Posted by bleauberry on January 21, 2014, at 12:47:43
In reply to shock, posted by rjlockhart37 on January 20, 2014, at 0:02:53
Would the opinions and comments of someone who has studied ECT a great deal be of any help?
Would the opinions and comments of someone who has been through ECT be of any help?
I remember being where you are. Nothing else on my radar screen looked more attractive. Worse, there was a lot of marketing and advertising for it inside the psychiatric ward where I was. Talk about taking advantage of the disadvantaged! Wow, what an easy sale for them.
Anyway, there was minimal progress through shock #10. Somewhere in the #11 to #12 area, I did experience a profound improvement. It was short lived, maybe 2 days at the most. And then I was back to deep depression and suicidal thoughts again.
The literature on ECT, if you dig deep, doesn't look nearly as attractive as it is "perceived" by mainstream patients and doctors. Poopout is very common, and any gains are usually short lived....days to weeks. And, ECT does not fix things in such as way that you don't need meds....it still requires meds afterwards to stand any chance of hanging onto any gains.
Memory loss, in my opinion, is profound. There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to it. Trivial details of something decades ago....clear as a bell....some important person or event in your life....no recollection of it at all....might need a map to navigate your own town....names don't go with faces very well....on and on.
I didn't even recognize houses or streets in my town which I had driven by hundreds of times. I felt like I was in a town I had never visited. My house was right around the corner from that.
Some parts of memory healed a bit, but pieces of history are missing....sort of like the random holes in Swiss Cheese.
I do believe ECT has two good purposes:
1. Appropriate for those who are so handicapped by their psychiatric condition that they cannot live alone. Some of them can improve enough to be in half-way houses instead of institutions.
2. A new start, new chapter. Since the memory loss can be pretty significant, that actually might not be a bad thing for a long time depression patient! There is a lot maybe we don't want to remember!I found ECT to be sort of like turning the page in a book, exiting a chapter, entering a brand new chapter. The new chapter didn't look any more promising than the old one, but the fact is, it was indeed a new chapter. A new launching pad. New hope. ECT can shake things up enough to end up seeing it that way....preparation for the next round of war, turn the page. The point is....the old war....is gone, done....it's a new game now, ECT did change stuff in the brain, for better or worse.
Some people here have gotten more benefit than I did. They said it was the turning point for them. Sort of like what I just said about a new chapter. But none of them got a cure from it or anything like that. It was another tool, nothing more, nothing less.
Once in a while we see a miracle, such as ECT working fantastic and they lived happily ever after. Rare. I wouldn't count on that. I know of other strategies where that sort of goal is actually a realistic one. But with ECT, no. Psychiatry in general, probably not.
I've been following you for a long time. You remind me of me years ago. I only had one tool box. I trusted that psychiatry would heal. It doesn't. It doesn't even pretend that to be a purpose. It is about symptom reduction, period. Meanwhile, whatever is actually causing your symptoms, goes on to ravage more, unchecked and unopposed.
Maybe some new tool boxes would help?
poster:bleauberry
thread:1059102
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20140104/msgs/1059189.html