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pachyderm said:
I am going to return to this subject:

The intent of psychotherapy, as I see it, is to uncover in a safe way things (thoughts, feelings, memories) that, because they are hidden, are causing trouble. It seems to me that shock treatment does exactly the opposite: it keeps things covered, or tries to.

Of course, the proponents of shock treatments claim that, although they do not understand how it works, it does help. I wonder whom it really "helps"? It occurs to me that it "helps" those giving the treatments more than the victim. That is, it keeps things that otherwise might be very frightening (to some) from being revealed.

And after all, even proponents of this method admit that it does not provide a permanent solution...

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Neither do meds or therapy, though. There is absolutely nothing that can be proven or guaranteed as a permanent solution. In fact, often clinical depression is a permanent problem that has to be dealt with throughout life.

Obviously I am the biggest fan of therapy since I am going to be a therapist myself, but there is a thing that exists that is treatment-resistant depression. When someone is depressed to the point in which all functioning as ceased, there is no time to wait for meds or therapy, especially if these things aren't going to work anyway.

Also, not everyone with depression has tons of stuff to uncover. Some people truly have depression rooted in a bioogical nature. That doesn't mean that there isn't always stuff to explore in therapy, but I'm just saying that there isn't always "hidden" stuff causing the trouble.

I'm not sure I understand how doing the treatments "helps" those doing them by keeping stuff hidden. It's not like the therapists themselves are doing the treatments. I know that where I work, the treatments are done by two specific psychiatrists at the hospital who don't have any outside ties to the patient.

I agree with you about the intent of psychotherapy. I have the strong belief that psychotherapy should accompany any other type of therapy-- whether that is medication or ECT. Even those that have depression that is mostly biological in nature-- there is value in psychotherapy-- at least to talk about the nature of the depression and how one is dealing with that. It makes me sad when I see how many individuals receive medication without any psychotherapy in conjunction.