Word: shock
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...knows why the treatment helps, but it usually does. Boston Psychiatrist Robert Arnot theorizes that "when an intense, hard-driving person overdrives himself, the nervous system just won't turn off; shock turns off the mind and stops the patient from thinking about whatever it is that he is preoccupied with." Other experts suggest that the shock somehow shakes up the brain so that "things fall back into their normal places." It is largely because of the lack of scientific understanding about its workings that many psychiatrists distrust the treatment...
There has been a general decline in the use of shock therapy since the 1950s, when various antidepressant drugs such as Marplan and Thorazine came into wide use. Although their effect generally takes place more slowly, they do not present the doctor with the problem of first having to combat his patient's fear of the treatment, as in the case of shock. In treating depression, psychotherapy is always used by psychiatrists, sometimes in combination with shock or drugs. Prevailing medical sentiment seems to have shifted to the idea that shock therapy ought to be only an emergency measure...
Fast. In medical circles, both St. Louis' Barnes Hospital and Minnesota's Mayo Clinic have a reputation for liberal use of shock therapy; thus the fact that Eagleton was treated by shock at those institutions does not necessarily indicate that his depression was severe. Shock is often preferred by politicians and others in the public eye because it is faster than psychiatric counseling (also cheaper: about $55 a treatment). The American Psychiatric Association claims that electroconvulsive therapy is effective in at least 90% of the depression cases in which it is carefully used, "sometimes in a matter...
...actually sterile, pompous and stupefyingly dull. At least that is Melvyn Kaufman's view-and he is doing something about it. A partner in the William Kaufman Organization, a prominent New York building firm founded by his father, he has launched a campaign "to humanize buildings through shock and disruption...
Once inside the building, another shock awaits them. The maverick builder thinks elevators are "like coffins." Not here. They are garishly painted and lit in red and blue so that riders' faces acquire a purplish tinge. "Not always flattering, but it makes people talk," says Kaufman. "And conversation makes the trip into a human experience." Such experiences may not suit everybody, but the building is fully rented...