I was hospitalized for depression about 5 years back. I received a 12 round treatment of ECT, three times a week for four weeks. This appeared to be a common regimen. I didn’t end up drooling or incapacitated in any way. I did feel pretty wrung out of about 12 hours following each session.

I found the anesthesia and succinylcholine effects to be the most disturbing. I didn’t appear to suffer any of the worst side effects of the ECT itself. Then again, it didn’t really make a huge change in my depression, either.

That said, I did see some of my fellow patients make significant progress when nothing else helped them.

As far as treatment for schizophrenia is concerned, I suspect that ECT is probably reserved , as it is for depression, for the more resistant cases and not the first course of treatment.

It has turned into ‘Dawson’s Creek’. Unresolved love affairs, soppy music.

Wilson maps onto Dawson, Pacey (who had all the best lines) maps onto House.

After ‘Pacey’s Clinic’ finishes its run, Tom Cruise could maybe marry the actress who plays Chase.

to the guy above me, i think the vicodin was chosen for the show because it’s well-known as a prescription analgesic used orally. as compared to morphine, which is probably more widely-known, but is almost always used as an IV fluid. having house slam morphine or dilaudid would be more effective, and would make more sense, but it would come off as overly edgy and stupid. also, methadone is incredibly effective in chronic non-malignant pain, in addition to weening someone off skag

. also, forgive me for that grammatical abortion i just crapped out.

You know, the thing that I keep getting stuck on is House’s addiction to Vicodin. I happen to be on monitored pain management and the pain management doctor I see doesn’t even use Vicodin, because it’s such a low level painkiller. As well, one’s PCP has to refer a patient directly to pain management – I can’t imagine that Cuddy and Wilson could be House’s ongoing prescribing physicians as is represented in the show. Anyhow, it’s not House’s opioid dependence that I question, it’s that it’s Vicodin. Can Vicodin be addicting? Of course. But for someone who loves his narcotics like Dr. House does, I would expect that this would be the guy, the medical professional, who’s surreptitiously dipping into the Fentanyl, Dilaudid, Percocet, and Morphine supply there in the hospital. It is unusual to see a person with opioid dependence who doesn’t eventually seek to increase their narcotic intake due to the tolerance that develops, and more often than not they will seek out stronger opioid drugs rather than stick to the milder narcotic and have to double, triple, or quadruple the amount of pills they take in order to maintain the desired effect.

Also, where is House getting Methadone? Methadone is HIGHLY regulated and not readily available. In fact, here in my state, a physician has to apply for and be granted a special license to dispense Methadone, so it’s not like one can just run into the ER and get an RX for it. Now, Methadone is a solid option for the treatment of opioid dependence, but it’s unusual for someone to just have access to Methadone without, again, being fully supervised by a pain management physician or, conversely, a licensed Methadone clinic that treats addiction.

I disliked and found disingenuous that House was told he would lose his license to practice medicine if he were diagnosed with Schizophrenia, implying he would then be too dangerous and unstable (like he hasn’t been dangerous and unstable for the entire series?!). Anyhow, Schizophrenia would be covered by ADA protection, so it’s not like House could be fired just at the drop of a hat. Presenting Schizophrenia in that kind of ostrasizing light only encourages general ignorance about psychiatric illnesses, and reinforces stigmatization of mental illness.

Finally, I’ve noticed that Ativan seems to be the drug of choice that the doctors call for whenever there is any kind of emergency or crash. Is Ativan such a multipurpose drug?