DE - One of the main reasons ECT is not used more is because of the movies "One Flew ...." and "Snake Pit" (even some of those cheesy '70s prison flicks where they tortured people by using the electric current generated by an antique telephone crank) These films not only showed ECT as horrifying, but also entrenched a stigma of the mentally ill as dangerous. Fear of the "different" is innate; it is probably a selected-for, evolutionary trait, but helping to encourage the stigma via mass media is like a nail in an already sick person's coffin).

Anyway, another reason that ECT is frowned upon is because it does "look" frightening. One guy I talked to who underwent ECT for treatment-refractory depression described it as a "kick-start", allowing him to function again. He said he had no memory problems (but then again .... how would he know?).

One final possible reason for the abhorance of ECT is that many of those in the psychiatry field who are now in power, and are the ones deciding on treatment regimens, were educated in the 1970's. At the time there was a big backlash against ECT, possibly because of the coldwar/mindcontrol/LSD mindset of the era.

I dunno, I'd have it done, yes, the possiblity of short-term memory loss does kinda bother me.

- Cam