I would like to get your ideas on how to approach this. This was sent by email to a group. I don't want to go too broad if I can help it but keep it to ECT, not psychiatry in general. The person who sent it is a lapsed Catholic. Thank you.

My Psychiatrist at our last meeting 2 weeks ago decided that it was time to refer me to another  Psychiatrist. I was referred for an opinion re ECT specialises in E.C.T.
 
My regular guy felt it is now the only way to go.
 
The new guy, after an extensive and probing interview decided ECT was the way to go
 
This whole thing started around my 60th. Physical symptoms then and since,  have proven to be no reason for concern. I have had the largest range of tests scans etc from head to toe.
 
 From there it all got worse .I have  tried  every Drug group available save one. That one is what they call an “older drug” it requires a very dramatic change in diet as the drug and some foods and liquids do not react well . Not preferred and the Drs have chosen to not take me down that path.
 
At my last visit with my  Psychiatrist  he confirmed that unquestionably I am still suffering with Chronic Depression. To say I am over it is simply the biggest understatement . I go to bed hoping that I  just die in my sleep. I drive down the road and hope a large truck and so on
 
There has been no a light at the end of the tunnel. We return to xxxxx on Sat ##### from our  Cruise (leaving ####) and I will be admitted to Hospital on Monday the ####. I  will be in Hospital for 3 – 4 weeks. In that period I will undergo a series of ECT treatments. I am told that the loss of memory is no longer a significant concern.
 
It has been made clear to me that ECT is not a cure. It is a maintenance program. The time in Hospital will get me to a level and after that  at intervals to be determined I will require more treatments .
 
I will not be drug free after the treatment.
 
70% of people undergoing have positive outcomes . I will be in that 70%.

This is very serious, so no db.  
Your friend is at high risk of ѕυιcιdє.  The peak time for that is when he's released from hospital and seemingly doing better.  If there is any possibility he'd speak with a priest, pursue that in addition to watching him like a hawk!  Will he pray the Rosary, wear a scapular or blessed medal, esp. St. Benedict, Miraculous Medal, St Michael?  Will he pray to St. Dymphna or St. John Vianney?  Tell him that religious feelings and even "faith" are not necessary.  (Our Lady answered my prayers when I began to "say" the Rosary while not really believing in her intercession.) The best you can hope for your friend to gain by ECT treatments is the temporary relief afforded by emotional numbness.  Pray for him daily and keep tabs on him.  It may be that God wants to use him for a special purpose, so the devil is doing everything in his power to get rid of him.
OP may PM me, if desired.  

I know two people who had that procedure and their outcomes were positive.  

Procedures like this (and lobotomies - now largely discredited) are monstrous.

This grotesque "treatment" was developed by materialists who reject the existence of the soul and believe the brain to be the seat of man's consciousness.

A melancholic type lapsed from the faith is naturally prone to bouts of depression... perhaps even demonic obsession. It is a spiritual disorder that requires a spiritual solution and it utterly dismays and disgusts me to see Catholics on this forum praise barbaric chemical / electrical mutilation of the brain and the superstitious pseudoscience (created by atheists, materialists and Jєωs) that advocates such evil "cures."

If you really want answers about what you should do regarding this man, then talk to me in private.
I know more about this field than anyone on this forum put together, and I have had a "rough ride" and I know where he has been and what the solution to it is.

For him to get ECT would be to torture him. You think he has had enough of life now? Wait until he gets ECT. What the doctors are trying to do is to suppress his independent will and make him malliable and a life long customer. They are trying to BREAK him and they will not stop until he is a zombie who accepts the GUILT placed on him by doctors.

Its all about breaking his will. And subjugating him to the doctors.
You do not quote "HELP" him by helping him to serve your will.
He is an independent human being who has a divine right to dignity and freedom from others.
His purpose in life is not to be a life long reciever of your quote "Help",
if you think you are helping him by reducing him to the level of an overgrown baby, then you are no friend of his.

I find it hard to do penance for physical health reasons but I will do penance for him today.
May God help him, and give him his life back. Or at least may God give him more independence than he has now and the grace to endure his terrible sufferings at the hands of others and society.
 

Thank you for all prayers, feedback and offers of private messaging, thank you particularly to Soulguard for his heroic offering of penance. I believe that will do more good than any talking.

I have been able to speak on the phone for the first time since I got this. Asking could we meet up I was told it would be fine as long as there is no talk of religion. "I am happy as an atheist, I despise the Catholic Church etc."

It seems that there is nothing now but prayer and penance.

Under no circuмstances should you allow someone you know to go through with this barbaric procedure.

Would that I was able tp prevent my friend from this foolish and dangerous approach. Pray for a breakthrough, please.

It is not his choice anymore. He is a slave and life long customer now. The psych has authority to make this decision for him. Its all wrong. This is the root of his problems. He is treated like a pet dog and gets his humanity anaylized with clinical scrutiny, and he has lost faith in humanity, just as I also have.

He thinks Christianity is based on love thy neighbour, but if he truly wants help he will turn to God and develop a supernatural faith, not a natural sentiment masquerading as Catholicism. Many Catholics have false faith. He probably wont think independently because the psych is the boss of his life. I feel pity for him. Been there done that. Thank God I never got ECT because it causes memory loss, and my painful memories at the hands of psych services and family and others are to me a treasure, because the truth of the world is in them. You cant say that we are not all like the psych services, because we ARE. Only by God's grace are we truly good. He sees evil everywhere and is suspicious from experience. He doesnt trust anyone, maybe not even God. It will be a long process. If u want to help him you are in for the long haul.