I get regular maintenance ECT treatments for my depression, and have been for quite some time. I tend to cope with my pre-treatment anxiety with humor, so one time I brought a Pikachu sticker to see if they’d let me out it somewhere on the ECT cart.
P.S. If anyone’s curious about a patient perspective on ECT I’m open to questions.
Why ECT and not TMS?
ECT is just more effective for severe cases.
I had a choice between trying TMS first with ECT as a backup, or going straight to ECT. I chose to skip TMS and go straight for the ECT because how severe my situation was at the time, how long it had been going on, and the research I was able to find on how effective each was for my kind of depression.
Seems like the side effects are pretty serious. Though, guess you’ve weighed them against the benefits and found it worth it.