Patient Experiences Related Content

Martha Keith leans back in what looks like a dentist chair as Heather Gallagher, RN, takes scalp measurements to pinpoint exactly where electric pulses will be aimed. Gallagher then brings a nearby machine’s electromagnetic coil next to Keith’s head and turns on the device. Keith closes her eyes and...

The list of diagnoses suggested to the parents of young Sarah Leschinsky over the years reads like a menu of psychiatric distress: bipolar disorder, psychosis, Asperger’s Syndrome, oppositional disorder, depression and attachment disorder. To Sarah’s mother Deborah, the menu metaphor is apt: “Nobody...

Jill Lenhardt, 38, had never experienced any psychiatric issues until her eldest son was born. At that point, “I was on a high; what I describe as semi-manic,” recounts Lenhardt, the mother of three boys under age 10. “This phase would last for several months, then I would crash.” After her second...

When Georgie Ashforth sent her youngest daughter off to college, it was a joyous occasion; the idea that her daughter would soon develop schizophrenia was the farthest thought from her mind. “At first, we didn’t realize there was something wrong; but after several episodes, we saw our daughter...