What are the dangers of ECT?
Apr 05, 2021 · The main safety concern raised by Read and coauthors is that ECT causes brain damage. Specifically, they argued that the changes to autobiographical memory and the memory difficulties reported by patients following ECT treatment are evidence of brain damage.
What are the risks of ECT?
ECT is a beneficial psychiatric treatment in the following situations: Severe depression that leads to refusal of food and suicidal thoughts or psychosis Severe depression that doesn’t respond to antidepressants Depression in patients who are unable to take antidepressants for medical reasons or due ...
Is ECT dangerous for seniors?
Yes, ECT is a safe treatment.Thousands of patients receive ECT each year in the United States without complications. ECT is endorsed by the National Institute of Mental Health, the American Psychiatric Association, the American Medical Association, and the US Surgeon General. YouTube. View All.
How many ECT treatments are needed?
Jul 22, 2021 · Researchers found that electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is a safe treatment, especially when compared to the risks associated with severe depression. Patients who received ECT were less at risk of suicide, compared to those who didn't.
What is the success rate of ECT?
What is the Success Rate of Electroconvulsive Therapy? ECT is an effective medical treatment option, helping as many as 80-85 percent of patients who receive it. Most patients remain well for many months afterwards.
Can ECT make you worse?
ECT may have a role in people who have comorbid depression and anxiety. The concern of some psychiatrists is that while ECT may help with depressive symptoms, it could worsen anxiety symptoms, including obsessional thoughts or panic attacks.Mar 22, 2020
Is ECT worth the risk?
Risk Assessment of Electroconvulsive Therapy in Clinical Routine: A 3-Year Analysis of Life-Threatening Events in More Than 3,000 Treatment Sessions. Background: Extensive research has reported that electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) can be highly effective in approximately 80% of patients suffering from depression.Nov 23, 2021
What are the risks of ECT therapy?
The most common side effects of ECT on the day of treatment include nausea, headache, fatigue, confusion, and slight memory loss, which may last minutes to hours. These risks must be balanced with the consequences of ineffectively treated severe psychiatric disorders.
Who should not get ECT?
Not everyone is a candidate for treatment even if they believe ECT could help them. For example, children under age eleven cannot undergo ECT for mental health disorders. People with heart conditions and people who cannot handle short-acting sedatives or muscle relaxers should not undergo ECT treatments.
Can ECT damage the brain?
Despite many scientific and governmental authorities having concluded that ECT does not cause brain damage, there is significant evidence that ECT has indeed caused brain damage in some patients, both historically and recently, and evidence that it always causes some form or degree of brain damage.
Does ECT change your personality?
ECT does not change a person's personality, nor is it designed to treat those with just primary “personality disorders.” ECT can cause transient short-term memory — or new learning — impairment during a course of ECT, which fully reverses usually within one to four weeks after an acute course is stopped.
Is ECT a last resort?
ECT Is Not a Last Resort. For patients with psychotic depression and catatonia, and an accompanying high risk of complications such as self-harm, ECT should be considered as a first-line treatment.Mar 17, 2022
Does ECT reset the brain?
ECT has been referred to as a “reset button for the brain,” which not only directly improves depressive symptoms, but also allows current medications to work more effectively.
Is ECT brutal?
Leonard Roy Frank said, "I have concluded that ECT is a brutal, dehumanizing, memory-destroying, intelligence-lowering, brain-damaging, brainwashing, life-threatening technique. ECT robs people of their memories, their personality, and their lives. It crushes their spirit.Oct 1, 2003
When should ECT not be used?
Do not use electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) routinely for people with moderate depression but consider it if their depression has not responded to multiple drug treatments and psychological treatment.
Can ECT cause psychosis?
A common cause of psychotic symptoms such as hallucination, delusions and thought disorder after ECT may also occur in the course of delirium-type impaired consciousness [10–13].
What are the benefits of ECT?
ECT is a beneficial psychiatric treatment in the following situations: 1 Severe depression that leads to refusal of food and suicidal thoughts or psychosis 2 Severe depression that doesn’t respond to antidepressants 3 Depression in patients who are unable to take antidepressants for medical reasons or due to side effects 4 When a person has abnormal and violent movements or is unresponsive in a stupor, known as catatonia 5 Bipolar disorder including mania and depression 6 Schizophrenia with paranoia and hallucinations 7 Dementia in patients who become violent or aggressive, and agitated 8 Pregnant women who need rapid treatment and can’t take medications for fear of harming the fetus 9 Patients in whom previous ECT has been effective
What is ECT therapy?
Electroconvulsive therapy ( ECT) is a treatment in which medical professionals apply an electric current to a patient’s brain for a short period to induce a seizure. Patients with certain mental illnesses may benefit from this procedure when medications and psychiatric counselling have failed to help. ECT can be applied to just one hemisphere of ...
What is electroshock therapy?
It was originally called electroshock therapy and performed without anesthesia or muscle relaxants. Like the chemically induced seizures, early electroshock therapy caused uncontrolled convulsions leading to fractures and other injuries in the patients.
What are the side effects of general anesthesia?
The side effects of general anesthesia like headache, nausea, vomiting, irregular heart rate, etc. Confusion that may last for a few hours, more likely in elderly patients. Memory loss known as retrograde amnesia when a patient forgets events that occurred weeks or months before the treatment.
How long does a seizure last?
The doctor then stimulates the brain with finely controlled electric impulses to produce a seizure lasting for approximately a minute.
Where is seizure activity recorded?
The doctor monitors the seizure activity which is recorded on an EEG ( electro encephalogram ).
What is the name of the illness that affects the body, mind, and thoughts?
Depression is an illness that involves the body, mood, and thoughts and affects the way a person eats and sleeps, the way one feels about oneself, and the way one thinks about things. The principal types of depression are major depression , dysthymia, and bipolar disease (also called manic-depressive disease).
How often do you get ECT?
In the United States, ECT treatments are generally given two to three times weekly for three to four weeks — for a total of six to 12 treatments. Some doctors use a newer technique called right unilateral ultrabrief pulse electroconvulsive therapy that's done daily on weekdays.
What is ECT used for?
ECT is used to treat: Severe depression, particularly when accompanied by detachment from reality (psychosis), a desire to commit suicide or refusal to eat. Treatment-resistant depression, a severe depression that doesn't improve with medications or other treatments. Severe mania, a state of intense euphoria, agitation or hyperactivity ...
How long does confusion last?
Rarely, confusion may last several days or longer. Confusion is generally more noticeable in older adults. Memory loss. Some people have trouble remembering events that occurred right before treatment or in the weeks or months before treatment or, rarely, from previous years.
Is it safe to take ECT?
Risks. Although ECT is generally safe, risks and side effects may include: 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.
What is ECT in medical terms?
Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is a procedure, done under general anesthesia, in which small electric currents are passed through the brain, intentionally triggering a brief seizure. ECT seems to cause changes in brain chemistry that can quickly reverse symptoms of certain mental health conditions.
How long does an ECT last?
This causes a small amount of electric current to pass through the electrodes to your brain, producing a seizure that usually lasts less than 60 seconds.
Can anesthesia cause heart problems?
These generally can be treated with medications. Medical complications. As with any type of medical procedure, especially one that involves anesthesia, there are risks of medical complications. During ECT, heart rate and blood pressure increase, and in rare cases, that can lead to serious heart problems.
How long does an ECT last?
A single ECT session usually lasts one hour. This includes the time the patient will be in the treatment room (approximately 15-20 minutes) and the time spent in the recovery room (approximately 20-30 minutes). Typically, ECT (whether inpatient or outpatient) is given two to three times a week for a total of six to twelve sessions.
How does ECT work?
Why does ECT work? No one is sure how ECT helps certain psychiatric disorders. It may promote changes in how brain cells communicate with each other at synapses and it may stimulate the development of new brain cells. ECT may flood the brain with neurotransmitters such as serotonin and dopamine, which are known to be involved in conditions like ...
What are the side effects of a syringe?
The immediate side effects of the procedure which may last for about an hour include: 1 Headaches 2 Nausea 3 Muscle aches and soreness 4 Disorientation and confusion
How many sessions of ECT?
The patients who received ECT went through an average of eight sessions. In the end, the incidence of a serious medical event—such as hospitalization or death—within 30 days following initial hospitalization was lower, although not significantly, among individuals who received ECT.
Who is Sarah Simon?
Sarah Simon. twitter. Sarah Simon is a bilingual multimedia journalist with a degree in psychology. She has previously written for publications including The Daily Beast and Rantt Media. Learn about our editorial process.
Is ECT safe for depression?
After studying data collected over a 10-year period, they found that ECT is safe and effective for people with treatment-resistant depression. Compared to the risks associated with severe depression, such as hospitalization and suicide—ECT did not present a clinically significant risk of serious medical events.
Is talk therapy effective for depression?
At the same time, conditions like depression are very serious, he adds and can have consequences for someone's quality of life. "Medication and talk therapy are often very effective, but there are large portions of people who don't respond to these kinds of treatments," he says.
Is ECT underused?
ECT Is Improved, but Underused. The American Psychiatric Association finds that ECT produces "substantial improvement" in approximately 80% of patients. Yet, nearly nine out of 10 U.S. hospitals do not offer this treatment. It's also estimated that only 1.5% of patients who could benefit from it actually use it.
Is electroconvulsive therapy safe?
Researchers found that electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is a safe treatment, especially when compared to the risks associated with severe depression . Patients who received ECT were less at risk of suicide, compared to those who didn't. People with severe depression who might benefit from ECT are often reluctant to receive ...
What are the effects of ECT treatment?
The immediate effects of ECT treatment include confusion and memory loss; however, these are temporary.
What are the risks of ECT?
ECT therapy is considered safe and there are no definite contraindications for ECT treatment. It is known that some conditions may place people at additional risk; however, much of this is due to the risks seen in any procedure done under general anesthesia. Co-occurring conditions that may increase the risks involved with ECT treatments include: 1 Neurological conditions like brain lesions or a very recent stroke 2 Cardiac conditions like unstable angina, congestive heart failure, uncontrolled high blood pressure or a recent myocardial infarction 3 Disorders with autonomic or anesthetic sensitivity 4 Brain injury 5 Metabolic disorders
Is ECT safe for people?
ECT therapy is considered safe and there are no definite contraindications for ECT treatment. It is known that some conditions may place people at additional risk; however, much of this is due to the risks seen in any procedure done under general anesthesia. Co-occurring conditions that may increase the risks involved with ECT treatments include:
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Overview
- Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is a procedure, done under general anesthesia, in which small electric currents are passed through the brain, intentionally triggering a brief seizure. ECT seems to cause changes in brain chemistry that can quickly reverse symptoms of certain mental health conditions. ECT often works when other treatments are unsuccessful and when the full course o…
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 eat. 2. Treatment-resistant depression,a severe depression that doesn't improve with medications o…
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....
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…