My name is Ruth Reed Price, and I am writing this to relate the horrors of the Electric Shock treatments I was given by a Psychiatrist, the damage that the treatments have done to my life, and the details of how I was given this treatment because of a mis-diagnosis on the part of the Psychiatrist involved.


In May to June, 1965, I had a nervous breakdown, and was seen by doctors at Austin State Hospital. I was diagnosed at the time as suffering from schizophrenia, and was administered electric shock treatments to my brain about once a day for the next six weeks. These electric shock sessions lasted several minutes each, and were the worst experience of my life. I can’t even begin to describe how horrible it was. Electric shocks go all over your body, and it’s just a terrible experience.


The electric shock treatments affected my memory. I can’t remember things in the past, and sometimes even in the present, my abilities to recall incidents and do my best in meeting the public were impaired. I live by notes, I have to write myself notes exactly about what I’m supposed to do from day to day.
These impairments as a result of the electric shock treatments adversely effected my ability to carry out my job as a schoolteacher. I was handicapped in my ability to follow a curriculum, and during the first semester back at school, I was a nervous wreck.
In 1966 or 1967, Dr. Neil Baxter of San Antonio discovered what the staff at Austin State Hospital had failed to investigate in 1965, the fact that I had a thyroid imbalance. Because of the failure of the staff at Austin State Hospital to run routine physical and medical exams prior to diagnosing me as schizophrenic and shocking me for the ensuing 6 weeks, they missed the thyroid imbalance altogether, a medical condition that would have explained my nervous problems. Thyroid imbalances are fairly common, and can be treated with non-psychiatric medication. Instead of trying to really discover what was wrong, the Austin State Hospital staff made a wrong assumption, and proceeded to damage my brain and impair my memory with their violent electric shock therapy.
Reports show that the highest percentage of Electric Shock patients are women over the age of 65. I feel this statistic points out the problems with informed consent laws in the case of Electric Shock. Older women, especially those who have lost their husbands and are alone, are too easily coerced into treatments, just as in my case. The side effects and adverse reactions to the Electric Shock are too destructive to allow even one person to be given the treatment without full knowledge and understanding of what they stand to lose in terms of memory, personality, and the ability to experience pleasure. They are too destructive to allow even one person to receive Electric Shock because of a misdiagnosis, as in my case.
As a result of what occurred in my case, I believe electric shock should be banned. I urge the Texas Legislature to do all it can to outlaw it’s use in our State. I urge our Senators, Representatives and Governor to send a strong warning to Medical professionals in Texas with this ban.
I appreciate your attention to this matter.


Sincerely,
Ruth Reed Price
Cameron, Texas