Done for Aachen Hospital's ECT patient education; Dr. Michael Grözinger

ECT - 2.Indicators & Depression

  Part 1

Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is a therapeutic procedure where under general anaesthesia a small electrical current is passed through the brain triggering a seizure.

Scientific Research

ECT is used when other treatments fail or when in a case of emergency. It can provide significant rapid improvement in severe symptoms of mental health disorders: 

• Major Depression, Treatment-resistant depression ( PTSD can cause depression) 
• Severe mania, 
• Catatonia, 
• Agitation and aggression in people with dementia.  

As well as: 

• During pregnancy, when medications can't be taken  because they might harm the developing fetus
• In older adults who can't tolerate drug side effects
• In people who prefer ECT treatments over taking medications
• When ECT has been successful in the past

The  Illustrations

Depression

For the first version, I picked dip-inking cross-hatching as a style of choice for major depression. And combined that messy line art with a grayscale painting. Keeping it colourless for the sombre mood in hope that it would appropriately empathise with the patient.

Traditional - dip-Ink 

Digital - Procreate

Here, I attempted to visually represent as many symptoms of major depression as possible: 

• Tiredness, lack of energy: in posture and the messy room.
• Change in eating habits: boxes of junk food
• Suicidal thoughts: the knife and pills
• Isolation: discarded phone
• Sleep disturbance: bags under the eyes
• Loss of interest in hobbies: discarded knitting and the unopened guitar case.

That turned out too dramatic for the purpose of the project, and the style a tad too old-fashioned for the overall layout where a sense of modernism is looked after.

That's where the next version comes in, a simple portrayal of a depressed person.

TBC with ECT -3.Mechanism