I got a comment from Sandy asking if I'd heard anything about the Kitty Dukakis book called Shock, which is about her experience with ECT (electroconvulsive therapy, aka shock treatments). I have heard about it, and that's what has prompted me, in fact, to talk about my own history with ECT.

There was a recent excerpt in Newsweek from Dukakis' book, and rather than make a case that ECT is destructive and spectacularly ineffective unless you do it on a regular basis through the rest of your life, as Dukakis does, I'll just quote the book directly. I think you'll see that though she may want to live her life in the following way, most people would not.

"But there are some memories—of meetings I have attended, people's homes I have visited—that I don't want to lose but I can't help it. ... I forget telelphone numbers, including ones I dial all the time. I sometimes don't know where I am supposed to go or at what time. What embarrasses me most is forgetting people's names. ... I still go to receptions, dinners and other public events, with Michael or on my own, but I am generally not on my game. I sometimes forget commitments I make to help people. ... Then I don't make the call or get back to them with the name. Promising it, then not doing it because I don't remember, is terrible. ...

"I have learned ways to partly compensate for whatever loss I still experience. I call my sister Jinny, Michael and my kids, asking what my niece Betsy's phone number is, what we did yesterday and what we are planning to do tomorrow. ... I hate losing memories, which means losing control over my past and my mind."

If that's the way you want to live, by all means, sign up for ECT. But be prepared for it to lose its efficacy after a month—and some memories and cognitive functioning to vanish forever.