I have a friend who had ECT because she was med resistant. She had 2 treatments a week for 6 weeks then off 4 weeks then repeat the cycle. After her first 6 weeks of treatment she was considerably less depressed. She said she did have some short term memory loss but it wasn't that significant. She would forget what she had for breakfast that day, what the tasks were that she needed to complete for the day, but her husband helped her to write lists of things that she could turn to as reminders. After her 3rd set of 6 weeks of treatments, she started to go manic. It was during that time that she took her own life. She left a letter and in it she did NOT blame the ECT treatments for her death. She said that she just "knew" that the depression would return regardless of the treatments and she couldn't bear to go through that again. All of us who loved her were heartbroken, but I can tell you that for the first 2 cycles of treatments her depression WAS better and she did get a benefit from them. Prior to the treatments she suffered from debilitating depression, the kind that she couldn't even get out of bed. I would do ECT if meds didn't help me.

I have a friend who has bad bipolar disorder. She has tried all sorts of different meds only to have constant relapses with her illness. She tried ECT and it worked for quite a long time for her until she had another relapse. It might be worth a try if all else fails. However I'm not a doctor so if I was in this situation I'd discuss it with people in the medical profession to see what their opinions of it were first.

Hmmm. I have severe depression and the mess do not work for me. I feel like I am an ECT candidate, it just scares my family

I have had many sessions of ECT since 2001 and they have honestly saved my life many times. I usually only have to get them once or twice a year but in between those times things are so much better. I am often medication resistant and when the meds just don't help and the depression is so severe they are the only thing that stops the depression. You may only need 6-8 sessions and sometimes people need more such as 16-20 sessions but to me they have been worth it every time. I had a series of 8 back in April and May and I have been much better since and hoping not to need them again for a while. For some they cause memory loss. In my experience any memory problems have always gone away within a week or so if I have them at all. Often I experience no memory problems but everyone is different. I hope if you decide to do them that they work as well for you as they have for me!

@A MyDepressionTeam Member I am just now seeing this a year later! I'm so sorry. My friend did her treatments outpatient. She said inpatient is rare these days for ECT treatment.

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