(no paper is attached to this workshop)

Twenty-five years ago, people who had received shock treatment came together with one simple goal: to advocate for truthful informed consent so that future patients could make an informed choice. At the same time, many in the anti-psychiatry movement chose to work for an outright ban on shock. Neither strategy has worked. Ever since then, organized shock survivors and our allies have been involved in a battle with organized psychiatry: over whether patients should be told about the risks of shock, including permanent memory loss; over whether shock should be scientifically investigated; over whether it should ever be used at all. Psychiatry has prevailed. This dramatic story is told for the first time in a new history of shock treatment published by a survivor: Doctors of Deception: What They Don’t Want You to Know About Shock Treatment. A road map for organizing, the book gives us perspective on where we’ve been, where we’re going, and what we’re up against. The author, a maker of this history, discussed the challenges of organizing and advocating against shock treatment, sharing war stories and strategies. Is it possible to ban shock, and how? How can we be effective when we don’t have the resources, influence, and credibility of organized psychiatry? Where should we be directing our efforts? What does the science on shock say, and how can we use it? How do we influence the media? Who are our allies? How do we reach professionals? Does it matter that we have truth on our side? How do we keep going and pass the torch to the next generation? And why is this issue so uniquely difficult to organize around?