I can report firsthand (well, nearly) on the effectiveness of correctly administered electroshock therapy. My mother has been treated successfully with modern electroshock therapy for major depression. It is entirely painless and the only debilitating side-effect is memory loss. For many patients this approach is more valid than the lengthy trial-and-error approach of finding the right mix of andtidepressants. Disclaimer: my father is a biological psychiatrist, so she may have received better-than-average treatment.

What blew me away was the effectiveness: it was like rebooting a system. After the treatment an entirely different person came back.