[Number 2 Pencil]

Having been through a severe bout of mental illness myself- mostly depression but with complications- I can say with confidence that it was the caring and love and attention of friends that pulled me through the worst of it- far more than the medicine. Though medicine probably did help me for the better, and medicine is helping me now pull out of the lack of motivation part of depression.

ECT really scares me. It was recommended to me by my shrink in the hospital last time I was sick, but I refused against their recommendation, and I pulled through anyway. That is not to say that ECT may help some people, but I saw its effects on someone else, and there is a reason it is considered a last resort item.

I wonder sometimes how my life would have been different if I had given in to this doc and signed up for a few sessions under the electrodes. I hear it can wipe a few weeks of memory off your record, and that sort of thing would have left me at an earlier stage of my illness when I had not done as much thinking and had not reached a certain emotional state that ultimately helped me straighten myself out. However, for some people I can see how not remembering the worst of one's illness might be a blessing.