My father in law had it in the 60’s. His wife told me it helped. She told me he was suicidal after coming home from WWII—and had been a mess for years.
I’ve worked at a behavioral health hospital in the 2015-18 years and while it was used, it was very different from the “old days.”
I worked in a Psychiatric hospital in the 80’s. This hospital did not use ECT at all. If a Psychiatrist ordered it, the patient would be transported to a facility that had the equipment. I worked there 7 years and only saw less than 5 orders.
My adopted mother had seven miscarriages which caused her to have a mental breakdown, and time in a sanitarium w/shock treatment, back in the late 1940s, early 1050s. I truly believe that she would’ve lived another 20-30 years, if it weren’t for those barbaric treatments.