Electro Convulsive Therapy

[Arisbottle]

I realise this is very personal , so thanks in advance for any help.

My sister has been struggling with mental health issues for decades . She has recently been in an NHS hospital and I was allowed to sit in on some of her conversations with the mental health team .

She asked the psychiatrist about ect and I was surprised that he was quite positive about it, although it was not available at this hospital .

She is not getting any better and I feel so sad that she is losing so much of her life to this awful illness. I am thinking of offering to pay for private treatment and have been some research about ect and have been surprised by the positivity of some information but worried by other things.

Has anyone had ect recently? Has it helped? Did you have it done privately or on the NHS?

I am , of course, taking professional advice as well.

Thanks .

Thank you .

My sister is very ill, however we are going to try some intensive talking therapies first .

A friend of mine has had ECT for bipolar on numerous occasions and it worked really well - she thinks it was the one thing that helped more than anything. It did affect her memory but she is now working so it did not have a bad affect.

That is helpful to hear, thank you . I have been surprised by the very positive things I have read about it.

We have not completely ruled it out, but I think it would be sensible to try out the talking therapies first.