ECT Treatment

@ladolcevita Hi ladolcevita and welcome to the forums :). I can only say that a friend of my mother's had severe depression and decided upon ect much to the unease of us all. He went into hospital and stayed for some time doing group therapies and ect and came out so much better from it all. He is like a changed person. I should mention this person is very bright and ran a major organization for some time now retired. He is no dummy.

In saying all of that I still have my reservations and would be very cautious and your aunt is very wise in doing alot of homework before she moves forward in that direction.

I hope this has helped a bit. greenpea

thank you @Bunniekins appreciate your words

Hello @ladolcevita

I believe that as with risks / side effects of treatment it is unknown who will suffer memory loss from ECT until they participate in it. As with a lot of medical procedures, the negative experiences get a lot more press.

My husband who had a long crisis period which deteriorated into psychotic depression and suicidality has had 2 series of ECT, after the first lot, no memory loss was observed and it did seem to really help. However, Mr Darcy relapsed within 6 months, he had a long hospital stay (primarily due to an attempt) during which time he had more ECT done as an involuntary inpatient under a treatment order and some maintenance ECT as an outpatient. He has marked memory loss; it is hard to quantify but it appears he has random pre ECT recent memories - remembers next to nothing over a 2 year period; he cannot remember significant events from 5 years prior to ECT, his memory then to improve significantly eking out to random losses perhaps over a 10 year period.

https://psychcentral.com/lib/risks-of-electroconvulsive-therapy-ect/

ECT(electro convulsive theraphy) is the modality of treatment for patients who have interactable mental illness but is studied of its effectivness for catatonia patients. it was discovered in a prison who were agresive were shown to respond with shock torcher and the idea came from here.so, my advise for you is if your relative has got interactable depression or if she is catatonic it is the best treatment and most of the time the risk is fracture of bone if she convulses too much and if it is not controlled well and i think such a problem will not occur in your situation

My mother had shock treatment in the 60s.

She found it difficult to speak about throughout her life, but at the very end of her life, she stated she was glad she had it, as it shocked her out of deep depression and enabled her to face her life. She died a few years ago.

Hey there @ladolcevita, I've had a number of sessions of ECT and although some short-term memory loss at the time was observed, I've since regained those lost memories and have rapid recall rather than drawing random blanks.

I worked extensively as a public servant with the Health Department until a case of discrimination against me, left me unemployed.

I am undertaking a complete re-vamp of my education and aim to go into the field of mental health as a social worker. ECT hasn't affected my level of intelligence or ability to remember and recall information long-term (thankfully).

I remember at the time of my last ECT sessions, I was severely depressed and suicidal and mainstream medications were not working for me. It was considered as a last resort, but I am glad I went ahead with it. It undoubtedly saved my life at the time.

If I had to have ECT again, I definitely would.

Thank you for this!

I'm sorry for your loss. Thank you for sharing

Hi @Queenie, thanks for shairng your story. Good luck on your new adventure

ECT. Ive just finished my 12 sessions. This would be the 3rd lot i have had over a period of time that i cant remember.

Did it work the first 2 times? Apparently it did but with the usual memory losses.

Im walking around the house trying to work out whats been happening over the past 5 weeks. Theres alot that i just dont have a clue. I need to take someone to appountments just so i can use their memory. Im having flashbacks of my hospital stay and am getting a bit paranoid about memories that dont feel right. Its weird though as i was given a cognitive/ memory test after each treatment in which i did pretty well on the last one and i still remember alot of that test but i am still forgetting many things since. My head doesnt feel right and best way to describe it is my brain hurts. It is a bit distressing for me and feel like im going backwards in regards to my mental health. I am having it checked out and am hoping it all sorts itself out. It was discussed that i have top up treatments but family are not sure this is a good idea. Personally i would like to have it in the hope theres a malfunction and i can finally be at peace.

Sorry for the downer response but it is what it is