Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT) But Were Afraid To Ask

Thursdays with NAMI – November 18, 2021 – 7pm

Cynthia Piltch once thought ECT was “barbaric.” Her view – like most people’s – was based on stereotypes. She thought of the movie “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” in which a mean-spirited psychiatric nurse controls patients with threats of ECT.

But what is ECT exactly? It’s a medical treatment for major depression or bipolar disorder that has not responded to other treatments. ECT involves a brief electrical stimulation of the brain while the patient is under anesthesia. For many people, ECT helps when nothing else does. For Cynthia, it was such a game changer that she appeared in a brief film on the topic as part of the PBS series, Mysteries of Mental Illness.

Cynthia is an educator, consultant, and clinical practitioner trained in a variety of integrative healing modalities. She is currently a part-time peer consultant with the Massachusetts General Hospital Center of Excellence for Psychosocial and Systemic Research, and she maintains a private clinical practice in Lexington, Mass.

Thursdays with NAMI starts at 7pm and is free and open to all. Join us via Facebook Live or click here to register to participate via Zoom and to view the schedule for future sessions.