How effective is ECT?

Doctors treating people with ECT report that most people see an improvement in their symptoms.

In 2018-2019, 68% of people who had been treated with ECT were “much-improved” or “very much improved” at the end of treatment (1,361 courses out of a total of 2,004).

Some of these people were reported as showing no change in their condition and for a very small number of people (1%) it was reported that their condition was worse.

Treating depression

A large body of evidence shows that ECT is more successful in treating the most severe cases of depression than any other treatments that it has been compared to. These include:

• Antidepressants.
• Placebos – where someone is given a substance or procedure that has no physical
  effect to test the effectiveness of new treatments.
• Neuromodulation treatments such as Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS).

The risk of suicide is lower in people who have ECT than in comparable people who do not.

Staying well

ECT can help people who are very unwell to get better enough to have other kinds of treatments. This can help them stay well for longer.

Research suggests that people who have severe depression that hasn’t got better with medication are much more likely to get better and stay well for longer if they have ECT.

Of people who get better after having ECT, half of them will stay well for at least a year. This is more likely if they are given a treatment after they finish ECT, like antidepressants or lithium.

In comparison, people with severe depression that hasn’t got better after they have tried two different antidepressants have only a 5% chance of getting better and staying well for at least a year if they are given a third antidepressant.