Electroshock in Mass Media
Electroshock or Electro convulsive therapy is often depicted negatively in Hollywood films. It encourages stigmatization and discourages patients from its use. So if your About To Have ECT? Fine, but Don’t Watch It in the Movies: The Sorry Portrayal of ECT in Film. You can read more about electroshock in Hollywood productions in this prior post on this blog.
If you want some information on video from patients while they are actually undergoing this treatment or want to see an excellent lecture about ECT please have a look at: 9 Videos on ECT.
In newspapers when comparing newspaper reports on ECT and electric defibrillation with a content analysis the articles with mentioning ECT differ from articles with a mention of defribillation.
Even in high standard newspapers the style of language becomes special when they deal with ECT.The articles are strongly biased and lack informations. In contrast to Defibrillation ECT is not generally accepted.Referring to ECT horror pictures of past psychiatry are cited.The language used is biased and discriminative. Referring to Defibrillation technical details are described and the language is neutral.The social representation of ECT is completely negative.
The content analysis was performed on articles in German Newspapers. They traced only few special articles on the subject in the 1994 and 1995 CD.Rom versions of the „Der Spiegel“,The „Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung“, the „Neue Zürcher Zeitung“ and the „Berliner Tageszeitung“,although the word „Elektroschock“ was employed 118 times. The word electroshock was mostly used in articles not about ECT. The term was mostly used because of it’s negative connotation in all kinds of subjects.
Why is this important?
The portrayal of ECT is deplorable and with little resemblance to modern practice. It encourages stigmatization and discourages patients from its use. Proponents of ECT will need to rely on tools other than movie or newspaper portrayal to convince those with mental illness about the merits of this treatment.
The next issue in this series about mass media and mental illness will be posted next Tuesday August 19th.
Hoffman-Richter, U., Alder, B.A., , . (1998). Die Elektrokrampftherapie
und die Defibrillation
in der Zeitung. Nervenartz, 69, 622-628.
Flickr
Twitter
RSS
LinkedIn
GoodReads
Last
August 28, 2008 @ 12:31 am
Dr. Shock,
I know this may be not a smart question, but I don’t understand why ECT is the most controversial thing in psyc. I was told in foreigh countries it is the first choice of treatment while in the US it is the last resort. I tried everything else for a good three years before my doc recommended ECT. After receiving it, I realize the fear and such that follows the recovery period, but when you weigh the options of losings few short term memories compared to getting your life back, is there even a comparison? I went through many emotions as I had ECT, even quit because I became scared. I returned a month later to finish and had to work through much fear then…but Dr. Shock, ECT worked for me. For the first time in years I am not at all depressed. It’s a beautiful thing and I want people to know that side of ECT. How can we get the good stories out there to the mass media?
February 18, 2009 @ 2:36 am
Aw but please!
ECT is, at best, a temporary solution, to a much larger problem. In fact it’s just terrible how the medical industry keep promoting it as such (not surprisingly the treatment is always folowed up by other drugs). Statistically it’s not more than 50-70% that actually benefits from this temporary effect. So much for a quick fix.
As I see it, you could describe it as a prolounged drunkenness. It might make you feel fine for a month or two then it’s right back in the shit again – and pray you don’t belong to that group of people that “lose” thier entire lives due to extensive PERMANENT memory loss. If you’re unlucky you can lose more than that!
Further more it’s quite absurd not to call memoryloss a braindamadge. Excitotoxity is a fact proven in every case and by almost precise accuracy, so any use of sleezy rethoric to deny this should be criminal.
As for depression and other disorders, in most cases cognitive therapy (or other some other therapies) has shown the same, if not a better, result than ECT. Certainly not all people might be suitable for therapy (or at least not in accute situations) but that per ce is not an excuse for use of ECT when considering the risks involved. I also believe that therapy is a far better way to understand, accept and control your disorder in the long run thus making it more sustainable. I could eleborate thet but unfortunantly, it’s an extensive discussion which can’t be covered here.
Now, if somone absolutly WANT to undergo this treatment I’m not one to stand in their way but never before given PROPER information and obtained consent.
April 26, 2009 @ 2:32 am
Dear Dr. Shock,
I’m 16, in high school, and I’m interested in psychiatry. I have read several medical documents about ECT in my research for a project I’m doing (on Sigmund Freud), and I’ve found that, if I were suicidal, I would want this procedure done. I think it’s appalling how people have demonized a life-saving medical procedure. They may as well be doing it to all major surgeries, since there’s always a chance of serious complications and death while on the operating table.
May 13, 2009 @ 3:38 am
I have been diagnosed with bipolar disorder for about 3 years. I am 19 years old. I have lost every member of my family to drugs (meth). I am now married to a soldier and plan to attend college. I want to be a psychiatrist. But because of my mental illness and my antipsychotics I don’t think I’ll be able to complete my dreams that I’ve had since I was a little girl. I’ve been thinking about ECT but don’t have the money to afford it. Any suggestions of hospitals that could give me an ECT for cheaper, I do not think that tri-care will cover it, even though I’ve tried many medicines and still suffer with the mood disorder.
How is ECT depicted in the British Press? | Dr Shock MD PhD
March 19, 2010 @ 8:14 am
[…] Overall most depictions of ECT were neutral, with smaller numbers of negative (111) and positive (39) representations. Not bad compared to the depiction of ECT in Hollywood movies. […]
An In-Depth Look at Brain Stimulation Treatments for Depression | Rheyanne Weaver
May 19, 2010 @ 7:56 am
[…] https://www.shockmd.com/2008/08/18/electroshock-in-mass-media/ […]