Electroconvulsive
Therapy, yay or nay?
Electroconvulsive Therapy has been used for over 60 years.
Although it has been used for so long no one knows how it works, so there is a
huge cloud of controversy surrounding it. Some say that it works wonders, others
say it does more harm than good.
Electroconvulsive Therapy has many good aspects to it. It is
a quick and easy solution to problems that could takes long term medication and
therapy. Rather than taking months of therapy and medication, you do Electroconvulsive
therapy for a few weeks and has the same effect. One of the most common places
it is used is for severely depressed people who cannot wait for antidepressants
take effect or if the medication failed to help. Electroconvulsive Therapy has
shown up to 80 percent improvement in severely depressed patients. Another way
ECT is used is to help Schizophrenic patients. ECT has shown to reduce the
seriousness of core issues with Schizophrenia such as hallucinations,
delusions, and unorganized thinking. It can also be used to help with a sub
illness of Schizophrenia called Catatonia. Catatonia causes the patient not to
speak, have extreme periods of excitement, remain motionless for long periods
of time, or have rigid, odd muscle movements. ECT has also shown improvements
in Mania. Mania is a psychotic illness that causes people to have elevated
moods and ECT calms them down. ECT has
shown improvements in Catatonia, Mania, and Schizophrenia but is not as well tested
as it is for severe depression patients. With all the amazing things ECT can do
it’s impossible to imagine why anyone would not want to use it. With every great medical advancement, there
are side effects that can be harmful. That is where the controversy lies.
Many doctors are for Electroconvulsive Therapy while others
are completely against it. Those who are against it say that the side effects
outweigh the benefits. Electroconvulsive Therapy should only be used as a last resort
after all other options are exhausted. The way Electroconvulsive Therapy works
is scary, they sedate you and hook up a machine to your head that sends pulses
of electricity to your brain to cause a seizure. They do this for about 12
seconds about 3 times a week. The patient has short term memory loss after the
procedure, forgetting what happens before and after the procedure. The patient
will also experience confusion for up to a few hours directly following the
treatment. Other than the procedure being scary, no one really knows how ECT
works so doctors are hesitant to use it. ECT has also been known to cause
memory loss after multiple exposers to it. The patient may have trouble
remembering things that happened up to a few years before treatment and they
have trouble remembering what happens during the weeks they have treatment. The
patient may also experience muscle pains, spasms, nausea, vomiting, headaches
and jaw pain. Research has also shown ECT to only be effective for up to 4
weeks after treatment so it is only a temporary fix. Patients who experience
Electroconvulsive Therapy have a high percentage of relapse after they finish
treatment. In the long term it is more beneficial to use medication.
Electroconvulsive Therapy has a bad reputation because it has
not been handled with care and with proper training in the past. In reality
Electroconvulsive Therapy is a marvel of modern technology that can help people
with serious Depression, Schizophrenia, and Mania. Perhaps in the near future
we can figure out and create a more precise and safe method to ECT to reduce the
risks involved.
