Ted Talks, electroshock therapy
tags:Sherwin Nuland, the surgeon and author, talks about the development of electroshock therapy as a cure for severe, life-threatening depression. Midway through, his story turns personal. It's a moving and deeply felt talk about relief, redemption, second chances.








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Dunno man, as much as we know about the current treatments for depression, does EST sound all that bad, if it were a elected treatment??
I'd rather have the 10 courses, and a bit of lost time, than 5-10 years of slowed motor function, pharmaceutical dependence, and the promise of withdrawal and a major crash...
The real message here, is one of command of the will....
*long
*long
Much of the negative reports are allegedly due to early experiments (as mentioned in the talk) and just the inability to understand how shocking someone can be therapeutic.
Fantastic vid guys!
*science *humanitarian
Modern ECT is very safe. It probably has its effect by increasing brain levels of norepinephrine and dopamine. Many anti-depressants, such as Effexor, mainly target norepinephrine pharmacologically.
The main side-effect of ECT therapy is short-term memory loss. This brings up a whole new interesting subject, the physiology of short-term versus long-term memory. They are processed differently by the brain. ECT affects one, but typically not the other.
There is a high relapse rate after ECT and that is something people need to know. I think it approaches 50%.
But that person has to be aware, and this is the difficult part. If a person is not aware that they are in a world that is fake then they will not find the real world. Like a dream, pay attention to things and the seams in the unreality will be revealed.
But then again, it could be like the beautiful mind, were these things can only be lived with, and not defeated.