Hi

I can totally understand how you would feel rather hopeless at this point if you have tried so many medications as well as ECT.  I am an eternal optimist and so I will tell you that yes there is always hope.  As long as you keep waking up to greet a new day there is hope.  Nobody can take that away from you.

Did a little research and I did find a new and interesting treatment out there.  I am not endorsing it as I know nothing about it.  But the articles seem to say that it might help for chronic and persistent depression when medication does not help.

The treatment involves physical brain stimulation and you can read about it on Psych Central and also in this e-zine article.

There was also some research done in Chapel Hill of North Carolina about persistent depression where they found that when anxiety is present as well as depression, that the depression is more difficult to treat.  Specifically the authors of this article state that: 

"Symptoms of major depression are most likely to persist in people who also have an anxiety disorder, according to a study headed by a psychiatrist at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill."

So to me this indicates a need to treat the anxiety you may have just as much as the depression.  Some of the reason why folk go off of the SSRI's like Prozac is that one of the side effects is more anxiety. 

Please don't lose hope.  Easier said than done I know.  Thank you for your question and I hope you come back to tell us how things are going for you.