Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is a non-pharmacological treat- ment whose effectiveness has been demonstrated for patients suffering from severe and resistant depression, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.
Does electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) work for psychotic disorders?
Nov 03, 2018 · ECT fell out of favor in the 1960s and 1970s, but it made a resurgence in the 1980s. Today, it is a widely accepted treatment for serious mental disorders and is taught and practiced at hospitals ...
Why is ECT so controversial among psychiatrists?
Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is a technique that has been used since 1938 to treat several psychiatric disorders as a replacement for chemically induced seizures. Despite its history of stigma, controversy and low accessibility, ECT is found to be beneficial and efficient in severe cases of depression where medication fails to bring results.
What is the history of ECT therapy?
What is electroconvulsive therapy and when is it used?
What is ECT therapy?
Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) was introduced as a suitable treatment for schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders in 1938 [3].
How many people with schizophrenia respond poorly to antipsychotics?
As many as 30% of patients with schizophrenia respond poorly to standard treatment with antipsychotic medications [7]. Clozapine is the only medication shown to be effective in antipsychotic-refractory patients, however, it benefits only about 30–55% of this population [8, 9].
Is electroconvulsive therapy effective?
Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is a remarkably effective treatment for major depressive disorder, but is less commonly utilized for treatment of psychotic disorders. Recent literature indicates that ECT can be a useful strategy for a wide range of psychotic disorders, including treatment-resistant schizophrenia.
Does ECT affect hippocampal volume?
With ECT, a number of studies have suggested that structural MRI measures, such as hippocampal volume, may be predictive of treatment response in depression, although the most recent and largest study to date did not find a relationship between ECT-induced changes in hippocampal volume and clinical response.
Is ECT a valid strategy?
Initial controlled studies conducted with typical antipsychotics suggest that ECT is a valid augmentation strategy in schizophrenia, although the results are ambiguous. These discrepancies arise partly due to methodological variabilities, particularly regarding the populations studied and the number of ECT sessions.
Who developed the ECT?
In the United States, ECT was advanced by psychiatrists Lothar Kalinowsky and Max Fink, among others. Fink remains professor emeritus of psychiatry and neurology at the State University of New York at Stony Brook and has continued to write about the merits of ECT.
Who invented the ECT device?
In 1938, Cerletti and his psychiatrist colleague Lucio Bini developed the first ECT device and treated their first human patient, a diagnosed schizophrenic with delusions, hallucinations, and confusion. The treatment worked just as planned, and the patient's condition improved markedly.
How does electroconvulsive therapy work?
Although its exact mechanism of action is unknown, electroconvulsive therapy works by inducing seizure activity via electricity in the frontal lobes of the brain. The treatment itself lasts only several minutes, and a usual course of ECT involves treatment two or three times a week for a few weeks, followed by maintenance therapy on an outpatient ...
What caused the animal to enter an anesthetized coma-like state?
The electricity caused the animal to enter an anesthetized coma-like state. Cerletti wondered whether electricity applied to the heads of human patients would similarly produce anesthesia before provoking convulsions. Electroconvulsive therapy was born.
Where is the original ECT machine?
An original ECT machine used by Cerletti preserved at Museo di Storia della Medicina in Rome. Source: Francesca Pallone, used with permission. Around the same time, Italian neurologist Ugo Cerletti was experimenting with seizure induction in dogs by delivering electrical shocks directly to their heads.
Who invented electroconvulsive therapy?
Ugo Cerletti (1877-1963), the father of electroconvulsive therapy. Like many treatments in psychiatry and medicine more generally, ECT was discovered serendipitously (see Lieberman & Ogas, 2015). Early asylum keepers recognized that the symptoms of psychotic patients who also suffered from epilepsy seemed to improve after having a seizure.
Is ECT effective for schizophrenia?
Yet research indicates that nearly 80 years after its discovery, ECT remains the single most effective therapy for treatment-resistant cases of depression and some cases of bipolar affective disorder and schizophrenia.