Has anyone ever had electric shock therapy?

I have not had it but my husband has. You are under general anesthesia during the procedure. You're also given muscle relaxants so that when you seize (because that is what ECT does, it induces a seizure) your muscles don't contract and you won't be in pain later after the procedure. It does affect your memory though general any memory issues are resolved after the ECT treatments are stopped (not always, sometimes there are lingering memory issues). For those people who truly need this procedure, it can be life saving. My husband had to receive two separate courses of ECT (for him, approx 10-13 treatments per course done over a span of several weeks) and has had a couple maintenance treatments that were just individual treatments. He has not had any ECT in a long time but he would not be alive if he hadn't had ECT available to him when he needed it.

I have never had it but I have witnessed it first hand. Please disregard the dramatization by movies like "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest." It is nothing like that.

Like bristolbrat said, you are put under and given a muscle relaxant. ECT is good for older depressed patients who are not responding to any sort of medication. It is amazing how well it works for some people with severe depression and not so much for others.

I could probably use one now!

I didn't think they did electric shock therapy anymore. Memory loss is one side effect. The depression would have to be really severe to have it done.

Anyways, one of my therapists did let my try this little machine thingy she'd just gotten. You put these little clips on your ears and it shocks you- but not that severely. It was interesting, but she only had me try it once so I didn't get to see if it'd work.