E.C.T.

This is from my experience of Electric Convulsive Therapy, (shock treatment) for depression.

E.C.T.

Written by: T. L. O’Neal

 

They wheel you in on a cart,

and strap your arms and legs.

Then they come around

and strap you on your head.

 

They say that everything,

is going to be alright.

This will make you better,

they say with a smile so bright.

 

Then they glue electrodes,

to the temples on your head.

They give you a hell of a fright,

as they prepare to knock you out dead.

 

He says you’ll sleep right thru it,

so barbaric this thing that they do.

Then they shot you full of barbiturates,

and hope they don’t snafu.

 

My life’s in the toilet,

you go out in fear.

They cut up the juice,

and the result is unclear.

 

And then send 110 volts,

screaming through your head.

They fry your brain in the hope,

that you will be better not dead.

 

And they erase the memory,

from your twisted mind.

They’re trying to fix you,

with a brain that’s designed.

 

You wake up feeling like a mallet,

is banging at your head.

What the results will be,

is completely unsaid.

 

They cover you with a bedspread,

and wheel you into another room.

When you wake up your're totally lost,

lying in this cold tomb.

 

You forget where you are,

and you don’t remember a thing.

The pain is excruciating,

all you can do is start crying.

 

They blew out my ear,

And broke my back teeth.

They left me with pain,

and misery beneath.

 

I never want to go through this again,

you feel all funny inside your head.

It’s not worth it,

you rather be dead.

 

Author's Note

This is from my experience of Electric Convulsive Therapy, (shock treatment) for depression.

Reviews

[E.L.C.]

That is some scary s**t right there... wonderful poem, so raw... I hate doctors. It is the mind that is messed not the memories. They cannot change the wiring of our brain, which is probably the reason why you need to be there in the first place... And yet people preach ethics, and they perform this procedure, which is honestly freaking brutal... Makes me mad.

[Donna Jones]

So sad..it really doesn't sound as if it is a cure for anything....it seems to be a approved way of inflicting torture. thanks for sharing what I am sure was a terrible experience.

[BellaLuv]

Wow talk about depressing that was so scarey, and sad ! I am amazed at the strenght you had to go through something like that and come out on the other side! Great write ~ Bella

[Carole]

T.L.....Your Baaaaaaaaccccccckkkkk! Hey-Hey! This is scary. I have heard stories and I remember the scene in "One Flew Over the Cukoos Nest"...remember that? I remember reading that book for my Junior/Senior year in HS. Anyway, this is the first time I have ever heard anyone describe shock treatment. Sounds horrific! Very well written!

[Narnie]

This left me cold. Totally cold and despairing.

I don't want to belittle the poem by wittering on but - hell, here goes...

There is an exhibition in London called the London Dungeons. All the exhibits show the ways that they would torture people in olden times. Some of the ones were so extreme that they stick in my mind. Of course we all know about thumb screws and the rack. We know about the live burnings and the garrotting that, in the films it takes one blow, but in real life they did not have the skill to achieve death with one blow... hacking away until they finally severed. The most poignant one to me was a section of a wall that was in there... it was part of the wall of the River Thames. A small box with a metal grill in front of it. The box was probably no more than 2ft by 2ft. They would put a person in it and wait for the river to rise and drown them. Sometimes it would take weeks ... they never fed the person... just poked them once in a while to see if they were dead yet. I can't get that image out of my mind. It was years ago I saw it but it just won't go away. A person all screwed up in there, unable to move, praying for the river to rise enough to drown them. Awful.

But we are talking about hundreds of years ago. Hundreds. I do not believe that we have shock therapy in England... I believe our history of torture has made it impossible for us to approach any medical condition with anything other than empathy and gentle treatment. To think that this happens in America is terrifying to me... what room is there for error? Not just in the treatment but in the diagnosis too? Are these people playing God?

Awful stuff. A powerful poem that has shocked me to the core. I still feel cold.

[Conversing Empty Words]

"in the hope,
that you will be better not dead.

And they erase the memory,
from your twisted mind.
They�re trying to fix you,
with a brain that�s designed. "

This is just.. breath taking. Amazing.

[Christopher S. Mcloughl..]

That's hardcore. I am not partial to the four line stanza, but this one makes it work. The content is so vivid, so electric that I forgot all about the rhythm and the flow. I am not quite sure what surgery this is supposed to be about, but I am guessing a frontal lobotomy. Let me know if I am right, great read.

[Krystal Waters]

Wow, this is powerful... Did I ever mention I hate doctors, everyone of them. Run, don't look back, these quacks can't help you but a good friend, home town food... good bbq with a glass of wine. I'll send you over "Doctors Are Sick". We all have our painful memories... grrrrr


Krystal

[Mishel Rosario Reyes]

I think they should abolish such things; now more than ever with the way they treated you,


----MIshel