Sheltering in place during the COVID-19 pandemic means that many people will be reading more, including rediscovering some of the classics. Sylvia Plath's autobiographical novel, The Bell Jar, includes perhaps the second most famous depiction of ECT in literature.
Below are two citations about the book and Plath's struggle with depression.
Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT) in Literature: Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar
Prog Brain Res 206, 219-28 2013 PMID: 24290484
Sylvia Plath's well-known novel, The Bell Jar, recounts her experience of a severe depressive episode. In the novel, the protagonist is treated with electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), as was Plath in life. The first ECT is given in the now-obsolete "unmodified" form, without general anesthesia. Later in the story, she receives ECT again, this time with full general anesthesia and muscle relaxation, as is the standard of care today, and recovers completely. This chapter examines how the novelistic descriptions of the treatment compare with actual clinical practice
Sylvia Plath's well-known novel, The Bell Jar, recounts her experience of a severe depressive episode. In the novel, the protagonist is treated with electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), as was Plath in life. The first ECT is given in the now-obsolete "unmodified" form, without general anesthesia. Later in the story, she receives ECT again, this time with full general anesthesia and muscle relaxation, as is the standard of care today, and recovers completely. This chapter examines how the novelistic descriptions of the treatment compare with actual clinical practice
The pdf is here.
The below citation is a letter-to-the-editor from JECT, that speculates what many of us have thought: that if Sylvia Plath had been prescribed ECT in London in a timely fashion in early 1963, she might not have suicided.
Bergsholm P.
J ECT. 2017 Sep;33(3):e26. doi: 10.1097/YCT.0000000000000395. No abstract available.
Comments
Post a Comment