'Shock' Treatment Effective Against Depression

Kitty Dukakis, wife of former governor of Massachusetts Michael Dukakis, the 1988 Democratic nominee for president, presented an inspiring and informative lecture at the 2007 annual meeting of the American Psychiatric Association in San Diego.
She talked of her many years of suffering with major depression and how grateful she was to have found an effective treatment.
Michael Dukakis, who accompanied his wife, spoke of the miraculous treatment that brought her back from depression. They both discussed the unfortunate public misunderstanding of and stigma against the treatment that finally helped her — electroconvulsive therapy (ECT).
She previously had disclosed her problems with depression, alcohol, and diet pills in the 1990 book, "Now You Know." Now, along with journalist Larry Tye, she has written a book that combines her personal story with an historical and scientific review of electroconvulsive therapy. In "Shock: The Healing Power of Electroconvulsive Therapy," the authors present her real experiences as a patient.
Dukakis experienced repeated episodes of depression and never found persistent improvement with antidepressant medications. Finally, after 17 years of ineffective treatment, she was urged by her psychiatrist to try ECT. It was remarkably successful, and she continues to have series of treatments every nine to 12 months.
Often, ECT is imagined by the lay person as a grotesque and torturous treatment, such as was depicted in movies like "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest." As a consequence, many people do not realize that ECT is the most effective and reliable treatment for depression and that it is a relatively safe procedure. About 100,000 patients receive ECT treatment in the U.S. each year. Most often, it is done on an outpatient basis.
ECT today is a highly controlled treatment. Patients are given very short-acting intravenous medications that produce brief anesthesia and muscle relaxation. Modern equipment and procedures reduce the risk of side effects.
The treatment involves applying a brief electrical charge through electrodes carefully placed on specific parts of the head. The electrical stimulus initiates self-limited seizure activity in the brain, but there is little muscle activity because of the medications.
Unfortunately, stigma associated with depression and ECT often leads to patients not being offered the treatment or being too fearful to consider it. Kitty and Michael Dukakis want ECT to be available for more patients as an alternative approach when antidepressants are insufficient.
Let Kitty Dukakis share with you her unbiased account of her experiences. She describes both the good and bad effects of ECT. She did have some memory loss, but overall feels that ECT saved her life.