I found this article interesting. It’s about a guy who seems very functional and doing well in life, but apparently he found depression to be problem. He tried antidepressants but they didn’t help him. So he eventually resorted to ECT, electroconvulsive therapy. It’s where an electrical current is passed through the brain. Apparently this guy found it helpful and it has improved his life. He’s written a book about his ECT experiences and his subsequent improvements.
I guess I found it interesting because I’ve been on various psychiatric medications, and I’ve never liked them, but for a long time I’ve thought “it could be worse, I could have ended up having ECT”, since I see ECT as something to be feared, I suppose. I think doctors don’t really know how it works, but some patients do report improvements after having it.
Maybe it would be good to see more articles like this one in mainstream media outlets (this article is from The Guardian which is a mainstream newspaper in the UK). There’s clearly still a gigantic stigma around mental health, but articles like this, where mental health patients talk about their experiences, probably help to break down the stigma.
He talks about memory problems in the article. It sounds like he has good relationships with friends and family who helped him to fill in gaps in his memory.
Anyway, I’m also not a doctor, but I think most doctors would say that a person should try antidepressants for quite a while (multiple different antidepressants if the first one doesn’t work) before ECT is even considered as an option.
I suppose no medical mental health treatment is free of risk. Antidepressants have their own risks. SSRIs can cause sexual dysfunction, heart problems, sleep problems, and so on. But I suppose some people find their mental health to be bad, and not getting better, so they are willing to try medical treatments, starting with the lowest-risk options like SSRIs, before potentially trying other treatments.