Helpful Score: 2
Easily absorbed personal account of Kitty Dukakis and her lifelong battle with depression and how shock treatment helped her. Addresses psychotherapy's stigmata with invasive treatments such as ECT (which are actually quite blown out of proportion) and the importance of considering this form of treatment as a viable option for many depressed individuals. Candidly written, this account helps the reader to more thoroughly comprehend ECT and its after effects, ill and beneficial.
Helpful Score: 2
Very interesting book. I always thought that shock(electroconvulsive) therapy was a horrible,outdated torture. I now see it as another option for the clinicly depressed.It has come a very long way. And it works when other options don't. Anyone that has a loved one(including themselves) with depression should read this book.
Helpful Score: 1
"Shock" intersperses a journalist's research into today's use of ECT (shock therapy) with Kitty Dukakis's personal experiences with it. Mrs. Dukakis is an unequivocal supporter of the the therapy for her own case and Larry Tye (journalist) presents a overview of ECT without promoting or attacking it. As the book says, there is lots of very anti-ECT information readily available. ECT has a scary reputation that adds to the stigma of mental illness enough that people who benefit from ECT usually don't publicize it. Since depression is a serious (often life threatening) biologically-based illness whose current treatments all have their limitations, this book provides important information that isn't so easy to come by. Highly recommended read.
