What It's Really Like To Receive ECT (Electro-Convulsive Therapy)
The first time a doctor asked me to try ECT, I thought he had lost his mind. I had just been released from a long-term state facility and my transition back into the community wasn't going very well. I was sitting in a small room with an older male psychiatrist as we looked at the options on my fragile, falling plate. The day before, we had gone over a list of possible medications that could remedy my dysphoria. The problem? I had already tried and unsuccessfully taken every. single. one. So, this psychiatrist looked at me, and he said: "Ms. Smith... have you ever considered ECT?" I remember giving him a double take, staring with my jaw dropping, half infuriated, half confused. Did this man really say what I think he just said? Is he sure he has a proper, present-day, authorized MD? But I did hear him right, because he just smiled and repeated himself calmly as a million nightmarish images ran through my head. Images of bright electrical shocks, ...