LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Sylvia Plath Recovered
Completely by
Electroconvulsive Therapy
at the Age of 21 Years
and Might Have Been Saved
by Another Series
9 Years Later
To the Editor:
ax Fink1 recently reviewed the pos-
M itive experiences of electroconvul-
sive therapy (ECT) reported by 8 personal
witnesses and 4 negative and widespread
“stigmatizing voices.” He is right in pointing
out that we, as a profession, have failed to
present the favorable experiences to offset
the negative images that limit the use of
ECT. Therefore, I will emphasize that one
of those behind the “stigmatizing voices,”
Sylvia Plath, also is a positive witness, be-
cause she has described a successful ECT
series after the failed one.
Electroconvulsive therapy is the cen-
terpiece in Plath's autobiographical novel
The Bell Jar.2 Fink quotes her frightening
description of the first ECT course in chap-
ter 12 of the novel. An unknown number of
ECTs was given ambulatory without nar-
cosis and a muscle relaxant (unmodified
ECT), from July 29, 1953. The stimulus
dose may have been too low since she felt
the stimulus and/or her bodily reaction in-
stead of being immediately unconscious,
and did not improve. Later, she was admit-
ted to McLean Hospital, Massachusetts,
where she met Dr Ruth Beuscher, with
whom she made a lifelong bond.3,4 In
chapter 15 of the novel, she describes the
first ECT course to her doctor (“the blue
Journal of ECT • Volume 00, Number 00, Month 2017
flashes… the jolting… the noise”), who
comments, “That was a mistake… It's not
supposed to be like that… If it's done prop-
erly… it's like going to sleep.” Plath was
persuaded to a second course of ECT and
had 5 treatments from December 15 to
Christmas 1953.5 This is described very
positively in chapter 17 and 18 of the novel:
“…and darkness wiped me out like chalk
on a blackboard… I woke out of a deep,
drenched sleep… All the heat and fear
had purged itself. I felt surprisingly at
peace. The bell jar hung, suspended, a few
feet above my head. I was open to the circu-
lating air.”
Plath had a long-term remission
following this second course of ECT,
documented in several biographies, for
example, “Almost immediately after these
treatments, Sylvia began to recover. During
the Christmas holidays, her depression
seemed to disappear”4 and “Plath recov-
ered fully, and by early February 1954
was able to return to Smith College where
she had brilliantly completed her degree,
written an honors theses, and led an active
social life.”3 She may herself have seen
her deliverance from madness by ECT as
a poetic rebirth, and wrote in her poem
The Hanging Man: “By the roots of my
hair some god got hold of me, I sizzled in
his blue volts like a desert prophet.”5
Sylvia Plath most probably had a bi-
polar disorder. However, she had no serious
relapse until January 1963. As in 1953, this
came after a very energetic and creative
period with little sleep. Dr Beuscher was
not available as Sylvia lived in London.
Her doctor visited her daily, administered
an antidepressant, but did not succeed in
finding a place for her and her 2 small
children in a psychiatric department. On
February 11, 1963, she committed suicide.
She might have been saved by another
ECT series.
Per Bergsholm, MD, PhD
Department of Psychiatry
District General Hospital of Førde
Førde, Norway
per.bergsholm@gmail.com
The author has no conflict of interest
or financial disclosures to report.
Supported by funds from the District
General Hospital of Forde, Norway.
Copyright © 2017 The Author(s). Pub-
lished by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. This
is an open-access article distributed under
the terms of the Creative Commons
Attribution-Non Commercial-No Deriva-
tives License 4.0 (CCBY-NC-ND), where it
is permissible to download and share the
work provided it is properly cited. The work
cannot be changed in any way or used
commercially without permission from
the journal.
REFERENCES
1. Fink M. Bearing witness: personal and poetic
descriptions of seizure therapy. J ECT. 2016;32:
13–16.
2. Plath S. The Bell Jar. London, United Kingdom:
William Heinemann Limited 1963/Faber and
Faber Limited; 1966.
3. Middlebrook D. Her husband: Hughes and
Plath—A Marriage. New York, NY:
Penguin; 2003.
4. Kirk CA. Sylvia Plath: A Biography. Westport,
CT: Greenwood Press; 2004.
5. McDonald A, Walter G. Electroconvulsive therapy
in biographical books and movies. In: Swartz CM,
ed. Electroconvulsive and Neuromodulation
Therapies. Cambridge, United Kingdom:
Cambridge University Press; 2009:180–196.
www.ectjournal.com 1