the risk of memory loss is too great for me to allow shock therapy though it has worked for some people very well and for others not at all. personallly i wouldn't risk it and it seems that one has to have them done regularly for it to work and even then it may only work for a short time. it is worth checking out different med combos to try and find the right one. there is surely one out there that would suit you....

My worst nightmare throughout a lifetime of battling mental illness was that somehow I would be given shock treatments! They give a whole series of them and memory loss is pretty standard. I would never want any treatment that would rob me of my memories (good, bad, or neutral). As singers Simon and Garfunkel said, "PRESERVE YOUR MEMORIES. THEY ARE ALL THAT'S LEFT TO YOU."

I've not had shock treatments. I've had TMS treatments (Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation) therapy. It's a much newer technology and there are zero side effects. I would recommend researching it. It worked for my depression. I still have depression but mine was so debilitating before, I was unable to function at any level. I'm BP1. I hope you find something that works, whatever you decide to try. Just don't give up.

I haven't tried it, nor was it ever suggested for me, but I have seen it yield amazing results for members of my peer support network. I have been assured it is nothing like what you see in the movies.

Honestly ECT saved my life. I'd had a good 12 year run of Stability where I had a Professional career, raised my boys, lived a pretty normal life as long as I took my meds and saw my Pdoc and Tdocs monthly....then for medical reasons I had to change my med cocktail. The Stability crashed and the Suicidal Depression set in. I wasn't able to work, couldn't take care of my kids had recently gotten divorced and everything pretty much just meant nothing....I never got out of bed, and just breathing hurt. My then 17 yr. old son found me in bed weighing which bottles of pills would take care of the problem fastest and begged me to check myself into the Hospital. I'd been in the same Hospital a few different times and it was a good program. I was able to speak with my Pdoc by phone twice a day and he and I decided that ECT was the only thing I'd not tried in my 27 years of BiPolar life. So I did, 3 cycles, 3 times a week for 12 weeks, started it in-patient and after I left the hospital after a month I finished it out patient. I was able to get back to my career, I'm an Accountant, get back to my sons lives and get back to living. Yes you do have to prepare for side effects like short term memory loss and headaches. The way I did that was to write down in a Journal every single thing I could think of that was going on that seemed the slightest bit important, down to my 11 yr. olds teachers names at the time. I filled up 3 books with information. Every treatment has side effects....unfortunately when your dealing with BiPolar Depression it can have 1 very big side effect when all the pills and therapy don't work anymore, and the memory loss from Suicide is permanent.