What do you forget? everything?
If you were an affeminate guy, would you act normally afterwards?
if you were a talented painter, would you no longer have any talent or skills?
would you forget the pain of the treatment?
forget family and friends?
The effects of ECT are highly variable. Generally some memory loss is going to happen. Not only of things before the ECT, but for a short period afterwards. In some cases, people have really forgotten quite a bit. People have forgotten they have children, etc. Not the most common thing, but it happens. It’s a bell curve out there.
As to specific talents, some therapists refuse to do ECT on people with special learned skills needed in their life. The standard example is a lawyer. Zap a lawyer, there’s a small chance they will forget law school, etc. Not a positive outcome for that patient. But a WalMart greeter isn’t such a big concern (to them).
Given how little is known and how unpredictable ECT is, reputable therapists only recommend it as a last resort. E.g., the person is going to kill someone or themselves and being a blank is better than that. However, there have been many famous examples of people who have had ECT and become more suicidal. So it is still risky in even in those situations.
Ernest Hemingway had ECT near the end of his life. He felt like he lost his ability to write. He killed himself shortly thereafter. (Some deny a link.)
While the method of performing ECT has changed in recent years, the brain scrambling effects are still pretty much the same.
ECT machines are unregulated by the FDA. The procedure has never been subjected to proper regulatory examination.
(I seriously doubt that an effeminate male would lose such a trait unless it was a purely psychological charade.)
Again, it’s a bell curve. A few really good outcomes, a few really bad ones.
Him!
Just beautiful, Eve.
Showed my wife and she burst out laughing, too.
Thank you very much!!!
You got a charge out of providing that link, didn’t you Eve ?
Just FYI, this is a very well known effect of ANY effective treatment for depression, and any physician or psychologist is well aware of it. Depresion can be psychologically paralyzing, and it is not uncommon for a depressed suicidal patient to make an attempt when the fog begins to lift. They’ve already formed the intent and plan, and now have the energy to carry out.
It’s one thing you watch out for when instituting any antidepressive therapy, whether drug, ECT or talk therapy.