I had lunch with a girlfriend last week, and I mentioned ECT, I can’t remember what we were discussing, I don’t know how the topic came up, but I do recall her response. I said something about electroconvulsive therapy and she stopped chewing mid-mouthful, her eyebrows arched upwards she was surprised and disbelieving, “No” she said, with a drawn out emphasis on the o , “that’s not a treatment” she said, and I assured her it is.
I have heard ECT touted as the best treatment we have for depression. At the same time many people don’t realise it is still used as a treatment. I mentioned ECT once before in a post and I am revisiting it after my friend’s lunchtime reaction. Another friend, a psychiatrist, has told me it would be his treatment of choice. As effective as it is, it’s hard not to have negative reactions when ECT is mentioned.
I can’t think of the complexities of ECT without thinking of this TED talk. Sherwin Nuland describes himself “as a man who almost 30 years ago had his life saved by two long courses of electroshock therapy”. He speaks briefly about the history of ECT as a treatment and tells of his own experience. The talk runs for 22 minutes, I recommend it as informing, and as one perspective…