Shock Therapy a/k/a Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT)

In the 1960s at the time of The Bell Jar, so little was fully known that Esther is simply considered to be “insane.” She stays in an “insane asylum” where she is not so much treated but managed and controlled. It was not until the 1990’s many of these expansive asylums were completely overhauled into modern medical centers or closed because of underuse, underfunding or scandal. (Pelayo, C.).  The insane asylums of this time became the psychiatric hospitals of today.

Esther receives a series of shock treatments which was very common back then and used much more recklessly than they are today. The ‘shock treatment’ referred to is known as ECT or Electroconvulsive therapy, a form of psychiatric treatment (usually for major depression) which was developed during the 1930’s. It involves the inducing of seizures in a patient through the administration of electric shock to the brain via electrodes placed on either side of the head.  (Wikipedia). Ester says “Doctor Gordon was fitting two metal plates on either side of my head. He buckled them into place with a strap that dented my forehead, and gave me a wire to bite”. (p. 143).

Nowadays, patients receiving ECT are given a short-acting anesthetic and a muscle relaxant to prevent a full-blown seizure occurring. However, during the 1940’s through 1960’s, ECT was often given in its ‘unmodified’ form without anesthesia or muscle relaxants. (Wikipedia). It is this primitive form of ECT which Esther received. Later in the reading we get a sense that these treatments weren’t quite administered with accuracy and purpose. When Esther told Dr. Nolan how she did not like Dr. Gordon because of “what he did to her” (p. 189) referring to the ECT, Dr. Nolan replied by saying “That was a mistake and it is not supposed to be like that”. (p.189). It seemed more as though Dr. Gordon tried to shock and shake Esther back to the world of the sane. We can understand her experience when she says, “Then something bent down and took hold of me and shook me like the end of the world”. (p. 143). Sadly, people didn’t really know enough about the brain, mental illness, and psychiatry to truly be helpful back then. Electroconvulsive therapy does exist today, however it’s not like the shock treatments to which Esther was subjected to.

Article Reference :  Pelayo, Cythia, Retrieved from  http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/abandoned-insane-asylums

Homework for this week: annotations

In class on Thursday, we talked about information we would want to have to make more meaning of The Bell Jar. Certainly knowing a little bit about the Rosenbergs would put the opening scene into historical context, and would help readers make meaning of the opening in the novel overall.

For your post this week, choose some aspect of the novel that you could learn more about through research, and write an annotation to the text about your topic. An annotation is a note that adds outside information to a text. In our anthology, there were several short annotations that gave some information about people referred to in Quicksand, for example. Collectively, we will provide annotations to the entire text. If someone has already chosen what you want to work on, you should only continue working on that topic if you have something else to add. Otherwise, please choose a new topic.

Include the passage in which your topic appears–enough of it to make sense to someone who hasn’t read the novel, and a citation for that passage. Be sure to include the sources of your information as well. Choose the category Sylvia Plath, and any tags that you think are relevant. Aim for a 300-word post.

If you’re not sure what you would want to research, perhaps some of your classmates have suggestions. Please feel free to reply to this post with topic suggestions.

For commenting later this week, I’ll post a topic for us to have a conversation in the comments, rather than commenting on the annotations.