TY - CHAP
T1 - Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT) in Literature
T2 - Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar
AU - Kellner, Charles H.
PY - 2013
Y1 - 2013
N2 - Sylvia Plath's well-known novel, The Bell Jar, recounts her experience of a severe depressive episode. In the novel, the protagonist is treated with electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), as was Plath in life. The first ECT is given in the now-obsolete "unmodified" form, without general anesthesia. Later in the story, she receives ECT again, this time with full general anesthesia and muscle relaxation, as is the standard of care today. This chapter examines how the novelistic descriptions of the treatment compare with actual clinical practice.
AB - Sylvia Plath's well-known novel, The Bell Jar, recounts her experience of a severe depressive episode. In the novel, the protagonist is treated with electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), as was Plath in life. The first ECT is given in the now-obsolete "unmodified" form, without general anesthesia. Later in the story, she receives ECT again, this time with full general anesthesia and muscle relaxation, as is the standard of care today. This chapter examines how the novelistic descriptions of the treatment compare with actual clinical practice.
KW - ECT
KW - Electroconvulsive therapy
KW - Plath
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84888399702&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/B978-0-444-63364-4.00029-6
DO - 10.1016/B978-0-444-63364-4.00029-6
M3 - Chapter
C2 - 24290484
AN - SCOPUS:84888399702
T3 - Progress in Brain Research
SP - 219
EP - 228
BT - Progress in Brain Research
PB - Elsevier B.V.
ER -