ECT as in zap your brain with thousands of volts to try and reboot it?
Barbaric - always reminds me of one flew over the cuckoos nest where they lobotomise him to "cure" him.
Those Hollyweird depictions of electroconvulsive therapy are bullshit. And when Ken Kesey wrote and published his novel "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" in 1962, the way he described how ECT is administered was outdated by 13 years even then! So in other words, the way Jack Nicolson's character was shown receiving ECT, without anesthesia, was outdated by 26 years in 1975!
Now, I underwent 14 outpatient ECT treatments in 2014, and another 17 in 2015. I was warned they might not help because of how long I'd had school psychologist installed major depressive disorder (
all school psychologists and counselors belong in death camps, and public schools have
no right to exist), and in fact electroconvulsive therapy did not help, but it did not harm me either. I am glad I was given the opportunity to try ECT, and have no regrets whatever about attempting it.
A number of different psychiatrists, male and female, administered my ECT treatments. They did tell me that memory issues could be a problem for females, but not males, so anybody born female who might be considering ECT should keep that in mind. (Being male, I had no concerns, and tests in fact proved that my memory was not effected.)
For an accurate account of the realities of ECT treatment, the 2006 book "Shock: The Healing Power of Electroconvulsive Therapy" by Kitty Dukakis and Larry Tye is the ONLY book worth reading and taking seriously on the subject (and
NOBODY ANYWHERE should let Jack Nicolson's bullshit acting do their thinking for them,
EVER - do
NOT be a PUNY minded impressionable weak fool who looks at movies and thinks that somehow resembles real life in any way!!!).
Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMR) is a better option with quicker results and less severe side effects
The main superiority of transcranial magnetic stimulation is that since it requires no anesthesia, you can drive away from your appointments as well as drive yourself to them (as I did in going to my ECT treatments, while a companion had to chauffeur me home, although I always felt good enough to drive home). TMR is reported to work better for some people, ECT for others.
For females worried about potential compromises to memory, TMR might be preferable.
As I have already posted, if you're considering undergoing ECT, read "Shock" by Dukakis and Tye first, a book which had also been read and memorized by all the clinicians specializing in my ECT treatment. When they know you share that knowledge, they treat you with the utmost respect and courtesy (at least in my case - some of the hot young single girls involved in my ECT care even hit on me, actually feeling me up when I was waking up from anesthesia, something I didn't mind one bit!)
Unfortunately, you supposedly have to have failed on other multiple treatments before you can qualify to undergo ECT. If I could have first undergone ECT in 1996 before starting on Prozac, I and my body might have been far, far better off, as there is no weight gain rebound effect with ECT, no messing up the body's metabolism, and the less time you are depressed, the better the chances that ECT will relieve your depression. Looking back, I'd have MUCH rather failed on ECT first in 1996 before putting my body through six of the then extant antidepressant classes of medications.
Once again, that brings up something females who might be concerned about memory loss could also consider. Weight gain rebound on prescription medications is a bitch for both males and females, but NOT an issue with either ECT or TMR. For females, not gaining weight might override any concerns about memory compromises. (Of course weight control is about FAR more than vanity, being a massive health issue obviously.)
