Depression and Treatment
Hemingway suffered from severe Depression. He called his acute attacks his “black dog days.” In the 1960s, the most common treatment for seemingly any kind of mental illness was Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT), an electric shock to the brain. You’ll have seen ECT in movies like One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.
To try to cure his Depression, Hemingway underwent the controversial treatment as many as 15 times in December 1960. Not only did ECT not help, but it also made him worse, messing with his memory and making him more paranoid. One time, when he returned from treatment, Mary found him in the kitchen with a gun.
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