Shock Treatments

[00:00:19] Hello, this is Dr. Dave Jones, and I'm here to welcome you to this latest episode of Become A Competent Biblical Counselor.

[00:00:27] And the episode that we're going to be discussing today is shock treatment.

[00:00:34] Shock treatment.

[00:00:36] Someone writes, what do you think about shock treatment?

[00:00:40] Should a Christian allow a loved one to undergo such therapy?

[00:00:45] Well, that's a very important question because many mental institutions depend upon shock treatments to deal with depressed persons and persons who have had what are loosely called nervous breakdowns.

[00:00:59] Indeed, even in spite of many of the studies that have been done in recent days, this therapy in quotes seems to be increasing and seems to be rather standard in many institutions.

[00:01:11] All I can say is no Christian, in my judgment, should ever allow another to give him shock treatment or shock treatment for his loved ones.

[00:01:21] First of all, let's consider what's happening in shock treatment.

[00:01:26] ECT, or electroconvulsive therapy, administered frequently in these days, really constitutes nothing more than another fruitless, short-term remedy.

[00:01:38] Even the good effects of shock, when they do take place, are not lasting.

[00:01:44] Sometimes, according to William Sargent and Elliot Slater, in a very important book that appeared in 1972 entitled,

[00:01:52] An Introduction to Physical Methods of Treatment in Psychiatry, admit that shock treatments only make a person more anxious.

[00:02:01] In that book, they talk about the risks of fracture, which often occur when a convulsion is induced in a person and his body responds to it.

[00:02:10] And then when they really work, that is, when shock treatments do have some effect upon a person, and of course, they don't always work,

[00:02:17] what they do is simply relieve the counselee of the pressures of stress by temporarily erasing his recent memory.

[00:02:26] Now, if you want to become irresponsible for your life, you want to not face life's problems,

[00:02:33] you want to have your memory so erased that the events of the past days or recent days no longer occur to you,

[00:02:40] then of course, shock treatments are a very effective method of doing this.

[00:02:45] Another way to do it is to drown your troubles in alcohol or take such medication that you don't even know where you are.

[00:02:52] But that's the kind of thing that's happening in shock treatments.

[00:02:56] When the memory returns, the problems, which in the meantime probably have grown larger, still have to be faced.

[00:03:04] They haven't been dealt with.

[00:03:06] You've just run into loss of memory or temporary amnesia in order to try to escape them through shock treatment.

[00:03:15] Now, what actually happens in ECT, electroconvulsive therapy, is that convulsions are induced in an artificial manner,

[00:03:26] a convulsion that is really the same as a grand mal seizure.

[00:03:32] And we have to be very clear about what's happening here.

[00:03:35] We're causing the same kind of effect upon a person that occurs when he has had an epileptic fit.

[00:03:43] We're producing a grand mal seizure by shooting electricity through the subject's brain.

[00:03:50] And in this book that I mentioned before, the way that they describe a shock treatment

[00:03:55] is that they say it is very similar to that of a mild concussion.

[00:03:59] Now, if you want to hit somebody in the head hard, hard enough to give him a mild concussion,

[00:04:05] then you can do it that way instead of sending shock through his brain to disorganize his memory patterns.

[00:04:10] And indeed, we're warned, and this warning I think is very significant for people to remember,

[00:04:17] on page 73 of that book that I mentioned before by Sargent and Slater,

[00:04:22] an introduction to physical methods of treatment and psychiatry,

[00:04:25] quote,

[00:04:26] One should be cautious with the man who uses highly trained memory in the exercise of his profession.

[00:04:34] In other words, if you don't want your head knocked six ways from yesterday

[00:04:39] so that you can't do the job that you really have been doing in the past,

[00:04:43] if you don't want to run the risk of permanently injuring brain tissue

[00:04:48] so that you might never remember some facts and some details again,

[00:04:52] and indeed, to add to what I say,

[00:04:54] if you don't want your whole personality so washed out by sending electricity through your brain,

[00:04:59] then you'd better stay away from shock therapy.

[00:05:03] And so, really, it's pretty difficult for a Christian, if not impossible,

[00:05:08] and I believe it is impossible, frankly,

[00:05:10] when we relieve the passages of 1 Corinthians 6.19

[00:05:16] about caring for the body, which is the temple of the Holy Spirit,

[00:05:20] it's difficult, if not possible, to justify the use of electric shock therapy.

[00:05:27] Indeed, shock treatments are perhaps the very best symbol

[00:05:30] of the fruitless attempt of frustrated psychiatrists

[00:05:33] to solve non-temporal problems by short-term temporal means.

[00:05:39] If you're driving your automobile down the road,

[00:05:41] and I've used this illustration before,

[00:05:43] but it and suddenly a red light lights up on the dark night on the dashboard,

[00:05:49] the thing to do is not to reach over into the glove compartment and smash the light.

[00:05:53] The thing to do is to pull over your car to the side of the road

[00:05:57] and lift the hood on the problem.

[00:05:59] Get to the real source of the difficulty.

[00:06:03] Be thankful for the red light flashing.

[00:06:05] It warns that something is wrong under the hood.

[00:06:08] Now, the best method when a person is depressed is just that,

[00:06:12] not to put the pain, the depression, the guilt feelings,

[00:06:16] whatever may be disturbing a person, out of commission.

[00:06:20] That's, you see, what the Bible calls searing one's conscience with a hot iron.

[00:06:24] We might actually, in this instance,

[00:06:26] talk about searing one's brain with shock treatments

[00:06:29] or putting it out of commission with shock treatments.

[00:06:32] No, you don't so tranquilize a person that the pain is gone.

[00:06:37] You don't get drunk in order to drown your problems away,

[00:06:40] and you don't zap a person with shock

[00:06:43] so that he can't remember what his problems were.

[00:06:46] What a person really needs is the shock treatment of the Word of God.

[00:06:51] The shock treatment of the Word of God,

[00:06:53] which calls him to his responsibilities,

[00:06:55] which brings him up short about his sin,

[00:06:58] which shows him his failures to handle life God's way,

[00:07:01] which shows him that he has not really been serving God as he ought.

[00:07:07] And it also shows him how he needs to get out of the problem

[00:07:10] and begin to lead the kind of life that will be productive.

[00:07:15] Now, that's the kind of shock treatment that a person needs

[00:07:18] when he's dealing with his problems,

[00:07:20] not shock therapy,

[00:07:22] but he needs the shock of his life,

[00:07:24] the shock of the Word of God administered to his life

[00:07:28] in such a way that all the past is scrambled up

[00:07:31] instead of his head being scrambled up.

[00:07:33] And now all the future needs to be put together

[00:07:36] in new ways that are pleasing to God.

[00:07:39] I want to say to you,

[00:07:41] you go to a minister who believes the Word of God

[00:07:43] if you've got problems.

[00:07:45] Don't go to a man who administers shock treatment.

[00:07:48] Go to someone who will shock you with truth about your life

[00:07:53] and be prepared for a shock

[00:07:55] when you really see your life exposed,

[00:07:58] open and naked by the Word of God,

[00:08:01] which is able to pierce into the very soul of a man

[00:08:04] and distinguish between the marrow and the bone.

[00:08:08] That's the kind of shock that you need,

[00:08:10] and that's the shock that heals.

[00:08:13] That's the shock that changes.

[00:08:15] That's the one that brings happiness and joy

[00:08:17] and lifts one from depression

[00:08:19] to the heights of God's wonderful joy.

[00:08:22] So, Lord, help us not to be shocked by man,

[00:08:25] but to be shocked by you

[00:08:27] as we see our sin and in repentance

[00:08:29] as a result of that terrible shock

[00:08:31] of seeing how utterly sinful we are

[00:08:33] come to faith in Christ

[00:08:35] and to seeking to serve Him

[00:08:38] and live for Him as we ought.

[00:08:41] We pray in His name.

[00:08:42] Amen.

[00:08:44] I hope this helps.

[00:08:45] This is an unusual episode

[00:08:47] in that it gets to an issue

[00:08:48] that some people may be experiencing.

[00:08:51] Some people may have questions

[00:08:53] about something that they maybe might consider

[00:08:55] or whatever.

[00:08:56] The Bible addresses the problems.

[00:08:58] The Bible addresses the issues.

[00:09:00] And don't ignore what the Bible has to say

[00:09:03] about this very serious issue

[00:09:06] and make it a blessed day.

[00:09:08] Talk to you later.

[00:09:09] The Bible says,