It’s not everyday that you show up to a nice swim club in Belmont, Massachusetts as someone’s guest and get to talk shock therapy with Kitty Dukakis’s doctor.
My guardian angel Ann introduced me to this wonderful man as “the Therese who had the breakdown I was telling you about.”
“Nice to meet you!” I said, wearing a bathing suit that was two shades of blue. Get it? Beyond Blue?

“You know,” he says to me, “recent studies show that ECT has been very effective with young people.” (I look over at David who is busy going off the diving board for the first time, and I’m thinking to myself–“you are not touching my son with electric currents”–even if he’s a bit moody.)
“And they don’t have to worry about the loss of memory, because they don’t have that many memories to begin with!” I added.
“Guess who Dr. Welch treats?” Ann asks me.
“Isn’t that confidential?”
“Kitty Dukakis!”
“I just read some excerpts from her book,” I explained (which wasn’t a people-pleasing white lie), and it was so touching and fascinating at the same time (which wasn’t a people-pleasing white lie either).
I do believe ECT (electroconvulsive therapy) can help so many people whose depression has not responded to medication. My Aunt Gigi told me that it saved her life. And I’ve heard that from many other depressives as well.
But I recommend you do it at a hospital, not a pool, what with the risks of electrocution and all.