Lobotomy--good idea or not so?

Hmm.

Perhaps, after all, Electro-Convulsive Therapy (ECT)- damned by Jack Nicholson fans of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, but endorsed by English playwright Alan Bennett in his account of his mother's depressive illness- might be the best alternative.

Here's Roy Harper on the subject of ECT:

http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=youtube+roy+harper+ect+sophisticated+beggar&qpvt=youtube+roy+harper+ect+sophisticated+beggar&mid=B7C20F1E23942C1B9405B7C20F1E23942C1B9405&FORM=LKVR5#
Committed- Roy Harper.

Nothing but ECT worked for my grandmother and mother, both of whom had two hospitalizations with ECT.

My grandmother was hospitalized twice for depression and came out of it with ECT. My grandmother was depressed to the extent that she could not move. The police and ambulance workers took her to Bellevue from where she was moved to a hospital on Long Island, one of those State ones that were famously closed in the 70s. This was in 1953 just after my parents got married. Mu father, the new husband, stepped up and took care of everything. They took two long subway rides and then a Long Island train line to see her every week. She was there 6 months. I don't know if Lithium was available yet. I'm pretty sure that lithium was developed in the 1960s. My grandmother had been hospitalized in Bellevue for a year 30 years before that. I don't know much about that time but I think it was remarkable that she was under medical care, such as it was, and not just sent back to their family. Was ECT available in the 1920s?

My mother's had three hospitalizations with ECT. With the first one, I was sent to an aunt who never told me where my mother was or when she'd be coming back. I don't think she or my cousin Gloria were happy to have me around. I was kindergarten age but didn't go to school. My dad was at work or visiting my mother. She was there 5 or 6 months. I believe she was given some drugs with the
ECT. Then she was in when I was 10 years old, alone and cooking for my younger sister who was then 5. Our dad commuted on the train, leaving before we got up and getting home often as late as 8. I think she was there 4 months. Frpm then she saw a psychiatrist once a week and took meds;Her last adventure was a suicide attempt five years ago. I had an instinct to go over there. I found her in the car waiting for the fumes to kill her. But she left the windows rolled up! I got her into the house, called 911. She was taken through registration and after having her vitals checked she was taken straight to the PSYC ward where she stayed two weeks. Then she was transfered to a place with ECT. Imagine all the hour-long visiting trips I had to take with the kids telling them that grandma has a back problem.

She's been a little manicy lately with all the Christmas fuss so I'm on the lookout. She's been stable for over 4 years, thanks due to the drugs. She takes an antidepressent, a mood stabilizer, and a third thing I think is an anti-psychotic which boosts the power of the other two.

^

Thanks for that, Constance.

A moving account.

eddie wrote:^

Thanks for that, Constance.

A moving account.

Oh thanks, Ed. I just read it back and thought it sounded pretty whiney and complainey. But maybe it's not too bad.