© 2024 Interlochen
CLASSICAL IPR | 88.7 FM Interlochen | 94.7 FM Traverse City | 88.5 FM Mackinaw City IPR NEWS | 91.5 FM Traverse City | 90.1 FM Harbor Springs/Petoskey | 89.7 FM Manistee/Ludington
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
00000178-73c0-ddab-a97a-7bf830af0000From debate over childhood vaccinations to the changing business of hospital finance, IPR has the stories of hospitals and public health that affect northern Michigan.

Minding Michigan: Movies, TV hurts perception of electro-shock therapy

Dr. Daniel Maixner says depictions of electro-convulsive therapy (ECT), like this one in the TV show "Homeland," have harmed the public's perceptions of the treatment. Dr. Maixner calls ECT a "miracle."
Image from the program "Homeland"
/
Showtime
Dr. Daniel Maixner says depictions of electro-convulsive therapy (ECT), like this one in the TV show "Homeland," have harmed the public's perceptions of the treatment. Dr. Maixner calls ECT a "miracle."

Our conversation with Dr. Daniel Maixner

In the latest edition ofStateside'sseriesMinding Michigan, which explores mental health issues in our state, we take a closer look at electro-convulsive therapy (ECT). 

ECT is largely known as "electroshock therapy," but many in the field consider that to be an outdated term. ECT is a mental health treatment that can be effective for some patients with certain disorders. However, largely because of the way its been portrayed in film or television, ECT is wrapped in stigma and misconception. The University of Michigan Department of Psychiatry has just opened a new mental health unit that expands its ability to offer electro-convulsive therapy to patients.

Dr. Daniel Maixner runs the ECT program and he says he can barely watch movie and TV depictions of the treatment. In his experience, ECT is a "miracle" and produces positive results but because of scenes from movies like "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," "A Beautiful Mind" and the TV show "Homeland" (pictured above) there's a negative perception among the public. 

Listen to the full interview above to hear first-hand from Dr. Maixner about what happens during an ECT session, who would be a good candidate for it and why his practice is one of the few in the country that treats teenagers.

 

GUEST: Dr. Daniel Maixner is the director of the ECT program at the University of Michigan

(Subscribe to the Stateside podcast on iTunesGoogle Play, or with this RSS link)

Copyright 2021 Michigan Radio. To see more, visit Michigan Radio.

Read more about the Stateside.