Urgjh! I am personally strongly against ECT as I feel it is a vulgar and brute force therapy. A bit like throwing a grenade in a room to kill a fly, it may do the job sometimes but at what cost?

~Shiv

MayoClinic.com has a recent blog posting on electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) — and how it can be safe and effective. You can find the post on the Depression blog at MayoClinic.com. (Disclosure: I do some writing for Mayo Clinic, but have not written for this blog.)

It is agreed that ECT is a traumatic form of treatment and it should not be used widely.But when all the other methods fail and saving the life of a person is important there is not much choice left but to go for it. It is just like treating cancer. The side effcets can be very traumatic but we still go for the treatment in order to save the life of the victim.

This article references the more outdated ECT methodologies in the beginning of the article, and the graphic further stigmatizes what can be a life saving procedure for some. Clearly the author has not experienced severe depression first hand.

I agree that ECT should be a treatment method of last resort for unipolar depression. However, when all other alternatives are exhausted, there is clinical proof that the procedure can provide relief. Given the alternative of possible suicide, and the impact to the patient’s family ECT can be the best option sometimes.

It seems the commentator heat v has either not understood the essence of the post or has not read it thoroughly before making his/her comments. If you read the post and the author’s comments carefully you will see that the author has suggested that electroshock therapy is safe under expert medical supervision and should be resorted to in the most severe forms of depression when all the other treatments fail and to prevent the patient from committing suicide.

I did read the whole article. If you look at the graphic, and the anti-ECT slant, it’s fairly obvious. They don’t cite quotes from anyone who has received relief. They also don’t talk about the cousins on this procedure, VNS and TMS. And as far as a last resort treatment, yes, they acknowledge it is a last resort treatment - just like cutting off a leg is the last resort for treating damage from diabetes. It’s all in the framing.