New Sparks Over Electroshock

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It's hard to know what steps people will take when despair rules. Novelist William Styron has long battled depression; his 1990 memoir about it, Darkness Visible, inspired Hartmann and millions of others. Last summer Styron underwent electroshock for the first time. He had asked several prominent psychiatrists about the option, and they agreed it could help. It didn't, though he says he didn't suffer any negative side effects. "Anyone who would ban it is ridiculously off base," he says.

A ban seems unlikely--the psychiatric establishment uses its clout to quash the idea wherever it can--but more states could require more complete and open records on who gets electroshock. "The problem is it's a roll of the dice," says Brian Coopper, senior director of consumer advocacy for the National Mental Health Association. "Electroconvulsive therapy can be a quick fix, but you can't tell who's going to come out of it with part of his life missing."

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