Intelligent people with mental disorders know more about it than doctors sometimes.

Depends on the disorder in question.

I'm bipolar, and I know more about it than any shrink I've been to.

You wouldn't think mentally retarded people would know much about their disorder. Or anything else for that matter.
But according to Cobra Baghdad, I'm mentally retarded. So I should agree, right?

I've written a few things about ADD.

Know thyself, Baron.

Remember: Doctors google, just like you or I.

I was locked up for a month in a mental place, and weekly they would print up sheets with like side effects and stuff for every patients medications, and they were all from random medical websites, so it was obviously googled.

Psychiatric wards in NHS hospitals in the UK are generally terrible run down holes. ECT is routinely offered, not as a last resort, but as a matter of course.

You have my sympathy.

I'd never even heard of it before here actually. Is it only for severe things like schitzo- disorders or is it an all around "treatment"?

It should be offered as a last resort when the doctor believes that medication will not work sufficiently to lift or control depression. I know two people personally who have been offered it after being on typical SSRI medication for a couple of weeks: given that SSRIs are not supposed to have an effect until least a couple of months regular normal dosage, I think the decsision to offer them ECT was heavy handed, to say the least.

Well, when I was in a mental hospital they changed everyone's medication every two or so days even though it usually takes a few weeks to get into your system enough to work. Wow, apparently they give ECT for bipolar. That's surprising. I guess mine just doesn't seem severe now that I'm properly medicated.

It can be properly used for any problem causing depression strong enough to make the person suicidal. If the person really wants to die, and they can't treat it in any other way, ECT can be a good attempt to make them not want to die.

That can happen with depression, bipolar, and anxiety disorders. It may also happen with some other disorders, but those are the obvious candidates.

But it should not be done lightly. It can save lives, so it isn't always bad, but it shouldn't be leaped to as an early treatment.

(insert disclaimer about me not being a doctor here)

From what I read about it online earlier I don't think it's something I would personally support. I don't know if the facility I was at uses it, the Carolina Center for Behavioral Health. I realized a bit ago that they wouldn't have mentioned it because I was in the adolescent unit and something I read said it was illegal for minors.

That's very good! I agree.