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Thread: the nonsense contained in the 'Down With Gloom' book about brain damage & #ECT I posted last night, was disturbing. The author blamed memory loss on the patient's depression, a convenient get out for psychiatry, inflicting a brain injury affecting cognitive function. (1)
It's worth describing Andy's issues with memory so that people can understand. His visual memory is such that when he closes his eyes, he cannot visualise me. Or Suzie. He cannot visualise his family without photographs, and this causes him deep distress. I see it daily (2)
All the more distressing is the denial. Psychiatrists maintaining the bullsh*t that this is a symptom of his depression, and not being believed. It is absolutely heartbreaking to watch him struggle to visualise, and the tears when he simply cannot do it. (3)
With this in mind, one of the most significant presents I bought him at Christmas was a photo book of our September trip to Anglesey & Snowdonia. Seeing Andy back in the place he loves was priceless, & the book is a daily reminder for him of the time spent there, the 3 of us.(4)
It's important to acknowledge the losses sustained from #ECT. Our memories are fundamental to our sense of self. To take this away, and then to deny the injury is unbelievably cruel and unjust.
If you can't understand the distress this causes, then try harder. It's very real. (5)
If you can't understand the distress this causes, then try harder. It's very real. (5)
Finally, some of our favourite moments from the book of memories. It's Andy's bedside favourite and he looks at it most nights before going to sleep, always with the hope that his visual memory may one day return. 
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