Convulsive Therapies a Controversial Treatment Throughout Pyschology

Eye movement desensitization and reprogramming, or EMDR, therapy is a controversial treatment forcing on people with post-traumatic stress disorder. In order to treat the trauma related problems, this method of therapy focuses on having the patient reliving the distressing event in order to think it is in a more logical and structured way. In Bruce Bower’s article EMDR: promise and dissent: new research enters debate over a highly touted trauma therapy – eye movement desensitization and reprogramming, he takes the readers through a typical therapy session by explaining that, “ A session of EMDR usually lasts about 90 minutes. The client first thinks about the earlier trauma and comes up with an image from the incident. He or she then chooses a current negative belief that goes with the image and a desired positive attitude toward it. A sexual abuse survivor, for instance, might come up with “I am damaged for life” and “I’m safe now,” respectively.” One unique aspect of EMDR is how this technique incorporates the use of body through rapid side to side eye movements and alternating sounds or taps on a series of body points. As the participant imagines the trauma and discussing the emotions and stress levels, the therapist simultaneously conducts the particular sensation to body such as holding up two fingers and moving them back and forth.

Still today it is not known why ECT works but it seems to cause changes in brain chemistry that can quickly reverse symptoms of certain mental illnesses. It is also said that the shock literally shocks the person out of their illness as it is regarded as a punishment for the inappropriate behaviour. Another explanation is that the associated memory loss following shock allows the person to start afresh. They literally ‘forget’ they were suffering from a mental illness. Created in +1934 by Hungarian neuropsychiatrist Ladislas Meduna, [11]. However, ECT was not introduced in England until 1939 when Lothar Kalinowsky, observed the treatment administered in Italy and decided to use it in England due to its promising results. During this time high doses of electricity were administered without anaesthesia and muscle relaxations. This lead to memory loss, fractured bones and other serious side effects, which lead to, much of the stigma attached to ECT, because of these early treatments [12]. ECT is a treatment that is still used today, however much less brutally than in the 1930s.

Today we know that depression, anxiety and other psychological symptoms can contribute to physical sensations and a sense of being physically unwell and we also have an understanding of psychosomatic illness. Another important contribution was Mesmer’s recognition of the unconscious, although he did not speak of it as such. He experienced the power of the unconscious in that he contributed to the discovery of the hypnotic state, which can be a powerful therapeutic tool in therapy. Although he was labeled a fraud on the basis that there was no proof that he had discovered a new physical fluid, it is an important finding just the same that his clients were cured on the basis of suggestion. This is important in terms of how the psychological relates to the physical. Another contribution to psychology is that Mesmer sought to be both a scientist and a practitioner, and that this model of the dual role of a therapist is important for therapists working in psychology today. Finally, Mesmer mentored an important figure in the history of psychology who recognized that the belief in the efficacy of cure, desire to cure and the therapeutic relationship were fundamental factors in successfully working with clients in therapy. These beliefs are central to the practice of clinical psychology in our world today. There is no doubt that Mesmer is a curious figure in the history of psychology. He contributed to

Freud’s interest in unconscious ideas was sparked in France after watching demonstrations by Jean-Martin Charcot and Hippolyte Bernheim. Charcot showed that hysterical conditions like “glove anesthesia” and blindness without a scientific cause could be cured (though often temporarily) through ideas and suggestions. The idea on the part of the patient that he cannot see or feel his hand or any other number of things can be reversed by the hypnotist’s command to do whatever he believes he cannot. His demonstrations showed that the afflicted were not suffering from a problem in the brain, but rather in the mind.

The topic of discussion in this article was the utilization of hypnosis in order to treat PTSD. The author’s main evidence was the fact that it is already used to treat other psychological disorders that have symptoms similar to those of

What remains unknown is why electroconvulsive therapy is effective. A plethora of studies show the neurochemical correlates of this treatment and its relation to the anti-depressant effect, yet none are conclusive. Richard Abrams has studied ECT for years and discusses a wide variety of reasons for its effectiveness in his revised edition of Electroconvulsive Therapy. For a person who has studied this treatment for 50 years, he concludes

When ECT “hit” the medical scene in the 40s and 50s, it was unsafe and gruesome (Dahl, 2008). Treatment was often performed while the patient was awake, and their convulsions were not controlled at all – they were often strong enough to break bones. ECT hit its peak in the 1960s when three tenths of a million US citizens underwent the therapy yearly (Dahl, 2008). At that point, however, it was still “absolutely a cruel procedure” (Dahl, 2008). It is still yet to recover from its ghastly past, the general public still thinks of ECT as how it was portrayed in One Flew Over the Coocoo's Nest, and more recently, Requiem for a Dream (Fitzgerald, 2011). A psychiatrist summed up the current status of ECT very well saying, “Quite frankly, the stigma pushes people away from it, and it pushes some psychiatrists away from even recommending ECT, but most of the stigma related to ECT really is related to misconception” (Dahl, 2008).

After researching electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), I have decided that if a close family member or even myself were severely depressed I would not support the use of ECT. Electroconvulsive therapy consists of an electrical shock, which is used to produce a seizure. Many people experience seizures due to some other type of illness or illnesses, and in these cases there is medicine taken in order to prevent these occurrences. In deciding my opinion on the topic of ECT I asked myself would I want to put myself or a loved one through what others are trying to avoid; a seizure. Although ECT has proven to be effective in some cases of depression, it has many risk factors involved and it does not ensure a lifetime with out the reoccurrence of

The purpose of this essay is to describe and explain the uses of hypnotherapy in the treatment of a medical condition. For this essay I have chosen to look at a chronic life limiting illness called Motor Neurone Disease. This is a disease that can affect many different aspects of a person’s life and is very aggressive in its symptoms. I have met quite a few people with this condition whilst working in the Neurophysiology department at the QMC, where all the nerve and muscles studies and EMG’s are performed. It not only changes the person’s life but also the lives of the people around them. I found this research both upsetting and informative.

Freud and other psychoanalysts used various methods to uncover repressed ideas, and to permit the client to gain insight into his or her unresolved problems. As a form of therapy the approach uses hypnosis, Freud and Breuer treated a twenty one-year-old women called Anna O, who suffered from several neurotic symptoms such as nervous coughs and paralysis. Hypnosis uncovered a repressed memory of Anna O hearing the sound of dance music coming from a nearby house as she was nursing her dying father, and her guilty feeling that she would rather be dancing than looking after her father. Her nervous coughing stopped after that repressed memory came to light. However, patients are either hard or impossible to hypnotise and people under hypnosis become very suggestible.

This essay will explore the difference between permissive and authoritarian approaches in hypnotherapy. Included will be history of the two approaches, background of the way they work and practical examples to show the influence they have on clients. Gathering information through various means (which will be discussed in this essay) will help the hypnotherapist create a personalized induction. The essay will explore this personalized induction and see if it will always be most effective to use a script that is modified of tailor made for the particular client.

Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is a treatment for severe mental illness in which the brain is stimulated with a strong electrical current which induces a seizure. The seizure rearranges the brain's neurochemistry and results in an elevation of mood. This essay asks: Is ECT any safer and more effective in treating mood disorders than drug therapies? This treatment has a controversial history ever since it was first introduced in 1938. I intend to argue that electroconvulsive therapy is indeed a safe treatment of mental disorders when other treatments have failed. Due to the development of safer and less traumatic ways of administering ECT, the treatment has made a comeback, is greatly used, and proves to be

The two psychological interventions that were administered to McMurphy while in the mental institution were a lobotomy and shock therapy. A lobotomy is the removal of the portion from the frontal lobe of the brain. This procedure’s main goal is to eliminate aggressive or violent behavior. This invention took place in 1935 by Dr. Antonio Egas Moniz. However, by the late 1940s the realization those individuals undergoing lobotomy procedures took place without initiative became apparent. Although the methods of a lobotomy have changed the basic underlying idea of neurosurgery exists today in the form of “psychosurgery” (Encarta 2000). Shock Therapy uses electric current or drugs to control psychotic disorders. In 1933, Dr. Manfred Sakel used drugs and instituted insulin shock to control mainly Schizophrenia. In 1938, Drs. U. Cerletti and L. Bini used electroshock therapy to treat severe depression (i.e. manic depressive psychoses). Alternating current through the brain using parallel

A debate rages in psychology. It is not one of the usual kind, dwelling on a specific aspect of the mind or a new drug, but a controversy dealing with the very foundations of psychology. The issue is determining how psychologists should treat patients and on what psychologists base their choices. Some feel that they must be empirically-supported treatments, treatments backed by hard data and scientifically supported. Others feel that this standard for treatments is much too confining for the complex field of psychology and that many good treatments cannot be backed by hard data. The American Psychological Association President Task Force on Evidence-Based Treatment came out with a plan for psychology that effectively maintains a high

For the purpose of this assignment the experience of attending Electro-Convulsive Therapy will be discussed. It will include rationale for the procedure, an account of the procedure and the student nurses reflection on the experience using Gibbs’ model of reflection (Jasper 2003). Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is a medical treatment for severe mental illness in which a small, carefully controlled amount of electricity is introduced into the brain. This electrical stimulation, used in conjunction with anaesthesia and muscle relaxant medications, produces a mild generalised seizure or convulsion (Mankad et al 2010).