So this is what I’ve been doing with my mind and fingers instead of talking or writing. I’m kinda loving it as a new way of communicating.
This is my new webcomic To Be Continued.
In May 2018, I went through twelve sessions of unilateral ultra brief electroconvulsive therapy, or ECT. They shot electricity through my head to try and short-circuit constant and relentless suicidal ideation (my reading).
ECT has some well-documented side-effects, including memory loss. I was worried about these risks, particularly since I’ve got that PhD in creative writing, but couldn’t keep fighting my urges.
The memory impacts of my brush with the ECT aren’t massive. I remember (or reset) all my passwords, have kinda foggy but present memories of recent events. The one thing that has hit me hard is nominal aphasia – a really bad memory for nouns. I can mostly get proper nouns, like names, but there’s a whole lot of ‘objects’ that got mixed up.
(Isn’t it funny that I can remember ‘nominal aphasia, but not ‘overpass’? The other night I watched Back to the Future and remembered very little from before. ECT really is a gift which keeps on giving.)
Which makes writing kinda ‘interesting’. I’m all of a sudden never sure whether what I’m writing makes sense anymore.
In hospital, I started painting with watercolours. This comic obviously wants to get out. It’s my story telling brain finding other ways of naming things. How exciting.
Several others are in production and many still percolating.
If you feel unsafe after reading my comic, please talk to someone, you really matter.
This comic is available as a full page at the bottom of this post.
‘2018 was a bad year to be suicidal’ from To Be Continued.
And here is the whole comic in one page. These comics are free for individual motivational use, please contact me using the form below.
Angela J Williams 