There's an overwhelming amount of information to think about when considering the different topics we've studied in this course. I'm positive there will be, in the next 20 years, concepts and ideas that will be very applicable to my life and the lives of everyone around me...but I can't help but shake the most recent therapeutic method I learned in this class - electro-convulsive therapy.
I realize (through some mild research) that ECT isn't what people make it out to be - as though it were electro-SHOCK therapy, or anything grotesque as such. But the concept of this style of therapy still bothers me a bit.
I'm reminded of the movie 'Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind'. If you haven't seen it, the movie involves taking painful memories that are a part of your history and erasing them from an individual's memory bank. At the end of the procedure, there will be no memory of having had any of those painful memories.
Now, I don't know much about the science of ECT, but as it was explained in quick detail, it seems to be a treatment slightly similar - where depressing events and memories are recalled in specific detail, and the ECT seizures work to make the patient forget part or all of the depressing event/situation.
It may be because I haven't dealt with severe depressing or emotional pain, but something about deleting that which makes an individual different (their histories/their experiences/their LIVES) bothers me. Even though I understand that the procedure DOES, in fact, help quite a bit in helping patients towards a better quality of life, a part of me will always find it inhumane.
I agree in that I find the idea of removing and individual's memory or specific memories disturbing. Our memories are what make us 'us' and differentiate an individual from the others around them.
Some memories are hard to deal with and I can see how some people would want them gone, but at the same time I can't side with the people who say life is always benefited from the removal of these memories because those memories, however horrific, are what contribute to making a person themselves.
For the most part, I agree that deleting or erasing memories is not the best way to go about life. However, I do think that certain situations the choice to remove a memory could be an option. Incest, rape, witnessing a murder, atrocious things like that might be justifiable. I do think that there are some horrible experiences that completely shape who we will be for the rest of our lives, such as war. Whether or not those memories should be erased depends on how well a person is able to cope and what any given person actually experienced. I'm still on the fence about this.
I agree with this post. I think that erasing part of a person's memory is not right. I think that there are other ways to go about dealing with things like this, such as different types of therapies. There are things that are very hard to deal with, but those things are what make you who you are. I would not want to forget the things that I've been through, regardless of how hard it has affected me.
I also agree with the post and previous comments. Now days I think therapy can be an extremely effective aid in helping someone deal with traumatic memories. We've all had bad experiences to some degree and dealing with those is a part of life and makes a person unique. I think the technology of it is pretty extraordinary. To think that it is possible to remove certain memories is remarkable. Science has come a long way. However, with some discoveries such as this one or other controversial topics such as stem cell research, just because we can do it, does it mean we should??
I agree with you 100%. I do not think that it is right to erase someone's memory like that forever. Although it may help with depression or whatnot, those memories still make the person who they are now. So I agree that it is completely inhumane, even if the person wants the treatment done them-self. I like how you incorporate "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" into your post. That is one of my favorite films, and it really shows us how the treatment can affect someone.