Shock: The Healing Power of Electroconvulsive Therapy

by Kitty Dukakis, Larry Tye

Kitty Dukakis has battled debilitating depression for more than twenty years. Coupled with drug and alcohol addictions that both hid and fueled her suffering, Kitty's despair was overwhelming. She tried every medication and treatment available; none worked for long. It wasn't until she tried electroconvulsive therapy, or ECT, that she could reclaim her life. Kitty's dramatic first-person account of how ECT keeps her illness at bay is half the story of Shock. The other half, by award winning medical reporter Larry Tye, is an engrossing look at the science behind ECT and its dramatic yet subterranean comeback. This book presents a full picture of ECT, analyzing the treatment's risks along with its benefits. ECT, it turns out, is neither a panacea nor a scourge but a serious option for treating life threatening and disabling mental diseases, like depression, bipolar disorder, and others.

Through Kitty Dukakis's moving narrative, and interviews with more than one hundred other ECT patients, Shock: The Healing Power of Electroconvulsive Therapy separates scare from promise, real complications from lurid headlines. In the process Shock offers practical guidance to prospective patients and their families, boldly addressing the controversy surrounding ECT and awakening millions to its capacity to heal.

Genres: Nonfiction, Psychology, Mental Health, Science, Psychiatry, Health

304 pages, Paperback

First published September 14, 2006

About the author

Katharine "Kitty" Dukakis was an American author. She was married to Michael Dukakis, who served as Massachusetts governor.

Reviews

[11811 (Eleven) · Rating 4 out of 5]

A number of people who give testimony about ECT in this book refuse to use their last name because there is still such a stigma attached to the procedure and that is a shame because this shit works. More people should talk about it. I'll start.

I've had four treatments so far and I feel better than I have in the last ten years. I still have about four more to go before I'm done and it is likely that I will have to go for maintenance treatments for the rest of my life but I don't care because it works.

ECT was recommended to me as my only hope about six years ago but I declined. Possible side effects include death and memory loss. My response was an emphatic "fuck that, man!"
"You want to shoot electricity into my brain and give me a seizure three times a week? Fuck that!"

Eventually the 80% success rate for treatment resistant depression started to appeal to me, as opposed to feeling like shit ALL. THE. TIME. I noticed after my first treatment that I felt better and I can't remember the last time my daytime energy was this high. So far, this has been absolutely worthwhile. The side effect of memory loss is real and I'm not happy about it but it's been minor so far and the memories are worth losing (so far) in exchange for the benefit. I was at the point where I would have traded my legs for an alleviation from this illness and would have told the doctors to start sawing if that's what it took. ECT is more mild than leg-sawing and, allegedly, much more effective.

I don't think ECT is even available in every state but, fortunately, MUSC in Charleston has a small army of doctors who do this all day, every day, for people like myself. The process is relatively painless. The anesthesia makes me feel like someone is setting my arm on fire, but other than that, it isn't too bad. I bit off part of my lip and have a huge mystery bump on my forehead -- all worth it.

The memory loss will become more troublesome every time they electrocute me but I feel ALIVE and I won't trade that for anything. I wish I did this years ago but I pussied out. If you've seen ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST, perhaps you can understand why I pussied out. It's scary shit. Memory loss is a pretty significant side effect. Still, it's not as bad as laying around, praying for death. I'll take the memory loss.

ECT is still the most effective treatment for major depression, and no one is sure exactly how it works, but it is undeniable that it does work. For some people, it is the only thing that works. I'd call it miraculous but that might throw me in the same boat as a number of well-meaning people who suggested I pray my way out of it, therapy my way out of it, self-help my way out of it, or eat right and excercise (exorcise?) my way out of it. In a way, it's handy when people express their own ignorance like that so I don't have to point it out for them, but in another, more accurate way, it can be irritating.

When I met my ECT doctor, he introduced himself and his team followed by "we're here to help get you out of the hole." As simplistic as that sounds, it's exactly what they did. Drugs didn't do it. Therapy didn't do it. A mild electrical current did it. It's almost enough to make me read Stephen King's Revival again but I'm afraid to.

The memory loss will get worse before it gets better. Next week I might not remember writing this. At the end of the day, I don't care. I feel good. It's really weird feeling good but I think I could get used to it.

Yeah, I could get used to it.

[Barb · Rating 4 out of 5]

Unless you or someone you know is going to have or has had ECT, then this book probably wouldn't interest you. It is, however, very informative with regards to the pros and cons of ECT and I wish I had read this before I underwent the procedure; but it hadn't been published yet.

Shock is actually two books in one: it consists of Kitty Dukakis's experience with having ECT for her depression, and the other part, written by Larry Tye, is a history of ECT. Tye also presents various theories as to how the treatment works and interviews ECT patients who are both critical of the therapy as well as praise it. A valuable resource.

[Brad · Rating 2 out of 5]

(Larry Tye is the former medical writer at the Boston Globe.)
Preface: "There is...no treatment in psychiatry more effective than ECT."
"The U.S. Surgeon general, the National Institutes of Health, and much of the psychiatric establishment agree than ECT presents a better prospect for relieving severe depression than even the best antidepressants or the sagest psychotherapists."
"ECT has an enviable success rate for a series of other debilitating mental conditions."
(Even number chapters are Kitty Dukakis. Odds are Larry Tye.)
Chap 1: Back in 1951, Michael Dukakis' brother Stelian had ECT and insulin coma treatments, but was never the same. He was zombie-like, they say. On the other hand, her brother-in-law had it four decades ago and said "that while ECT robbed him of months of memories, it also helped clear his psychosis." 80% success rate
After a 4 month depressive bout, she felt ready to try ECT. 6/20/01
Chap 2: "More than 100,000 Americans a year get ECT for ailments ranging from mania to catatonia, with ten to twenty times that many worldwide."
"Ordinarily, the procedure is done in the post-anesthesia care unit, or PACU"
"The right dose is critical, and most doctors still use a formula based on a patient's age (older means more), sex (men need more), other medications (some impede a convulsion), and how oily the skin and thick the skull are (thicker and oilier call for a higher dose)" "The energy delivered is less than lamp"
"The aim of that jolt...is to stimulate a seizure powerful enough to fire off the cells of the brain in rhythmic synchrony."
"The ECT device shoots its current for at most eight seconds, and often just half a second...The seizure itself is over in as few as fifteen seconds, and seldom lasts longer than sixty."
Average ECT patient, over two-third are female, over one-third are over age 65, white, rich, and of the Northeast part of America or Midwest, insured, private hospital, more than 80% are referred for severe depression.
ECT seemed on its way out in the 80s, but saw a rise of 30% from '87-'92.
In the 50s and 60s: as many as 300,000 ECT patients. Today: about 100,000 and growing.
Dick Cavett told People magazine that for him ECT was "like a magic wand."
Patty Duke also got it for her bi-polar.
3: Kitty's mother was a role model in drugs ("diet pills" "amphetamines"), drinking and depression.
4: April 1938 - Prof. Ugo Cerletti has a human patient to test on, named S.E.
Dr. Luthar Kalinowsky, the Johnny Appleseed of ECT, bringing it around Europe and the U.S.
In just a decade (40s) 9 out of 10 mental hospitals were using electric shock.
"Every one of today's techniques for [reducing memory loss]--from delivering current to just one side of the head rather than both, to alternating the length and form of the pulse--was discussed as long ago as the 1940s." It was the preferred option for most psychiatrists for nearly two decades.
(Chapter 4 is history--the first period of use and the rise)
5: She dealt with pill addiction and alcoholism. "And none of the treatment centers I was at...could root out my depression."
The morning of her 38th Anniversary 6/20/01 trying ECT
6: The depictions of shock treatment in One Flew Over were outdated and misleading when the author wrote them in 1962. "muscle relaxants, anesthesia, and a continuous supply of oxygen were all in regular use by the early 1950s"
Between 1975 and 1980, ECT use plummeted 50%.
In the 50s, "at most asylums the lines between therapy, control, and punishment were more blurred..." This became the aim of critics in the 60's/70's.
Unlike the drug industry ("by 1970, Thorazine alone was raking in $116 million a year in profits"), "ECT had no such benefactors" other than shock machine manufacturers.
Renamed electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) in the 1970s.
In film The Snake Pit (1948), Fear Strikes Out (1957)
Lou Reed "Kill Your Sons" (1974) - based on youth exposure to ECT
Ernest Hemingway had treatments in 1960 and '61. In July of '61, he killed himself.
BY the 80's, medical students in psychiatry were less likely to be schooled in ECT; and academic psychiatrists who had conducted ECT were likely seduced by pharma.
In the early 60's - 300,000 ECT patients. In early 80's - only 60,000.
7: "I have been warned not to expect too much from any single ECT treatment, especially my first, when doctors are adjusting the dose and fine-tuning their technique to my body and mind. But I can already detect a difference."
"I was back at the hospital on an outpatient basis the next two weeks for four more treatments...Over the following four years, I have returned...seven more times."
"I also used to be unable to shake the dread even when I was feeling good because I knew the bad feelings would return the way they always did after eight months. ECT has wiped away that foreboding. It has given me a sense of control, of hope. ECT isn't curing her bad habits..."It is staying well enough for long enough that I can start looking at behaviors I want to change."
All have been unilateral with gradually lowered intensity of the stimulus.
8: ECT: a pacemaker for the brain.
"Paradoxically, the more more complicated the depression, the better ECT works."
"No controlled study has shown any other treatment to have superior efficacy to ECT in the treatment of depression. The surgeon general wrote in his 1999 report on mental health in America. The Nat. Inst. of Health agreed.
A study in 2005 of 131 people found 38* stopped contemplating suicide after just one week of ECT, 76% after 3 weeks.
"The most profound limitation of ECT is that even when it works expeditiously and effectively, the effects typically do not last long." Over 50% within a year, but more often in a few months.
10: "There are two camps at war. One labels the treatment the best in psychiatry and says it is vastly underused. The other brands it brain-damaging and insists it be banned."
"retrograde amnesia...the loss of memories starting around the time ECT is given and extending back months or even years." "ECT can also damage a patient's ability to learn new material and form new memories, which is called retrograde amnesia. A third type of memory loss, nonverbal, can leave a violinist or a dancer utterly disabled, usually temporarily. The last area of possible impairment involves non-memory-related reasoning...everything from recognizing faces to solving problems and thinking creatively"
"there is still no reliable way to predict whether a particular individual will come out of ECT with a worse memory."
"scientists know too little about the brain to know for sure whether changes they detect are harmful, are permanent, or might even benefit people with mental illness."
"why not try limiting the loss [of memory] by lowering the dose of electricity, changing the form of electric wave, and shifting where on the head electrodes are placed?" - so asks N.J. psychologist Harold Sackeim
"they could reduce confusion and memory loss if, rather than applying the two electrodes to either side of the head as was done with the standard bilateral approach, they put one on the side and the other at the back of the head on that same side. This is called unilateral ECT, and it can spare the part of the brain that controls speech and memory by shifting the electrodes to the opposite side. The problem was that while unilateral ECT produced fewer lost memories, it also produces fewer benefits in rooting out depression, mania, and other symptoms." But research showed that if a unilateral ECT is the charge it works as well.
Canada, Britain, much of Europe - 2 per week; US, India, Ireland - 3 per week
"The former is less likely to produce memory loss; the latter generates quicker relief from depression and other symptoms and shorter, cheaper stays for anyone getting ECT as an inpatient."

[Caitlin H · Rating 4 out of 5]

Even though this book is over 10 years old by now, i still felt it would be a good informational book for people looking to learn more about ECT. The book covers the history of, & controversies surrounding, the treatment, as well as outlining a personal experience with it. I've seen reviews that prefer Kitty Dukakis's personal story, as opposed to Larry Tye's chapters on the more impersonal aspects of ECT, but for myself, i kind of preferred Tye's chapters. Maybe for people unfamiliar with ECT & the reasons for choosing it prefer the personal chapters because it puts a face & those reasons to the procedure. If you've never done it yourself, or known anyone who has & has been open about it (& not crusading against it), a personal story can be more important & meaningful than anything else.

I, however, have had ECT, so i was more interested in things like its history, of which i knew nothing prior to reading this book. Years ago, i was just another misinformed person who thought it was horrible to shock the mentally ill. Fast forward to last year, & i was joking with a doctor, "What do i have to do to get ECT around here, stick a fork in a socket?" (Thankfully, he laughed, instead of getting Concerned.) I went through 12 sessions, both out- & inpatient, of unilateral ECT. Since i hadn't read this book yet, i didn't know of all the different variables involved, so i don't know about what pulse was used, or how strong the electric current was.

All i know is that it seems to have worked: people commented that i seemed more engaged in things, & i swear it's made it so that my medications actually work. And when you've been through a ton of meds, & turn to ECT because you're 99.9% sure you have treatment resistant depression, & it seems to have helped, you don't really question too much with regards to everything a book you read after says you should. That's not to say that people considering ECT shouldn't ask questions & be informed. For me, though, i felt like nothing was working, & i might as well go balls to the wall & get ECT done. Thankfully, it seems to have helped me, & with only minimal side effects (& yes, they're memory related).

I've seen reviews that suggest that people not taking or considering ECT might find the book to be a slog, due to Tye's chapters. Personally, i would suggest anyone & everyone read it. Education is important, especially with regards to mental health, & ECT still has a huge stigma attached to it. Reading of people who want to ban it outright, whether they'd had it or not, frustrated me. I understand that for some, ECT's negative effects outweighed any potential positives it may have had. I understand they feel their lives have been ruined. But reading how they claimed it barbaric & that it should be outlawed frankly agitated me. ECT has helped me & so many others. That's not me saying that, as brought up in the book, there shouldn't be more testing & studies done, that people should ignore the side effects & the potential for them to be negatively life-changing. But people deserve the chance to choose ECT, & banning it won't lead to more studies or a reduction in the stigma surrounding the treatment.

Which is why it's important that Dukakis's personal story is right alongside Tye's more journalistic approach. It invites the reader into the life of someone whose mental illnesses became so overwhelming to the point that they were teetering on the edge of death. And there are many like us, where we try many different treatments, primarily medications, & we find ourselves burning through them, to the point of despair. This isn't me being dramatic. This is factual. For Dukakis & many others, it comes down to "Will I try something like ECT, or just die?" Dukakis, in her chapters, takes you right inside that mindset, & it can be brutal at times. It illustrates, graphically, just how bad things can get, & the fact that ECT can help, even if it can't help everyone.

The book doesn't gloss over the issues with the treatment, but it does present factual evidence alongside it. It brings up the problems that stand in the way of more studies being done on ECT, & any work to help reduce the side effects of it. There are times then that i felt frustrated as well, & times where you can tell the interviewed doctors were frustrated.

People are afraid of what they don't understand, ECT included. As with practically anything, education is what's needed to help defuse fears & stigma, & wildly incorrect views of something that may be reinforced by the media. This book is a good starting point. It's even-keeled & informative, while also presenting one woman's personal experience with the treatment. I would really suggest people read this, regardless of whether they or someone they know is having or looking into having ECT. The more people are educated about ECT, the less the stigma will become, & it will not only help the treatment & the doctors administering it, but those of us who have turned to it for relief.

[Fern]

cw: suicide descriptions, alcohol abuse

ECT is a great treatment that many, many more people should consider. It does not deserve the reputation it has.
However, this book contains far too many graphic descriptions of self harm. If you are considering ECT treatment, I recommend looking into videos from medical institutions rather than reading this book. The videos I've found have been very helpful while not being graphic about self harm or other triggering content.

[Sue T · Rating 2 out of 5]

You would have to be pretty darned interested in learning about Electro-Convulsive Therapy to really enjoy this book. Alternating chapters are written by Kitty Dukakis about her own experience while the other chapters are written by a medical journalist about the history, facts, and figures about ECT (aka "shock therapy"). I wouldn't have bothered even posting this book here, since I am probably the only one remotely interested in mental health treatments like this, BUT I wanted to report that I did like the peek I got into Kitty Dukakis's life. The peek was very limited to her history of depression and addiction, but she alluded to things about her family background and her husband's political career that piqued my interest in knowing more. For example, her father conducted the Boston Pops for years. Who knew? Her mother sounds like a vain, awful, Mommy Dearest type. Kitty's autobiography might be an interesting one to read.

[Kathie H · Rating 2 out of 5]

I beg you: no matter what you read about ECT, please know it is a harrowing and nightmarishly life-altering treatment. As time passes after your series of shock treatments, you may find an improvement in the quality of your life. But the process itself is barbaric and horrific.

[Cathleen Kealey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent example of the curative actions of electro-convulsive therapy. A message people need to hear, healing happens. ECT is a treatment which is more effective than medication, and is in a professional environment of healthcare- safe, effective, treatment works.

[Mad Hapa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like LSD, electroshock therapy was once used (effectively) to treat depression. This book talks about the history, evolution and current use of electroshock. About 3/5ths is written by a journalist, and the rest is a first person account from Kitty Dukakis. The chapters go back and forth. It's an interesting read if you are curious about this type of therapy. Having the two perspectives keeps things human and balanced.

[Di Schelp · Rating 4 out of 5]

Chapters alternate between Kitty Dukakis's candid description of her life dealing with drug and alcohol addiction and depression and the beneficial effects of ECT for her and Larry Tye providing a detailed and balanced history of the treatment. Very interesting, but I think I would have liked it to be a little more Kitty and a little less Larry.

[carmen Bonne-Annee · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must read

Anyone who is desperate to get ECT must read this book. It talks about the pros and cons and what to expect. Very interesting.

[Rachel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Poor grammar and sentences. Hard to read

[Steven H · Rating 5 out of 5]

INTERESTING COMBINATION OF EXPLANATIONS, AND "PERSONAL NARRATIVE"

Katharine "Kitty" Dukakis (born 1936) is, of course, the wife of former Massachusetts Governor (and 1988 Democratic Presidential nominee) Michael Dukakis; she has also written 'Now You Know' about her struggles with alcohol and diet pills. Larry Tye is a journalist who has also written 'The Father of Spin: Edward L. Bernays and The Birth of Public Relations,' 'Satchel: The Life and Times of an American Legend,' etc.

Larry Tye's Preface to this 2006 book states, "There is no treatment in psychiatry more frightening than electroconvulsive therapy... There is also no treatment in psychiatry more effective than ECT. Ask any psychiatrist about it and he is likely to rave---provided no one is listening. Even more certain is that he will recommend ECT only as a last resort, if then, and will barely refer to it when training the next generation of psychiatrists...

"No remedy in medicine is more entangled in polemics than ECT. This book sifts through the controversy and unravels the contradictions... It does that in two voices, one personal and narrative, the other dispassionate and explanatory. The narrative is Kitty Dukakis's experience with ECT, presented in every other chapter in the first person... The explanatory chapters are mine... My chapters probe ECT's history, its effects, and its prospects."

Tye admits, "ECT is not a cure but can offer relief and even remission. No one is sure just how this is accomplished. Or, more precisely, researchers have endless theories and little consensus... Many patients prefer to think of ECT as somehow resetting the brain when it gets out of balance, the same way rebooting a balky computer sometimes fixes it." (Pg. xi)

Later, he adds, "Researchers still have not filled in the puzzle of how or why ECT provides relief, although the proof is compelling that it does, faster and more surely than drugs or talk therapy. Questions also remain about the price shock patients pay in memories lost, in rare cases permanently and whether such risks can be minimized or eliminated entirely." (Pg. 9)

He also notes, "Early practitioners noted the memory loss experienced by many electroshock patients. But rather than fretting over or downplaying it the way doctors would over subsequent generations, shock pioneers saw it as a risk worth taking... ECT trailblazers also looked at memory loss, at least the temporary variety, as a potential key to the treatment's success. ECT works by 'aiding the patients to forget their emotional problems temporarily and thus eventually breaking up the psychopathic pattern.'" (Pg. 70-71)

Ms. Dukakis also admits about a weeklong trip to Paris, "The trip was a week before... my first ECT. The memory vanished, forever I presume, when they channeled electricity into my brain. It is a price I was told I might have to pay. I did it willingly. I would do it again... I believe anyone who says her or his ability to remember has been permanently damaged, and that big chunks of their lives were lost. Who would make up something like that? On the other hand, most ECT patients I know have had milder memory problems, and some have had none." (Pg. 156-157)

Tye also points out, "Scientists are eager to know exactly how ECT works so they can fine-tune it, and so they can answer critics who insist it is damaging the brain. Knowing what makes ECT effective also would help with a series of more targeted techniques researchers are testing to stimulate the brain without the need for full-fledged seizures and with far fewer side effects. Then there is the mystery itself, the conundrum that has befuddled psychiatrists ... of just why this seemingly barbaric process of shocking the brain somehow yields such healing results." (Pg. 196)

This is an excellent, well-presented and intriguing perspective on ECT, that will be of great interest to anyone studying the issue---whether they agree that the "risks are worth taking," or not.

[Rena Sherwood · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Shock therapy? They still DO that?"

That's the usual reaction anyone gets if they let slip that they are being treated with ECT or electroconvulsive therapy. But most likely a person receiving shock therapy never tells anyone because of the stigma involved. Kitty Dukakis, wife of the three-term governor of Massachusetts Michael Dukakis, decided that enough was enough. She teamed up with award-winning medical journalist Larry Tye to write a book looking at all aspects of shock therapy. The result is Shock: The Healing Power of Electroconvulsive Therapy (Penguin, 2006).

The Pluses

Despite the subtitle, Shock does not make the case that ECT is a cure-all, as it was touted in the 1940s and 1950s. It is a very detailed and balanced look at the history, methods, media portrayal and controversy surrounding shock therapy. How detailed is the work? There are nearly 50 pages of source notes and bibliography plus another two pages thanking everyone that agreed to be interviewed for the book.

The majority of the book is written by Tye, laying out the hard facts, results from countless studies and frank interviews with patients who had undergone shock therapy. Kitty Dukakis' story is interwoven in between Tye's chapters. Her story is a little livelier but a great counterbalance to all of the facts and figures. She puts a three-dimensional face behind patients that have benefited from ECT.

There are also interviews with people who were involuntarily given shock therapy and people who had shock therapy and it didn’t help. There is also a look at an emerging new form of convulsive therapy done by magnets instead of electricity (or, in the olden days, by insulin shock.) Kitty also makes an interesting suggestion that there should be a support group for patients that have undergone shock therapy.

The Minuses

One very odd thing about Shock is that Dukakis – a long-time member of Alcoholics Anonymous – never mentions the support group's name in the book, although she states the founder's name. Apparently, that's in keeping with AA tradition, but it didn’t seem logical. Anyone who knows who Bill Wilson was will know that he helped found AA.

Another thing that may upset some readers is the constant and casual mentions of really gruesome animal experimentations. The inventor of ECT, Dr. Ugo Cerletti, (nicknamed "The Maestro",) comes across as a real monster. He anally and orally electrocuted hundreds of dogs before he tried ECT on a human schizophrenic patient. After the first shock, the patient asked for no more, but Dr. Cerletti flipped the switch anyway.

There is also only fleeting mentions of how drug or alcohol abuse may hasten brain damage. People with mental illnesses often try to self-medicate with drugs and alcohol before going to a doctor. It was a tangent that this reader would have liked to see fleshed out further.

[Léa Taranto · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is partially a memoir by Kitty Dukakis, recalling her struggle with severe depression and how ect saved her. Every other chapter is written by journalist Larry Tye, each going in depth into a different aspect of ect, electroconvulsive therapy, from its origins, media portrayal, risks and benefits to future projections. No one knows the exact science behind why it works, yet for patients with severe enough symptoms or where all other treatments have failed, ect can be worth the risk of memory loss.

[Stacey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kitty was supposed to be a keynote speaker at a conference but she had to miss it because she was getting ECT. Mike Dukakis spoke instead and handed out copies of her book. It was interesting to read a modern account of ECT, which has always been looked upon with fear. I have less of a bias towards the practice of ECT after reading this account.

[Francisco Magaña · Rating 3 out of 5]

A brief history intertwined with a personal battle

A brief history intertwined with a personal battle. Overall, a decent read that gave a positive view on a controversial subject, while not shying away from the contradictory points of view. As far as readability - it could have been trimmed with less repetition.

[Ellen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Her description of coping with depression / bipolar disorder over a lifetime is pretty powerful, and she's very candid about her experience with ECT pro and con, but the chapters by her co-author get a little long.

[Andy · Rating 4 out of 5]

this book is a bit sterile, probably not actually written by ms dukakis..though its crammed with plenty of information, differing viewpoints, all together, quite a acomprehensive read (though I'm still not convinced that ECT is for me)....

[Lara · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was a good look at the controversy of shock treatment, although I ended up finding Kitty's chapters more enthralling than the chapters written by Globe reporter about the history/controversy of the therapy.

[Colleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dukakis' description of being in the throes of depression will ring true with anyone who has suffered from the disease. She sheds new light on the old therapy of electroshock, something that many of us hold outdated and incorrect ideas about.

[Leisl]

Didn't finish it, but learned a lot from the 2/3 that I did read. Would recommend to someone looking to learn more about ECT.

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Highly readable introduction to shock therapy and the controversies surrounding it.

[Gonzalo Valdez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very informative. Gave me a new prespective on depression on another cure that should be explored more often.

[Marni · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting, and an easy read.

[Karen Mayes · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not bad.... explaining the ECT (electroconvulsvie therapy) and it explains the history of it, the cons and pros of it... it's something that should be offered more often.

[Julia Wood · Rating 5 out of 5]

I often recommend this to patients and families considering ECT. Informative, readable and one of the most accessible texts out there introducing the lay person to a potentially life saving therapy.

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Absolutely fascinating. It's not pseudo science anymore.

[Wendy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating.