My Experience with Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT)

I was first diagnosed with major depression as a teenager. I've attempted suicide multiple times and been hospitalized for depression more than a dozen times. I've also been on about 30 different drugs for depression, anxiety, and the like.

When I was 39, I experienced another depressive episode. My doctor adjusted my medications a few times but my condition did not improve. I began to plan to commit suicide. I had a detailed plan and had chosen a day on which I would do it.

Finally my doctor suggested electroconvulsive therapy (ECT). Many people don't realize doctors even do that anymore, but some hospitals still do it. My own psychiatrist doesn't, nor do they do it at my local hospital, so I had to be referred somewhere else. My partner ended up having to drive me 90 minutes away to a large university hospital where I could receive the therapy.

The very idea of ECT sounds scary to many people. Too many people have seen "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" and that's the picture they have of it in their minds. That's not what the procedure is like in this day and age, though.

I read somewhere that someone did a survey and found that patients found a trip to the dentist more stressful than an ECT treatment. That sounds incredible, I know, but I think I agree. I've had almost a dozen treatments now, and the depression has lessened immensely, and I'm not fearful at all of going to get a treatment.

When I arrive, I am taken into a prep area that resembles the pre-op area at any ambulatory surgery center. It's much like the hospital where I had my gall bladder removed. Each patient has his or her own cubical. I change into a hospital gown and get into bed. I usually take a book with me and read while I'm waiting.

A nurse comes in and starts an IV. Shortly after that, someone pushes my gurney to the treatment room.

There is always at least one nurse in the treatment room. The psychiatrist that administers the treatment is there, and an anesthesiologist is there. Â

Where I have my treatments, the anesthesiologist is an older man and he speaks to me very gently while he puts the medication in my IV to put me to sleep. "You're going to go to sleep now. Everything's OK. Just let yourself go to sleep. See you in a few minutes." The medication that puts me to sleep burns a bit when it enters my vein.

There are two different ways ECT can be administered: unilateral and bilateral. With unilateral ECT, an electrode is applied to only one side of the patient's head. With bilateral ECT, electrodes are applied to both sides of the patient's head. These days, doctors usually start out using unilateral ECT with patients because it tends to have fewer side effects like memory loss. However, bilateral ECT is more effective in terms of relieving depression for some patients, so if patients don't begin to experience improvement after a half dozen or so unilateral treatments, doctors will often switch to bilateral treatments.

I began to experience improvement after five or six unilateral treatments. I've had minimal side effects. When I woke up after the first treatment, I had a wicked headache. I asked for some Tylenol and that took care of it. Most days after treatments, my muscles feel a bit sore and achy but not too bad. I've been a bit forgetful, for instance forgetting conversations I have with people, but that hasn't been too bad, either.

I've been going three times a week for about a month now. I'm hoping the doctor will decrease treatments to once a week soon; I was told after about a dozen treatments, the frequency would be reduced to once a week and after a few weeks, it might be reduced to once a month for a few months.