http://www.bchealthguide.org/kbase/t...541/detail.htm

http://www.psycom.net/depression.central.ect.html

From what I was taught in my psych class, it can be useful for severe depression that is med-resistant. It can have varying degrees of usefulness, but seems to be only good for treatment of depression in a short-term way (meaning you need to have more than one treatment for the most effectiveness). Memory loss can be a consequence of ECT, but some memory recollection can also be recovered over time.