Concern for Moorhead Patient

To the Editor:

I am writing to express grave concern regarding Elizabeth Ellis, 67, of Moorhead, Minnesota, who is currently confined in Anoka-Metro Regional Treatment Center and afraid that she may be subjected to further electroshock. She has been shocked 13 times already despite her clear refusal of consent for the procedure.

Please note that on January 28, 2011, a panel assembled by the FDA ruled that electroshock devices are hazardous and untested. In over 70 years of ECT being used on people against their will, no clinical effectiveness studies demonstrating treatment efficacy have been done.

I am a Masters level counselor, like Elizabeth, and I have provided therapy to grieving people, as I am sure she has done as a school counselor. I find it preposterous that after months of being a strong support to her sister who had cancer, up to and including being present at her sister’s death last September, Ms Ellis’s natural expression of overwhelming grief was not met with compassion and empathy. Instead, she was locked in a room at the same hospital her sister died in, and then forcibly committed to the same place she is now. The ECT has already caused emotional and physical trauma, loss of cognitive function and memory loss.

There is no evidence in the documents and history Elizabeth has shared with MindFreedom that her medical conditions (including hypothyroidism) and current and ongoing physiological needs (highly likely need of B12 supplementation) have been/are being assessed or addressed. My concern is that Elizabeth will be psychiatrically assessed as catatonic and in need of electroshock, when appropriate standard medical practice would be to run labwork on any possible related hormone and nutrient levels, including B12. Either lowered thyroid hormone levels or B12 deficiency can cause the physical symptoms psychiatrists often label catatonia. Anyone displaying these symptoms is at risk in a psychiatric setting, of being improperly assessed to be a candidate for shock therapy, which amounts to legislated torture of those vulnerable people who suffer with treatable B12 depletion, other nutritional deficiencies or neuroendocrine effects related to a medical condition or physiological responses to extreme stress.

At the time her sister died, Elizabeth may well have been experiencing complicated grief, the physiological consequences of extreme stress and vitamin depletion connected to medication prescribed for general medical conditions. Grief is best worked through with a good therapist, or family and social supports, good diet and nutrition, exercise and as much time as it takes.

The physiological markers of severe stress and biochemical depletions related to a medication (Prilosec) prescribed for GERD, require lab assessment and specific supplements to address the nutritive factors Elizabeth’s body needs. By now, she will most certainly be experiencing some variation of posttraumatic stress, which is a documented outcome of improper psychiatric treatment. Therapy for PTSD is well studied, documented and follows a non-intrusive 3 stage approach which recognizes and works with individual strengths and characteristics, gender, age, personal history and additional social factors which may affect each individual differently, while leaving mind and memory intact.

More information and steps people can take to support Elizabeth’s fight for freedom can be found at: http://www.mindfreedom.org/elizabeth. You can write to her to show support at:

Elizabeth K. Ellis, patient
c/o AMRTC
Anoka-Metro Regional Treatment Center
3301 North 7th Avenue
Anoka, MN 55303-4516

In support and solidarity,

Bryhre K. Cormack
MA Mental Health Counseling
Nelson BC, Canada