I'm Still Human: Understanding Depression With Kindness (Expanded Edition - 2021)

ECT is a safe and effective treatment for certain mental illnesses
especially severe depression. During the ECT, while one is asleep
under anesthesia, a small amount of electrical current is passed
through the brain within a minute. This current causes a
therapeutic seizure that ‘charges up’ the entire brain in a positive
way, including the parts that control mood, energy, appetite and
sleep.
I was warded for two weeks for the ECT. After some time, I
managed to make friends with some patients in the ward. They
were not as scary as when I had perceived them earlier. Gradually, I
got to know some of their life stories; many of which were more
pathetic than mine. Many of them had nobody to care for them at all;
no friends, no family members, and not even a proper place to stay
or food to eat. I’m so lucky compared to them; I have a wonderful
family, a good psychiatrist, access to expensive medicines, able to
join a depression support group, etc. It’s an eye-opening and
priceless experience to be in the psychiatric ward…
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