Undercurrents: A Life Beneath the Surface
Manning, a clinical psychologist, led a busy life as therapist, mother and psychology professor at George Mason University in Virginia when, in 1990, she sank into crippling depression. Obsessed with images of death and plagued by suicidal thoughts, she vainly sought relief through antidepressants and psychiatric counseling. Simmering with misplaced anger at her husband, Brian, and fearful that their daughter, Keara, could not rely on her, Manning finally agreed to her psychiatrist's recommendation to submit to electroconvulsive therapy (ECT). In this sensitive journal covering the period 1990-1991, she credits electroshock with lifting her out of a life-threatening depression, though she concedes that it caused some memory loss and confusion. She also continues to cope with much smaller depressions and may have to take antidepressants or lithium for the rest of her life. Her edgy self-portrait will probably fuel the debate over a controversial therapy. $75,000 ad/promo; author tour.Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.