Health · Mental Health · 2 hrs ago
Ted Scheinman describes ECT as his only hope against severe depression
Ted Scheinman, a senior editor at Smithsonian magazine, has written a memoir about his life with depression.
He traces the illness back to a frightening moment when he was three, and describes struggling with it for years.
In 2020, at 35, he referred himself for electroconvulsive therapy, known as ECT.
The treatment sends an electric current through the brain to trigger a brief seizure, and Scheinman saw it as his only hope.
He received treatment after being admitted to a psychiatric ward at Sibley Memorial Hospital in Washington, DC, in 2021.
His memoir, *Jolt: My Electric Journey Out of Darkness*, recounts his path through ECT and aims to make an often-taboo treatment easier to understand.
Ted Scheinman says electroconvulsive therapy was his only hope when his depression became severe.
The 41-year-old senior editor at Smithsonian magazine has written a memoir about his experience with depression and ECT.
In 2020, at age 35, he referred himself for ECT.
He was admitted to the psychiatric ward of Sibley Memorial Hospital in Washington, DC, in 2021.
His memoir, Jolt: My Electric Journey Out of Darkness, recounts his life with depression and his path toward treatment.
- Who
- Ted Scheinman, a senior editor at Smithsonian magazine.
- What
- He wrote a memoir about his depression and his experience seeking electroconvulsive therapy. He described ECT as his only hope.
- When
- He referred himself for ECT in 2020, at age 35, and was admitted to hospital in 2021.
- Where
- Sibley Memorial Hospital in Washington, DC.
- Why
- He was in a much darker place than he had ever been and regarded himself as the lowest piece of dirt on Earth.
This story does not have two clearly opposing sides.
At age 35, Scheinman referred himself for electroconvulsive therapy.
He was admitted to the psychiatric ward of Sibley Memorial Hospital in Washington, DC.
- Age
- 41
- Treatment referral
- 2020, when Scheinman was 35
- Hospital
- Sibley Memorial Hospital, Washington, DC
- Memoir
- Jolt: My Electric Journey Out of Darkness
What people are saying
I am going to die.
the lowest piece of dirt on the Earth
it wouldn’t do shit for me