The Use Of Electroconvulsive Therapy Is It Really Controversial

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.

Psychiatrists observed that after spontaneous epileptic seizure the psychiatric conditions of patients improved. Previously, in the sixteenth-century, Paracelsus, a Swiss physician and alchemist gave camphor by mouth to produce convulsions and to cure lunacy. Originally, the induced convulsions treated severe catatonic stupors and schizophrenia. Today we know the convulsions are secondary to grand mal seizures in the brain, and that the seizure is the primary therapeutic agent of electroconvuslive therapy (ECT). Metrazol and Cardiazol later replaced Camphor because of its rapid onset. The extremely

Prior to this assignment, my feelings from electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) solely came from images in the media. Two instances that stand out to me is the portrayal of ECT in an episode of "American Horror Story: Asylum" and from the movie "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest." Although I realize media is not an accurate representation of reality, these scenes stood out to me due to the intense, emotional display of ECT's effects through the patient's eyes. Despite the unrealistic depiction of ECT, one accurate aspect of the scenes is that ECT was commonly used during the 1960s-1970s to improve mental disturbances and a variety of psychological disorders. I think the reason these scenes stood out to me was that ECT was implemented without the patient's informed consent or agreement upon the treatment regimen, utilized as a way to subdue patients into compliance. Contrary to modern use of ECT, this type of therapy was used as a form of punishment, implemented

According Fink (1992), in 1939, the former London Asylum opened a Metrazol clinic. Metrazol was first used in clinical experiments by Hungarian physician, Ladislaus von Meduna in 1933 (Fink, 1992). The Hungarian physician explained that inducing epileptic convulsions with insulin may "cure" schizophrenia. His results came from his observations of individuals who had both schizophrenia and epilepsy. Meduna examined patients who had epileptic seizures that would experience a remission of their symptoms of both diseases (Fink, 1992). Metrazol is one of many drugs that can induce seizures artificially. The Asylum began to phase out its use in 1943, turning instead to electroconvulsive therapy (Fink, 1992).

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

After the treatment was through the patient would be covered in sweat and sometimes the sheets would be stained with bodily fluids. The patients were observed to be less aggressive, less hostile and very calm. In the successful treatments, the patients’ delusions and hallucinations were no longer present and they also experienced less obsessive thoughts. Many people view this treatment as dangerous and did not use this method because of the risks involved. This therapy was slowly replaced with Electroconvulsive therapy and is rarely used

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,

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

The first type of convulsive therapy began by sending the patient into shock using insulin (Hirshbein & Sarvananda, 2008). This was introduced by Austrian Scientist, Manfred Sakel, in 1933 (Lebensohn, 1999). He believed that mental illnesses were caused by an increase of adrenaline and that injecting patients with insulin could reverse the acts of the adrenaline (Lebensohn, 1999). In the timespan of 1936 and 1946 Joseph Wortis and Bernard Glueck introduced insulin shock in America, which grew rapidly in popularity (Lebensohn, 1999). Eventually its use declined due to the fact that it was expensive and showed little effects (Lebensohn, 1999). Metrazol Convulsive Therapy was introduced next but it produced very violent convulsions and had a wide range of complications so it fell into misuse (Lebensohn, 1999).

The groundwork for the development of electroshock therapy was laid in 1935, when a Budapest psychiatrist, Von Meduna, observed that

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

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).

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).