Posted by bleauberry on February 26, 2013, at 15:47:55
In reply to To ChicagoKat Question on ECT, posted by Meltingpot on February 25, 2013, at 16:53:53
I apologize in advance, I hope you don't mind me jumping in, but I am an ECT survivor and studier, so I know stuff about it that most people don't know.
For the serious sick, I mean people who cannot even bath themselves or live on their own, I think it is a reasonable nuclear bomb approach to help them up. Other than that, I have never seen anyone go into remission and/or keep it. Relapses when successful are usually rapid. Meds are still needed after ECT. I almost committed suicide after my ECT. For a while in the middle of treatment, it did worsen depression and created a pretty strong anxiety/scared thing too.
I must admit, it did work for almost 2 days after the final 12th session. It was a whole new world. I was back. Yeah! Then 2 days later in an ambulance to the psych ward.
Statistics on ECT are either biased or outright false. They make it appear to be very effective and reliable. It is not.
If one wants to lose large chunks of memories of their life, ECT is good to do that. If they want to feel dumber and slower, ECT is good for that.
To be fair, I have witnessed comments from others who favored ECT and were glad they did it. it was not their answer, but it sort of paved a new journey for them, ended the old journey. Not that the journeys were better or worse, but different. Different is good. Actually, despite my failure, I'm sort of in a way glad I did it too. Not really, but sort of. Still thinking about the thousands of dollars of co-pay it cost me. Here's what it did for me....erased some bad memories (erased some good ones too), and basically closed an old hopeless chapter and opened a new chapter. The new chapter did eventually end up being a good chapter, but not for a few years when I figured out psychiatry was not the primary best way to beat depression.. It was sort of like a new start. A lousy start, but a new one, a clean slate to work with.
I'm sure once in a while ECT works great for someone. Even a broken clock is correct twice a day. Anything is possible. Those types of success stories are sort of rare, maybe even more rare than remission on meds.
poster:bleauberry
thread:1038830
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20130222/msgs/1038920.html