Linda Andre Papers
In 1984 at the age of 24, Linda Andre was coerced into receiving electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), an experience that turned her into an “accidental activist” in the psychiatric survivor movement. A talented photographer and writer on photographic theory before treatment, Andre suffered profound memory and cognitive loss after electroshock resulting in permanent harm. Soon after undergoing ECT, Andre connected with a psychiatric survivors resistance movement group, Project Release. She advocated for informed consent to ECT and for holding the FDA accountable in its failure to appropriately regulate electroshock devices. In 1992, when Marilyn Rice, the founder of the Committee for Truth in Psychiatry (CTIP), died Andre assumed the role of director. Her decades of activism, research, and writing about ECT culminated in the 2009 publication of her book Doctors of Deception: What They Don’t Want You to Know About Shock Treatment. Andre died by suicide in 2023 at the age of 63.
Linda Andre’s collection is a vast resource for the of study electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), its unethical promotion and use, as well as its harmful, long-term effects on individuals. Included are articles and writings related to ECT, personal stories of survivors forced hospitalization and ECT treatment, and materials related to the psychiatric survivor’s movement. Andre’s own presentations and writings related to ECT are featured along with research and drafts that resulted in her book, Doctors of Deception: What They Don’t Want You to Know About Shock Treatment. Her photographs and creative writing document her immense artistic talent, while her journals, family photos, and correspondence reveal Andre’s personal history.