Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), or electroshock therapy as called in its early years, is a medical treatment for mental illness with a dark history. Discussions of the procedure are often burdened with controversy, including its barbaric portrayal in media and its use by the Nazi party to kill those living in sanatoriums and nursing homes in Austria who were deemed “incurable.” Despite its morbid and complicated past, ECT is the only version of “shock therapy” still in use today. It is a safe and effective treatment for severe depression but remains haunted by the stigma attached to the procedure and medical diagnoses it is utilized to treat.
Articles Referenced During Episode:
BBC: The Surprising Benefits of Electroconvulsive Therapy, by Alex Riley
The Journal of ECT - Letters to the Editor: Sylvia Plath Recovered Completely by Electroconvulsive Therapy at the Age of 21 Years and Might Have Been Saved by Another Series 9 Years Later, by Per Bergsholm, MD, PhD
The Journal of ECT - An Eyewitness Account of the Discovery of Electroshock, by Ferdinando Accornero
Mpls St Paul Magazine - The Last Days of Hemingway at Mayo Clinic, by John Rosengren
Mayo Clinic - Electroconvulsive Therapy, by Mayo Clinic Staff
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, by Ken Kesey
The Bell Jar, by Sylvia Plath
Wishful Drinking, by Carrie Fisher
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