I don't know,,but I would have doubted very much that Sheila had ECT. June possibly did,as she had a different type of illness. ECT was/is usually given for chronic depressive illness,,not schizophrenia.
I would also guess that Jeremy knew very little,,because if Neville and June weren't fully conversant with the illness,then I'm sure Jeremy wouldn't have been either. No internet then for info.
I agree lookout, ECT was still used in the 1980s but was much less common. It's surprising how it could brighten the mood of a chronically depressed person, they would return from their treatment full of beans. Eventually these good effects would wear off and the depressive would withdraw again....it was the depression which caused that withdrawal, not the ECT.
ECT wouldn't be used for schizophrenics, they are always treated with medication, as far as I'm aware. One of the facts about schizophrenics is that if they survive their illness it does often burn out as they become older. So a person who could have been a real danger without high doses of meds in their youth can in later years manage with much lower doses of medicine.
Steve, however horrific it sounds, before modern medications for severe mental illness, there was a reason for locked wards and indeed the awful straightjackets and padded cells. Dreadful as it was without the control of medications psychosis was and still can be a terrifyingly dangerous reality.
