My Trip to Dr. Oz

Posted by Julie K Hersh on 7 January 2012 | 2 Comments

Tags: ECT, Dr. Oz

In early December the Dr. Oz show emailed me, asking if I could help them find people who would be willing to be filmed during an ECT session, and then interviewed later. Dr. Oz wanted to do a show on ECT, presenting it as a medical procedure. I helped the staff of the show, giving them reference materials, connecting them with people who I thought could help. As an aside, I said "If you want me to come to NY to be on the show, I could do that too."

I got to NY on a Monday, taking a jam-packed economy 8 am flight. Ahhhh the luxury of television! We taped the story that afternoon from about 2pm to 6pm. The footage compressed into about a 2 minute snippet that the studio audience viewed on Wednesday, along with me for the first time. I was impressed. The producer had a very clear idea of what depression looked like, and I wasnt sure she could pull off a reasonable rendition. So much of depression is internal - in fact when i sent photos from 2001 when I was clinically depressed the producer said "you don't look depressed enough!" So true. How many times do you hear family members say of a suicide victim "I had no idea he was depressed!" Although the Oz story still shows some stereotypical visuals of depression, the story rings true. She did a great job.

So after viewing my story with 100 people I don't know, Dr. Oz plopped down next to me and asked questions. The man is an energy dynamo. I got tired just watching him jump between me, the psychiatrists, back to me, etc. He tapes two shows a day like this, three times a week and keeps up his practice. I don't know how he does it.

The show should air sometime in January or early February. I'll make sure to post the date. I just wanted to get something on the website to give everyone a heads up.

 

Until then -

 

Julie