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Surviving 1973

My First Year of the Psychiatric System

by Edwin Martin

My story begins during February 1973 when I went to a night club called the Bird cadge in Union Street Plymouth. Someone spiked my drink at the club which caused me to lose my memory for about one hour. I came to when I was being escorted down the stairs into a taxi by friends.

Eventually the effect of what ever it was caused me to become CATATONIC and In May 1973 I had to be admitted to Marshall clinic part of the now defunct Moorhaven Hospital, near Ivybridge, Devon, At first I was just monitored but later I was given Chlorpromazine (Largactil) in syrup form. After about three weeks of consuming what seemed like heavy doses of the drug, prescribed by Dr Dunn I developed a severe life threatening reaction.

I became jaundiced and when the Charge Nurse saw me in this state one morning the drug treatment was stopped and I was set to the Devonport General Hospital (now demolished), Plymouth. After two weeks I was returned to the Marshall Clinic. In the month of June 1973 I was discharged and sent home.

A locum General Practitioner gave my stepmother the wrong prescription for the medication I needed. I woke up one morning after taking the wrong tablets the previous day and I felt that I must go onto the roof of our house which I did. The strange thought I had was of being possessed by spirit and that I must roll off the roof to release the feeling of being possessed. I did NOT want to do this but thought I would be able to fly. Rolling forward I fell off the roof and onto the ground - a drop of twenty feet.

Fortunately I survived and was taken to Freedom Fields Hospital Plymouth. I did severely sprain my ankle but I had NO broken bones. However, I did need crutches to aid my walking. Three weeks later (July 1973)1 was returned to Marshall clinic. There I was to see a new psychiatrist who prescribed the drug called Thioridazine (Melleril) for me. Eventually I managed to do without the crutches thanks to the encouragement of the nursing staff and the Occupational Therapist.

In late August 1973 I was transferred to Moorfields, a part of Moorhaven Hospital. During my stay at Moorfields not only was I to experience psychiatric abuse but also Masonic abuse. A German (Freemason), General Practitioner, Dr. Hummel, who practised various mental heath therapies in Moorhaven Hospital, during September 1973, Insisted that I must be given 6 ECTs.

He overruled the psychiatrist view that I did not reed ECT (see Note). My reply to Dr Hummel's question about the Brotherhood was in the negative at that time and it seemed to incense him. I can only assume that he pulled Masonic rank on the psychiatrist to get his way. Both were arguing at the time and I rather nervously left the consulting room. It seemed with hindsight that as I was on a section, I became a helpless victim of some kind of power struggle between the two professionals.

When (after two weeks of ECT). the psychiatrist saw me and I pointed out that I had been forcibly given ECT, he seemed surprised. However on that same day of consultation with the psychiatrist he did release me from the section and discharged me from Hospital.

As you can see 1973 was a year of such an experience which I cannot forget but I feel confident to tell this event without fear of repercussion. I still suffer short term memory loss which makes study a difficult task but thanks to talking treatments and involvement with service user groups I am able to keep a positive outlook. However some days I do need time out to keep my schizophrenia symptoms stable.

NOTE: The part of the Mental health Act 1983 that deals with ECT is section 58. With ECT either the patient consents to treatment OR the psychiatrist can give the therapy following the procedure defined in the Act.

Psychosurgery ( Lobotomy) is dealt with under section 57 of the Act. Here the patient can consent to the operation but the psychiatrist can not force the patient to have the surgery.

I would prefer ECT to be incorporated into section 57 of the Act. This would then prevent forced treatment being conducted and thus clear up a large part of the controversy about ECT. There are about a dozen cases of psychosurgery performed each year compared to 20,000 patients receiving ECT each year in England alone.

Useful advice and information about ECT can be obtained from ECT Anonymous, 14 Western Avenue, Riddleston, Keighley, West Yorkshire BD2O SDJ