Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is used to treat severe depression and other mental illnesses in patients who have not responded to any other kind of treatment. Before a patient can get the treatment, doctors make sure that the patient is physically capable of handling the treatment. Then the patient is sent over to an anesthesiologist who examines him or her to make sure that they are capable of handling the anesthesia that goes with the treatment. They check the heart and lungs and the process can even include blood tests and electrocardiograms. If the patient passes these tests, only then is he or she admitted for electroconvulsive treatment.

Electroconvulsive therapy has several risks and side effects. After each treatment the patient experiences some cognitive impairment –which is to say, they wake up confused and unable to understand who they are, where they are and why they are there. This can last from several minutes to several hours.

Some patients also experience retrograde amnesia, where they cannot remember things that happened in the months before and during the treatment. However, these problems usually resolve themselves in a few months.