Modern Use of ECT
As I read CNN.com today I noticed an a
rticle about the use of ECT or electroconvulsive therapy a method also found in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey. During the in class discussions one common topic that develops covers the supposedly inhumane treatment of the patients including the use of ECT. However apparently despite what the class thinks it in fact often proves itself useful in treating patients. The doctor who wrote the article mentions that he saw a woman on the step of death due to depression complete a successful recovery due to the use of ECT. He actually recommends this seemingly inhumane treatment to anyone who failed to recover after using two different types of anti-depressants. While the question of if Nurse Ratched's use of this treatment falls under the wrong reasons to use it and could be considered inhumane creates another question entirely but modern medicine still uses the treatment and actually finds it to be an effective treatment for mental diseases. Around 90% of patients who failed all other treatment options recover with the use of ECT. The method remains the same to what the narrator describes in the book involving a shock to the brain inducing a seizure that can help the patient to recover. This interesting view on the use of ECT to treat mental diseases changes my views of the book a little due to the fact that the method remains in use and effective to this day although I still believe Nurse Ratched uses it for the wrong reasons. It does not appear as inhumane and cruel to me anymore.
Hey Kyle! Your post was really interesting! I, along with you and most of the class up to this point, saw this treatment as horribly cruel and unnneccesary. It's interesting that, even with the huge progression in medicine from the time this book was written, that this method is still useful. It also makes me look at the staff differently- they do seem to have the best interests of the patients at heart and seem to have some idea how to treat them.
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