The Pros and Cons of Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT) Essay

Electroshock therapy is the process of electroshocking the brain of a human, this a process that takes multiple sessions (CBS News). ECT caused critical seizures. Doctors used this method to cure of reduce schizophrenia. Electroshock therapy was performed daily, it was known referred to as “The shock of the day” (D’Antonio). Doctors saw ECT as a easy and fast way to cure a patient.

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.

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

In essence, what happens is that the individual is dazed, confused, and disoriented, and therefore cannot remember or appreciate current problems. The shocks are then continued for a few weeks (sometimes several times a day) to make the procedure 'take,' that is, to damage the brain sufficiently so that the individual will not remember, at least for several months, the problems that led to his being shocked in the first place. The greater the brain damage, the more likely that certain memories and abilities will never return. Thus memory loss and confusion secondary to brain injury are not side effects of electroshock; they are the means by which families (perhaps unwittingly) and psychiatrists sometimes choose to deal with troubled and troublesome persons”

According to the Mental Health America website (2012), ECT is making a comeback. They assert with “the increase in the elderly population and Medicare, and the push by insurance companies to provide fast, “medical” treatment rather than talk therapy” (para. 6) has created yet another potentially dangerous field to navigate. Is it appropriate to treat these elderly patients with ECT when they have pre-existing medical conditions, specifically cardiac conditions where an electric shock could be fatal? Who is the advocate for the elderly widow without family to speak for her should she become so incapacitated by mental illness this becomes a viable option? This patient is vulnerable

Although more SZ patient improved with real ECT, which compared to placebo, when comparing to antipsychotics medication, the drugs are more beneficial. There was some limited evidence to suggest that ECT combined with medication resulted in greater improvement in mental state. The conclusion was that a combination of drugs and ECT could be useful if a rapid reduction of symptoms is required or when patients don’t respond well to drugs alone. (Tharyan and adams 2005)

ECT has become much safer than the dangerous past shown in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Electroconvulsive therapy has little resemblance to that depiction. ECT brings about fast results compared to some other medications and treatments. After the shock, there is immediate relief to the symptoms of many mental illnesses. The electric current only lasts for a few seconds and the seizure lasts for about a minute. Many medications take weeks to become effective and ECT is an ideal option for those people that need the relief right away. ECT has often worked when many other treatments have

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

In this article published in Journal of Mental Health, Lauren Rayner, with the help of her colleagues study the consent process of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) and the side effects that come with the therapy. Electroconvulsive therapy is used to help people with certain mental illnesses such as severe depression, mania, catatonia, and schizophrenia. This therapy is the process of which electric currents pass through the brain intentionally causing a quick seizure. This seizure causes changes to happen within the brain that can quickly reverse symptoms of some mental disorders. Electroconvulsive therapy has a very bad connotation behind it. It is portrayed in the media as inhumane and leaves a negative impression. Patients post electroconvulsive therapy complain about cognitive impairment. According to the article a patient-centered approach will help inform others about the treatment and policy procedures of electroconvulsive therapy. Researchers conducted studies that helped understand the perspectives of patients that receive the therapy.

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

Although it has been routine practice for many years to attempt to attenuate or abolish the vagal effects of ECT by administering an anticholinergic agent such as atropine before treatment. A study of the effect of atropine premedication on the rate-pressure product recorded an unsurprisingly larger increase in this measure with atropine than with placebo, but the authors recommendation to avoid atropine for ECT premedication except prior to seizure threshold determination was not supported by evidence for any harmful effects of the increased rate-pressure product. The potentially fatal cardiac arrest that has been reported in patients receiving ECT without anticholinergic premedication would scarcely have been expected to occur. Atropine

ECT is a 75-year old technology that has changed little in that time, and is still being used within in the psychiatric community as the primary treatment for TRD. Despite its well document short-term success rates, it is time that a more advanced technology, which can offer the same benefits with fewer side effects, become the primary treatment for patients with MDD when all other treatment option have failed to provide them with relief of their symptoms. Additionally, some patients may not be willing to consider ECT as a treatment option, and therefore other, effective treatment options need to be made available.

seizure through controlled electric shock, under anesthesia. The process itself is under scrutiny because it is not entirely understood, which is main a reason why it is only considered in the direst of cases. ECT tends to have severe physical health risks and with the introduction of newer and less harmful antidepressant drugs, it is being used far less often (Comer, 2005). This new class of drugs includes three main types; monoamine oxidase (MAOI) inhibitors, tricyclics and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs).

Epilepsy is a condition in which a person has two or more seizures affecting a variety of mental and physical functions. Epilepsy is one of the oldest conditions of the human race. Epilepsy Awareness is important because Epilepsy is a widely misunderstood disorder. The reason that Epilepsy has been misunderstood has been mainly due to research not being conducted until the middle of the nineteenth century. There are six main types of seizures and many treatments that can assist an epileptic patient. Many facts and myths exist about a person who has Epilepsy, which, is why it is an important disorder to understand. A person living with Epilepsy can typically have a normal life after seeking medical advice from doctors.

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).