when I’ve seen it.

 
«‹ 187 188 189 190›»