Before reading today's post, please make sure you click on the following and then read my post from October 1, entitled "Good Karma, Good Books". The response has been great! I, for one, have already gotten some great ideas for books to read from the people who have commented and entered my contest! Get a free book from me...who could resist?
Amy has been hounding me to blog about Shock by Kitty Dukakis and Larry Tye ever since I finished it and put it on my site. Amy knows I have lots to do these days...like find a B&B for us to stay at in Savannah, read Midnight in the Garden of Good & Evil in preparation for the trip to Savannah, buy a new wardrobe for the trip to Savannah and drool over the picture of Patrick Dempsey on whatever magazine it is that keeps taunting me at the grocery store. So I'm busy...but here I am blogging...with the phone ringing every five minutes with girls calling my 10 year old son!!!! But I will try to focus.
Most people who know me know that I was diagnosed with Clinical Depression when I was 26 and for the last 18 years I've been managing quite well on medication. However, in January of this year, I went into an episode that was longer and darker than anything I had experienced before and was not responsive to medication. After more than five months, I made the very well-informed decision to try ECT (Electro Convulsive Therapy...what many know as "shock" treatment a la McMurphy in Cuckoo's Nest...but in a nicer room with anesthesia and stuff). Long story short...it was nothing less than miraculous. With the exception of a few missing memories (mostly of the time period just before and during my treatments), I have had no negative effects and am back to my old outgoing, energetic, ebullient self. And I've taken the stance that I am going to be utterly candid about both my illness and its treatment whenever possible. Hey, if you tell everyone about it, they can't gossip about it, right?
Anyway, when I heard about Kitty Dukakis's book, I was interested to hear her take on her experience with ECT. I had read about her alcoholism over the years including the infamous drinking of rubbing alcohol. As it turns out, her addictions have included alcohol, diet pills and spending and probably a good portion of those were attempts to self-medicate her depression. When medications weren't working and she was at the end of her rope, she made the same choice I did and is better for the experience. She has actually had multiple series of ECT over the past several years.
I have tremendous respect for Kitty Dukakis for overcoming her family's reticence for her to put herself out there AGAIN and to be candid about some rather unbecoming incidents in her life. She also made the smart choice of teaming with Larry Tye who entered into the picture only if Mrs. Dukakis would allow him to be completely balanced and candid about his research into ECT.
Between chapters about Kitty's experiences, Larry Tye boldly and plainly describes the history of Electroshock (as it was previously known), the scientific advances that have taken it in and out of "vogue" over the past 80 years, the miraculous aspects of it and frankly the terrifying aspects of it. One person I told about my experience recently said, "Are they still doing that?" So it has gone undercover. It is actually outlawed in several states and there are people who are actively seeking to have it banned altogether. I felt that Tye's research provided an excellent foundation for Kitty's anecdotal evidence as to the efficacy of ECT.
Prior to my experience, I was fully aware of the dangers and potential side effects before I underwent ECT and would do it again in the same situation without hesitation. For people who have not experienced the debilitating effects of a major depressive episode, the thought of having electrodes put on one's head and a supposed "jolt" of electricity (in reality, about the amount of electricity it would take to light a 60 watt lightbulb) coursing through ones brain sounds utterly barbaric. But if it works and can bring a Mom back to being a Mom, not just going through the motions, can make a person laugh again and smile with spontaneity not because it's what's expected and can keep one from wasting months of ones life struggling to keep from spending the day in bed, then let's not let anyone ban it.
When you think about it...so many medical procedures sound barbaric. When we give birth we often choose to have a needle inserted into our spine (an epidural) to relieve the pain of labor...sounds barbaric, but I've yet to meet a woman who didn't want to kiss her anesthesiologist at that point. What about chemotherapy? Putting life-threatening chemicals into ones bloodstream that can kill good cells as well as bad? I'm sure in 100 years that is going to sound like using leeches does to us now. So, for the time being, I say let's let doctors and patients make the decisions about what treatments to use to bring someone back to LIFE!!!
So kudos to Kitty Dukakis for putting her private life out there for the public to see and judge and to Larry Tye for doing an amazing job of reporting!
Di
I'm so sorry to hear about your bouts with depression. I suffer from bipolar disorder and it's not something I would wish on my worst enemy. Aren't you glad we live today when there are treatments? I think of women 50, 100, or more years ago and cannot even imagine the suffering they must have faced. Hope keeps keep looking good for you.
Posted by: booklogged | October 06, 2006 at 03:05 PM
Wow!
I stopped by to thank you for visiting me today and I'm leaving very uplifted by your post. Congratulations to you on many levels. I'm so glad you are feeling good and can encourage others that may be struggling with the same issues that you have experienced. :)
Posted by: Joy | October 06, 2006 at 08:37 PM