0.8 Amps of Happiness (2014)

The documentary 0.8 Amps of Happiness closely portrays three patients who are being treated with Electro Convulsion Therapy (ECT) for their depression or psychosis. Saskia Gubbels shows how these illnesses keep both the protagonists as well as their families in a dark pit. From this darkness, they are faced with a dilemma: to undergo a series of Electro Shocks. A therapy that is surrounded with prejudices, that can indeed affect the memories, but nevertheless offers hope. ‘There will come a moment when I decide to lie down in the snow to die. Because living like this isn’t much of a life. It really isn’t. It’s death.’ These are the opening words of Lidwine in the documentary ‘0.8 Amps of Happiness.’ Severely depressed and suicidal, she has tried everything to break free from the downward spiral she finds herself trapped in. Electro Convulsive Therapy (ECT), popularly known as electroshock therapy, is her last resort. This therapy is often effective but has long encountered deep-rooted prejudice and fear. Director Saskia Gubbels intimately portrays three people who undergo electroshock therapy. She captures how depression has completely taken over their lives and those of their families and friends. Will they manage to escape the darkness of depression or psychosis? Will this treatment give them back just a tiny shred of their former state of happiness they so long for?