Should we stop using electroconvulsive therapy?
Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is an extremely safe and effective medical treatment for certain psychiatric disorders. ECT is a procedure in which a small amount of electricity is applied to the scalp to produce a brief seizure in the brain. Like many other medical procedures, ECT is given to a patient who is under general anesthesia.
What is the success rate of ECT therapy?
Jul 23, 2021 · Electroconvulsive therapy is which type of approach to treatment A)A social-cultural approach B)A biomedical approach C)A psychological approach D)A Freudian approach
Is ECT worth it?
Electroconvulsive therapy in the treatment of mixed states in bipolar disorder. Only three studies met the required quality criteria and were included. This literature suggests that ECT is an effective, safe, and probably underutilized treatment of mixed states. Recent technical developments have made ECT more friendly, tolerable, and safe.
How effective is ECT therapy?
May 24, 2015 · We describe the case of an 89-year-old woman (deceased) with a 60-year history of recurrent depressive disorder treated with electroconvulsive therapy (ECT). It is estimated that she received up to 400 ECTs over her life course as her symptoms would not respond to oral medication. Despite extensive exposure to ECT, there was only minimal ...
Which of the following defines electroconvulsive therapy?
A treatment for severe depression and certain mental disorders. A brief seizure is induced by giving electrical stimulation to the brain through electrodes placed on the scalp. Also called ECT and electroshock therapy.
Which of the following is an approach for treating mental disorders by using drug therapies?
Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is a form of psychological treatment that has been demonstrated to be effective for a range of problems including depression, anxiety disorders, alcohol and drug use problems, marital problems, eating disorders, and severe mental illness.
What are the types of biomedical therapy?
Biomedical therapies include drug therapy, electroconvulsive therapy, and psychosurgery.
What is the most common type of biomedical therapy?
By far, the most widely used biomedical treatments today are the drug therapies. Most drugs for anxiety and depression are prescribed by primary care providers, followed by psychiatrists and, in some states, psychologists.
What is Biomedical treatment?
Biomedical therapies are physiological interventions that focus on the reduction of symptoms associated with psychological disorders. Three procedures used are drug therapies, electroconvulsive (shock) treatment, and psychosurgery. Drug therapies.
What are the 6 types of treatment for mental disorders?
They include:Psychotherapy or counseling. This also is called talk therapy. ... Prescription medicine. ... Support groups. ... Other therapies. ... ECT or other brain stimulation therapy. ... Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy. ... Hospital or residential treatment program.Feb 7, 2018
What are the 4 major types of medical biological therapies?
Types of biological therapy include immunotherapy (such as cytokines, cancer treatment vaccines, and some antibodies) and some targeted therapies. Also called biological response modifier therapy, biotherapy, and BRM therapy.
What are the different types of drug therapies?
Drug TherapiesMethods to Administer Drugs.Chemotherapy.Drug Therapies.Biosimilars.Watch and Wait.Radiation Therapy.Immunotherapy.Vaccine Therapy.More items...
Which form of therapy or treatment is used by the biological model?
any form of treatment for mental disorders that attempts to alter physiological functioning, including drug therapies, electroconvulsive therapy, and psychosurgery. Also called biomedical therapy.
What is the biomedical approach in psychology?
The biomedical model posits that mental disorders are brain diseases and emphasizes pharmacological treatment to target presumed biological abnormalities. A biologically-focused approach to science, policy, and practice has dominated the American healthcare system for more than three decades.
What kind of therapy is psychoanalysis?
What Is Psychoanalytic Therapy? Psychoanalytic therapy is a form of talk therapy based on Sigmund Freud's theories of psychoanalysis. The approach explores how the unconscious mind influences your thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.Jul 13, 2021
Why is electroconvulsive therapy a controversial treatment for psychological disorders?
Reasons for Controversy Three reasons are given for the aversion: 1) ECT is considered old-fashioned and politically incorrect; 2) it is forced on the patient; and 3) the memory disturbances are so severe and persistent that no rational human being would undergo this procedure, no matter how well-intended.Mar 1, 2004
How many ECT machines are there in China?
As of 2012, there are approximately 400 ECT machines in China, and 150,000 ECT treatments are performed each year. Chinese national practice guidelines recommend ECT for the treatment of schizophrenia, depressive disorders, and bipolar disorder and in the Chinese literature, ECT is an effective treatment for schizophrenia and mood disorders. Although the Chinese government stopped classifying homosexuality as an illness in 2001, electroconvulsive therapy is still used by some establishments as a form of " conversion therapy ".
What was the first APA report?
The 1970s saw the publication of the first American Psychiatric Association (APA) task force report on electroconvulsive therapy (to be followed by further reports in 1990 and 2001). The report endorsed the use of ECT in the treatment of depression. The decade also saw criticism of ECT.
How long does it take for a person to relapse from ECT?
There is little agreement on the most appropriate follow-up to ECT for people with major depressive disorder. When ECT is followed by treatment with antidepressants, about 50% of people relapsed by 12 months following successful initial treatment with ECT, with about 37% relapsing within the first 6 months.
What is ECT used for?
ECT is used to treat people who have severe or prolonged mania; NICE recommends it only in life-threatening situations or when other treatments have failed and as a second-line treatment for bipolar mania.
When did ECT become popular?
ECT became popular in the US in the 1940s. At the time, psychiatric hospitals were overrun with patients whom doctors were desperate to treat and cure. Whereas lobotomies would reduce a patient to a more manageable submissive state, ECT helped to improve mood in those with severe depression. A survey of psychiatric practice in the late 1980s found that an estimated 100,000 people received ECT annually, with wide variation between metropolitan statistical areas. Accurate statistics about the frequency, context and circumstances of ECT in the US are difficult to obtain because only a few states have reporting laws that require the treating facility to supply state authorities with this information. In 13 of the 50 states, the practice of ECT is regulated by law. In the mid-1990s in Texas, ECT was used in about one third of psychiatric facilities and given to about 1,650 people annually. Usage of ECT has since declined slightly; in 2000–01 ECT was given to about 1500 people aged from 16 to 97 (in Texas it is illegal to give ECT to anyone under sixteen). ECT is more commonly used in private psychiatric hospitals than in public hospitals, and minority patients are underrepresented in the ECT statistics. In the United States, ECT is usually given three times a week; in the United Kingdom, it is usually given twice a week. Occasionally it is given on a daily basis. A course usually consists of 6–12 treatments, but may be more or fewer. Following a course of ECT some patients may be given continuation or maintenance ECT with further treatments at weekly, fortnightly or monthly intervals. A few psychiatrists in the US use multiple-monitored ECT (MMECT), where patients receive more than one treatment per anesthetic. Electroconvulsive therapy is not a required subject in US medical schools and not a required skill in psychiatric residency training. Privileging for ECT practice at institutions is a local option: no national certification standards are established, and no ECT-specific continuing training experiences are required of ECT practitioners.
When was the ECT procedure first used?
The ECT procedure was first conducted in 1938 by Italian psychiatrist Ugo Cerletti and rapidly replaced less safe and effective forms of biological treatments in use at the time. ECT is often used with informed consent as a safe and effective intervention for major depressive disorder, mania, and catatonia.
Where is the Electroconvulsive Therapy Machine?
Electroconvulsive therapy machine on display at Glenside Museum in Bristol, England. ECT device produced by Siemens and used for example at the Asyl psychiatric hospital in Kristiansand, Norway from the 1960s to the 1980s.
How often is ECT given?
ECT is typically given two to three times a week initially for an average of six to 12 sessions and is often tapered over time. A newer ECT technique, right unilateral ultrabrief pulse electroconvulsive therapy, may allow for fewer memory issues with the treatment.
What is ECT therapy?
What Is Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT)? Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is a form of psychiatric treatment that involves inducing seizures with the use of electrical stimulation while an individual is under general anesthesia. An estimated one million people worldwide have ECT each year. 1.
How many ECT patients are women?
Approximately 70% of ECT patients are women. More than a third of ECT patients are age 65 and older. 3 Use in children and teens remains relatively rare. Some states, including Colorado and Texas, prohibit the use of ECT in children and adolescents under the age of 16.
What is ECT used for?
ECT is most often used for cases of treatment-resistant depression and some other psychiatric conditions including bipolar disorder and psychosis, although its use still remains somewhat controversial in the general public.
Why does ECT work?
Researchers don't yet know the precise reason why ECT works, but one theory is that it helps to correct imbalances in the brain’s chemical messenger system. Others say that the seizure "resets" the brain. Several treatments may be needed to see a lasting effect. 9.
How effective is ECT?
Effectiveness: ECT has shown a high level of efficacy in the treatment of some conditions.
When was ECT first used?
ECT was first introduced in 1938 and by 1941 was used by nearly half of the mental health institutions in the United States. 2 Stigma as well as the emergence of effective psychiatric medications led to a decline in its use, although its prevalence has increased in recent decades. 2. Approximately 70% of ECT patients are women.
Why It's Done
- Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) can provide rapid, significant improvements in severe symptoms of several mental health conditions. ECT is used to treat: 1. Severe depression,particularly when accompanied by detachment from reality (psychosis), a desire to commit suicide or refusal to e…
Risks
- Although ECT is generally safe, risks and side effects may include: 1. Confusion.Immediately after treatment, you may experience confusion, which can last from a few minutes to several hours. You may not know where you are or why you're there. Rarely, confusion may last several days or longer. Confusion is generally more noticeable in older adults. 2. Memory loss.Some people hav…
How You Prepare
- Before having your first ECT treatment, you'll need a full evaluation, which usually includes: 1. Medical history 2. Complete physical exam 3. Psychiatric assessment 4. Basic blood tests 5. Electrocardiogram (ECG) to check your heart health 6. Discussion of the risks of anesthesia These exams help make sure that ECT is safe for you.
What You Can Expect
- The ECT procedure takes about five to 10 minutes, with added time for preparation and recovery. ECT can be done while you're hospitalized or as an outpatient procedure.
Results
- Many people begin to notice an improvement in their symptoms after about six treatments with electroconvulsive therapy. Full improvement may take longer, though ECT may not work for everyone. Response to antidepressant medications, in comparison, can take several weeks or more. No one knows for certain how ECT helps treat severe depression and other mental illness…
Overview
Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is a psychiatric treatment where a generalized seizure (without muscular convulsions) is electrically induced to manage refractory mental disorders. Typically, 70 to 120 volts are applied externally to the patient's head, resulting in approximately 800 milliamperes of direct current passing through the brain, for a duration of 100 millisecondsto 6 seconds, eith…
Medical use
ECT is used, where possible, with informed consent in treatment-resistant major depressive disorder, treatment-resistant catatonia, prolonged or severe mania, and in conditions where "there is a need for rapid, definitive response because of the severity of a psychiatric or medical condition (e.g., when illness is characterized by stupor, marked psychomotor retardation, depressive delusions or hallucinations, or life-threatening physical exhaustion associated with m…
Effects
Aside from effects in the brain, the general physical risks of ECT are similar to those of brief general anesthesia; the US Surgeon General's report says that there are "no absolute health contraindications" to its use. Immediately following treatment, the most common adverse effects are confusion and memory loss. Some patients experience muscle sorenessafter ECT. A meta-analysis from 2017 found that the death rate of ECT is around 2.1 per 100,000 procedures. Ther…
Procedure
The placement of electrodes, as well as the dose and duration of the stimulation is determined on a per-patient basis.
In unilateral ECT, both electrodes are placed on the same side of the patient's head. Unilateral ECT may be used first to minimize side effects such as memory loss.
Mechanism of action
Despite decades of research, the exact mechanism of action of ECT remains elusive. Neuroimaging studies in people who have had ECT, investigating differences between responders and nonresponders, and people who relapse, find that responders have anticonvulsant effects mostly in the frontal lobes, which corresponds to immediate responses, and neurotrophic effects primarily in the medial temporal lobe. The anticonvulsant effects are decreased blood flow and d…
Use
As of 2001, it was estimated that about one million people received ECT annually.
There is wide variation in ECT use between different countries, different hospitals, and different psychiatrists. International practice varies considerably from widespread use of the therapy in many Western countries to a small minority of countries that do not use ECT at all, such as Slovenia.
History
As early as the 16th century, agents to induce seizures were used to treat psychiatric conditions. In 1785, the therapeutic use of seizure induction was documented in the London Medical and Surgical Journal. As to its earliest antecedents one doctor claims 1744 as the dawn of electricity's therapeutic use, as documented in the first issue of Electricity and Medicine. Treatment and cu…
Society and culture
Surveys of public opinion, the testimony of former patients, legal restrictions on the use of ECT and disputes as to the efficacy, ethics and adverse effects of ECT within the psychiatric and wider medical community indicate that the use of ECT remains controversial. This is reflected in the January 2011 vote by the FDA's Neurological Devices Advisory Panel to recommend that FDA maintain ECT devices in the Class III device category for high risk devices, except for patients su…