[toolman65]

I'll admit straight away that i've only been here a very short time.

I've read a lot of posts where people talk about meds and therapy, but little about ECT.

I am considering it as a last ditch attempt to battle my depression, which has proven to impossible to beat with drugs.

I work with machinery, so being "dopey" isn't safe for myself or my coworkers.

If you have experience with ECT, or just an opinion, i would be thankful.

[Zayn]

Im sorry for i dont think anyone should ever go that far.
I have farious mental issues depression is one of them and i have no access to therapy nor any form of medication but i do find my self having good days and progress from just helping my self.

Dont go for it if you cant cure it forever try whatever it takes to bring it down so it wont be taking over your dailly life.

[Altered Moment]

There is usually discussion of it in this section.

Other Treatments - Forums at Psych Central

http://forums.psychcentral.com/other...reatments.html

http://forums.psychcentral.com/other...reatments.html

http://forums.psychcentral.com/other...mporarily.html

http://forums.psychcentral.com/other...nsidering.html

http://forums.psychcentral.com/other...onvulsing.html

You could keep looking back through the pages. that was just the first three.

[TheOriginalMe]

One thing to consider is that ECT is done under general anaesthetic and requires 6 to 12 sessions, this might be over 4 to 6 weeks. As GA takes between 48 and 72 hours to clear your system you wouldn't be able to work operating machinery for that period. I would say, if you are well enough to work then ECT wouldn't be a good choice. If you are so disabled by depression that you can't self care, don't eat, don't get out of bed then it could be a life saver. I had ECT a long while ago when I was in a bad, bad way. I am tempted to ask for it again but I don't think I'm in that state yet.

[vital]

Originally Posted by toolman65

I'll admit straight away that i've only been here a very short time.

I've read a lot of posts where people talk about meds and therapy, but little about ECT.

I am considering it as a last ditch attempt to battle my depression, which has proven to impossible to beat with drugs.

I work with machinery, so being "dopey" isn't safe for myself or my coworkers.

If you have experience with ECT, or just an opinion, i would be thankful.

Hi toolman,

First, I would recommend checking for all known medical/nutritional issues that can cause depression. There is a partial list in post #45 of this thread

http://forums.psychcentral.com/depre...escaped-5.html

These issues are quite common and if you have any one of them, neither meds nor ECT is going to help. I really recommend that you watch this video

to get an overview of the possibilities.

Secondly, have you tried other non-drug interventions that are known to help depression like nutrition, exercise, meditation and brain training? There are people who report completely recovering from depression just with meditation for instance. To me, it always make sense to try these things before drugs or something like ECT. I think that many people assume that if you have a major problem then touchy feely stuff like vitamins and meditation isn't serious enough. I think that this is wrong, however. You can find some information about these in the depression success stories section, for instance.

My impression of ECT is that it is controversial with professional opinion varying wildly from "it should never be used" to "it's the best treatment when other options fail". Here's a debate for instance

Here's a proponent explaining it to laypersons

Sherwin Nuland: How electroshock therapy changed me | Talk Video | TED.com

It seems to be known that there are memory loss side effects and that, like antidepressants, it often wears off and you have to repeat.

Here's something that I saw advertised on the front the psych central site one time. It looks like a "home electroshock kit"

Depression Treatment ? Fisher Wallace

- vital