michigandaily.com
Thursday, May 31, 2018

INDEX

Vol. CXXVII, No. 118 | © 2018 The Michigan Daily 
michigandaily.com

NEWS ....................................
OPINION ............................... 
ARTS/NEWS .........................
MiC.........................................
SPORTS................................

MICHIGAN IN COLOR
Real
Representation
“It’s hard to be a strong 
woman. Even harder to be 

a strong Black woman.”

 
 >> SEE PAGE 9

NEWS
UM Lawsuit

‘U’ responds to Speech 

First’s lawsuit against Bias 

Response Team.

>> SEE PAGE 2

OPINION

Expand the 
franchise

Ethan Kessler talks about 

the issues behind felon 

disenfranchisement.

>> SEE PAGE 5

ARTS

Pusha-T and 
A$AP Rocky 

Rap is heating up this 

summer, and Testing and 

DAYTONA are impressive.
 >> SEE PAGE 6

SPORTS
Charles 
Matthews

Forward Charles Matthews 

withdraws from NBA Draft 

and announces return to 

Michigan 

>> SEE PAGE 12

inside

2
4
6
9
10

Study finds shock therapy 
viable depression treatment

Despite stigma, 
ECT found to be 
cost-effective 

By ALICE TRACEY

Summer Daily News Editor

Electroconvulsive therapy, also 
known as ECT or shock therapy, 
may serve as a cost-effective 
treatment for depression after 
two 
other 
interventions 
have 
failed, according to a University of 
Michigan study published May 9 
this year.
ECT is a 15- to 20-minute 
procedure in which the patient is 
placed under light anesthesia and 
an electric stimulus is delivered to 
electrodes attached to the patient’s 
scalp. Common diagnoses treated 
by ECT include depression, bipolar 
disorder, psychosis, schizophrenia, 
catatonia and epilepsy. Michigan 
Medicine opened a new facility 
dedicated to ECT in 2016, which 
now treats about 150 to 200 patients 
a year, totaling about 3,000 ECT 

procedures annually, said Daniel 
Maixner, a psychology associate 
professor and co-author of the study.
Maixner administers ECT to 
patients ranging from their teens 
to nearly 100 years old. He said 
ECT often yields positive results 
in severely depressed patients 
because, simply put, the procedure 
“resets” neural pathways by causing 
between 20 and 60 seconds of 
hyperactivity in the brain.
“It’s not really rewiring, but it 
could be calming circuits that are 
stuck on,” Maixner said. “There’s 
some evidence that the circuitry 
gets stuck with depression, and 
patients describe it that way too.”
Psychology associate professor 
Neera 
Ghaziuddin, 
who 
also 
administers ECT, said electrical 
stimulation can alter many of the 
different physiological pathways 
associated 
with 
depression. 
The procedure normalizes the 
hypothalamic 
pituitary 
adrenal 
access, 
which 
controls 
stress 
response, and regulates the release 
of neurotransmitters. In addition, 
ECT thickens the linings of blood 

cells, increases blood infusion to 
the brain, ups the production of 
proteins that affect neurons and 
controls the transcription of genes 
involved in depression. According to 
Ghaziuddin, ECT treats depression 
through more mechanisms than 
antidepressant medication.
Physicians 
recommend 
ECT 
to depressed patients based on 
two main factors, resistance to 
treatment and severity of illness, 
where severity generally takes 
precedence. Maixner said like 
any 
treatment, 
ECT 
becomes 
less effective the longer a patient 
has been suffering. In the study 
published May 9, Maixner and his 
colleagues investigated when in 
the course of a patient’s illness ECT 
should be considered. The team 
used an analytic model to perform 
a cost-benefit analysis of ECT, 
considering the quality-adjusted 
life-years, or relatively happy and 
healthy years, that patients gain 
from the procedure.

Radio analyst
resigns amidst
allegations

Jack Lessenberry 
accused of sexual 
harassment by 
former students 

By RACHEL CUNNINGHAM

Summer Daily News Editor

Jack Lessenberry, a journalism 
professor at Wayne State University 
and political analyst for Michigan 
Radio, has resigned from his positions 
amid sexual harassment allegations.
Penny Bowler, a former WSU 
student quoted in the Deadline Detroit 
article that originally broke the story, 
claimed Lessenberry offered a ride 
home in 2006 and 2007 and inquired 
if she had a boyfriend. Bowler did not.
According to Bowler, Lessenberry 
proceeded to tell her some students 
are willing to “do anything to get 
an A” and touched her without her 
consent.
According to an article from The 
Detroit News, Lessenberry is accused 
of making inappropriate comments 
and 
attention 
toward 
women 
while employed as an editor at the 
Commercial Appeal newspaper in 
Minneapolis and as a WSU professor.
The 
original 
Deadline 
Detroit 
article also reported that 14 women 
have come forward with allegations 
against Lessenberry, occurring over 
about a 30-year period, including 
forced kissing and inquiries about 
past and current romantic partners.
Lessenberry 
has 
previously 
written 
articles 
for 
Michigan 
Radio denouncing Michigan State 
University’s handling of the Larry 
Nassar sexual abuse scandal.
In an article with the headline 
“Michigan 
State 
needs 
cultural, 
systemic change,” Lessenberry wrote 
about what he felt was a narrow-
minded 
culture 
regarding 
the 
scandal.

DESIGN BY JACK SILBERMAN

ONE-HUNDRED-TWENTY SEVEN YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM

Administration

Read more at MichiganDaily.com
Read more at MichiganDaily.com

