The Peripheral

The Peripheral, host Justin sits down with Kat, who shares her deeply personal journey through treatment-resistant depression and her experience with electroconvulsive therapy (ECT). Kat opens up about reaching a point where nothing else worked, leading her to ECT as a last-resort option. What followed was profound relief from her depression—but at a steep cost: extensive memory loss resembling amnesia, gaps in her personal history, and the challenge of piecing her life back together. She candidly discusses: The decision to pursue ECT and what the treatments were like The devastating impact of memory erasure and retrograde/anterograde amnesia Her long road to recovery, relearning her own life, and personal growth Why she would never choose ECT again for herself Her balanced perspective: not wanting to discourage others, as ECT can be life-saving for some people when other treatments fail This episode explores the complexities of mental health treatments, the real human cost of side effects, and themes of resi