SUMMARY LIST

1. ECT might be suggested if someone is severely ill and/or various medications have been tried but have not helped sufficiently.
2. If you have ECT, and you will be given a general anaesthetic, which will put you to sleep, together with a muscle relaxant. Then a carefully calculated electric voltage will be passed across your brain via electrodes attached to your head. The effect is to trigger an epileptic seizure. Because of the muscle relaxant there will be a little movement of your body.
3. You will not be aware of the ECT being given because of the anaesthetic. Giving ECT is not a surgical operation - no incisions are made.
4. When you wake up, you will not necessarily have any side effects at all. But you may have a headache or feel confused. In the longer term you may suffer some memory loss. Usually this is temporary, although in rare cases there can be permanent loss of some memories.
5. Usually a course of treatments is prescribed. It may be given two or three times a week, until the patient has had between six and twelve sessions altogether. Some people, however, may need only two or three treatments.