My father had ECT back in the 70s after a horrible bout with bipolar disease - debilitating depression - snapped out of it immediately. However, his short term memory was severely affected and his personality changed. A few years later, lithium therapy came out and it proved much better for him. He's been gone for many years, but in hindsight, I wish we would have gone slower with the ECT and had the lithium therapy earlier. Hopefully today's ECT protocols are more moderate.