Vol. 6, No. 1 - Psychiatric Survivor Archives of Toronto

ppermanent brain damage caused bythe depatterning procedure,particularly the electroshock, wasfinallyrevealed in 1967 - the yearCameron died, and three years afterthe Canadian government stoppedfunding his psychic drivingexperiments ..In a lO-year follow-up study of 79of Cameron's "depatterned"patients, psychologist A.E.Schwartzman and psychiatrist P.E.Termansen discovered that 63 percentof 27 shocked and depatternedpatients showed permanent memoryloss, and that in 60 percent of thesememory losses, anywhere from sixmonths to 10 years of experiencewas erased.39These researchers recommendedthat intensive electroshock bestopped.It wasn't.The Response of PsychiatryBefore his death in 1967, Dr. D.Ewen Cameron was President of theCanadian Psychiatric Association,the American PsychiatricAssociation, the Quebec PsychiatricAssociation and the WorldPsychiatric Association. He was alsothe founder and first director of theAllan Memorial. He received manyhonours and awards including theMental Hygiene Institute ofMontreal's '''Mental Health Award'for outstanding contributions to themental health of the Canadianpeople" in 1966.40 In 1965, theCanadian Psychiatric Associationmade him a lifetime HonoraryMember. In its citation to Dr.Cameron, the CPA expressed "itsprofound appreciation of (his)outstanding contribution made to thedevelopment of psychiatry inCanada ... " It also praised Dr.~Cameron for:contributing to "farreachingadvances in the fields oftreatment-education-research. "41A month after Dr. Cameron died,these editorial statements werepublished in the CanadianPsychiatric Association Journal:As a diligent seeker afterknowledge, a gifted author, arenowned administrator andinspiring teacher he brought ... awider and deeper understandingof the importance and significanceof the emotional lifeof man. 42Nineteen years later, thepsychiatric profession in Canada andthe United States is stillsilent, andstillrefuses to acknowledge that oneof its leaders planned and conductedsome of the most unethical,dehumanizing, and destructiveexperiments, which can only becompared to the medical torturecarried out in the concentrationcamps of Nazi Germany.PHOENIX COMMENTSIn its conspiracy of silence,psychiatry is joined by thegovernments of the UnitedStates, which refuses tocompensate nine of Cameron'sCanadian victims - one ofwhom has died since thevictims' $9 million lawsuit waslaunched against the CIAalmost six years ago.There are dozens ofunanswered questions - aboutthe identities of Canadianofficials or scientists involved inthe secret meetings with theCIA; about the decision tocontinue funding for Hebb's andCameron's experiments afterinnumerable reports showed theextent of their dangerourness;about the connection of thesetwo psychiatrists to the CIAbrainwashing projects.In future issues, we will probethese unknowns in an attemptto shed even more light on thestappalling acts of inhumanity ­and the massive cover-up stillbei ng perpetuated by thegovernments of Canada and theUnited States.Montreal writer Don Gillmor iscurrently researching a book onDr. Ewen Cameron and isinterested in talking to anyformer patients. Anonymity, ifdesired, can be guaranteed.838 Wiseman, No.2,Outremont, Quebec, H2V 3L1,(514) 274-2315.PhoenixRising