My friend had ECT twice and it did help with his depression. However, he did experience longterm memory loss. Some memories just never returned and he said he felt kind of a "scrambling" effect. Also, he felt not quite as intellectually sharp as before, perhaps due to the scrambling. However, he is glad he did it since he had major depression that was really making him non-functional and that wasn't responding well to drugs. I guess it's a trade-off.