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Leonard Roy Frank (Ed.)
The History of Shock Treatment

Information

Anthology of more than 250 chronologically ordered excerpts and articles by proponents and opponents of electro-, insulin- and cardiazol-shock: the indispensable sourcebook – the one best starting point for anyone, layperson or physician or survivor or relative, who wants to understand shock treatment.

For German information by Leonard Frank please see his article in: Peter Lehmann, "Schöne neue Psychiatrie", Band 1: "Wie Chemie und Strom auf Geist und Psyche wirken" (1996).

Leonard Roy Frank

Born in Brooklyn in 1932, Leonard Roy Frank is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School (1954) and has lived in San Francisco since 1959. While committed to a private psychiatric facility near San Francisco in 1963, he was forced to undergo 50 insulincoma and 35 electroconvulsive procedures, which caused him severe memory loss, wiping out the preceding three-year period and effectively destroying his high school and college educations.

Following six years of study reeducating himself, he became active in the psychiatric survivors movement first by becoming a staff member of Madness Network News (1971) and then co-founding the Network Against Psychiatric Assault (1974), both based in San Francisco and Berkeley and opposed to all forms of coercive, fraudulent psychiatric interventions. In 1978, following two years of intense study and research, he self-published The History of Shock Treatment. In 1998, he edited the best-selling Random House Webster's Quotationary, a compilation of more than 20,000 quotes organized in more than 1,000 categories. In 2006, he published a free ebook titled The Electroshock Quotationary. In 2011, he edited The Szasz Quotationary, which recapitulates many of psychiatrist Thomas Szasz's most compelling opinions, observations and aphorisms drawn from his writings and organized in 50 chapters arranged alphabetically by subject.

For decades through his writings, lectures, and membership in the above named organizations and, since 1986, in MindFreedom International (Eugene, Oregon), and, since 2005, The Coalition for the Abolition of Electroshock in Texas (Austin), Mr. Frank has been a leading survivor activist in the struggle against psychiatric abuse, particularly electroshock which he has described as

"a brutal, dehumanizing, memory-destroying, intelligence-lowering, brain-damaging, brainwashing, and life-threatening technique. ECT robs people of their memories, their personality and their humanity. It reduces their capacity to lead full, meaningful lives; it crushes their spirits. Put simply, electroshock is a method for gutting the brain in order to control and punish people who fall or step out of line, and intimidate others on the verge of doing so. "

Address: Leonard Frank, 2300 Webster Street, #603, San Francisco, CA 94115, USA. E-mail: lfrank[at]igc.org

Bibliophraphy

• Interviewee and Editor (1976). "The Frank Papers" (62-81). (1976). In John Friedberg, Shock Treatment Is Not Good for Your Brain. San Francisco: Glide Publications. ISBN 0-912078-43-X.

• Editor (1978). The History of Shock Treatment. San Francisco: Author. ISBN 0-9601376-1-0.

• Co-producer and Co-editor (1984). Dr. Caligari's Psychiatric Drugs (3rd ed.). Berkeley, CA: Network Against Psychiatric Assault.

• Author (January 1985). "Electroshock Abuses." AHP Perspective, 14-15.

• Author (1986). "The Policies and Practices of American Psychiatry Are Oppressive." Hospital and Community Psychiatry, 37, 497-501.

• Author (1988). "Electroshock: A Paradigm of Psychiatric Tyranny" (290-296). In Joseph Rubinstein and Brent Slife (Eds.), Taking Sides: Clashing Views on Controversial Psychological Issues (5th ed.). Guilford, CT: Dushkin Publishing Group. ISBN 0-87967-741-4.

• Author (1990). Electroshock: Death, Brain Damage, Memory Loss, and Brainwashing. Journal of Mind and Behavior, 11, 489-512.

• Author (1991). "Shock Treatment IV: Resistance n the 1990s" (53-80). In Robert F. Morgan (Ed.), Electroshock: The Case Against. Toronto: IPI Publishing. ISBN 0-920702-82-1.

• Interviewee (1993). "From Victim to Revolutionary: An Interview with Leonard Frank." In Seth Farber, Madness, Heresy, and the Rumor of Angels: The Revolt Against the Mental Health System. Chicago: Open Court, 190-240. ISBN 0-8126-9200-4.

• Editor (1994). Influencing Minds: A Reader in Quotations. Los Angeles: Feral House. ISBN 978-0-922915-25-5.

• Author (1994). Should ECT Be Prohibited? ("Yes: Electroshock Is a Crime Against the Spirit") (131-139). In Stuart A. Kirk and Susan D. Einbinder (Eds.). Controversial Issues in Mental Health. Boston: Allyn and Bacon. ISBN 0-205-14675-9.

• Author (1996). "Electroschock" (287-319). In Peter Lehmann, Schöne neue Psychiatrie, 1,: Wie Chemie und Strom auf Geist und Psyche wirken (287-319). Berlin: Antipsychiatrieverlag. ISBN 978-3-925931-09-3.

• Editor (1998). Random House Webster's Quotationary. New York: Random House. ISBN 0-679-44850-0.

• Editor (2000). Random House Webster's Wit and Humor Quotationary. New York: Random House. ISBN 0-375-70931-2.

• Author (Spring 2002). "Electroshock: A Crime Against the Spirit." Ethical Human Sciences and Services, 4, 63-71.

• Author (November 2002). "Psychiatry's Unholy Trinity - Fraud, Fear, and Force: A Personal Account." Ideas on Liberty (Irvington-on-Hudson, New York), 23-27.

• Interviewee (July 2003). In Terry Messman, "The Street Spirit Interview with Leonard Roy Frank." Street Spirit.

• Editor (2003). Freedom: Quotes and Passages from the World's Greatest Freethinkers. New York: Random House. ISBN 0-375-42585-3.

• Editor (2003). Inspiration: The Greatest Things Ever Said. New York: Random House. ISBN 0-375-72033-2.

• Editor (2003). Love: The Greatest Things Ever Said. New York: Random House. ISBN 0-375-73025-0

• Editor (2003). Money: The Greatest Things Ever Said. New York: Random House. ISBN 0-375-72032-4.

• Editor (2003). Wisdom: The Greatest Things Ever Said. New York: Random House. ISBN 0-375-72034-0.

• Editor (2003). Wit: The Greatest Things Ever Said. New York: Random House. ISBN 0-375-72031-6.

• Author (August 2005). "Zyprexa: A Prescription for Diabetes, Disease and Early Death." Street Spirit (Oakland, California). Deutsche Übersetzung.

• Editor (2006). The Electroshock Quotationary. Internet book: www.endofshock.com/102C_ECT.PDF.

• Author (April 2008). "The Journey of Transformation." Street Spirit (Oakland, California)

• Editor (2011). The Szasz Quotationary, Kindle e-book (B005N261VM).