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.

http://www.mentalhealthamerica.net/ect

http://www.patient.co.uk/doctor/Electroconvulsive-Therapy.htm

http://www.webmd.com/depression/guide/electroconvulsive-therapy

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