ECT treatment for depression is the most common use. Because of the history of ECT and its violent and abusive depiction in movies, ECT therapy is often viewed as controversial or harmful. However, ECT treatments seen in movies and on television are not accurate portrayals of modern ECT.
Why is electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) controversial?
Why is electroconvulsive therapy controversial? Much of the controversy surrounding ECT revolves around its effectiveness vs. the side effects, the objectivity of ECT experts, and the recent increase in ECT as a quick and easy solution, instead of long-term psychotherapy or hospitalization. Why is ECT bad? Medical complications.
Is ECT an Ethical Treatment?
Why ECT is considered highly controversial? Critics of ECT say it's a crude tool of psychiatric coercion; advocates say it is the most effective, lifesaving psychiatric treatment that exists today. What is a major disadvantage of electroconvulsive therapy ECT for treating depression?
Why is ECT not used in the United States?
Jan 16, 2018 · Much of the controversy surrounding ECT revolves around its effectiveness vs. the side effects, the objectivity of ECT experts, and the recent increase in ECT as a quick and easy solution, instead of long-term psychotherapy or hospitalization. Because of the concern about permanent memory loss and confusion related to ECT treatment, some researchers …
Does electroconvulsive therapy meet the four ethics of health care?
The electroconvulsive therapy controversy: evidence and ethics The author reviews literature pertaining to the efficacy and safety of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), with emphasis on the controversy concerning whether ECT causes brain damage. ECT does appear to be effective in the treatment of severe depression and possibly mania.
Is electroconvulsive therapy controversial?
Electroconvulsive therapy is one of the most controversial treatments in medicine. Opinions are often polarised; some consider electroconvulsive therapy to be effective and potentially lifesaving whereas others regard it as unhelpful and harmful and campaign energetically for it to be banned.
Why is shock treatment controversial?
The procedure is believed to change patients' brain chemistry in ways that have shown to produce a partial or complete reversal of poor mental health states. The main controversy surrounding modernized ECT is a lack of conclusive scientific research that establishes the safest parameters for administering ECT.Jun 30, 2020
Why does electroconvulsive therapy ECT continue to be controversial despite its effectiveness?
The main source of continuing controversy concerns a possible adverse effect: memory loss. There is no question that ECT causes some memory loss, particularly of events near the time of the treatment. These memories often return, however.Jan 13, 2017
Why is ECT not ethical?
ECT is not safe: it produces varying amounts of memory loss and other adverse effects on cognition in nearly everyone who receives it, typically lasting weeks or months after the last treatment (as well as many other adverse consequences, from ocular effects to postictal psychosis).Oct 1, 2003
Is ECT ethical?
Results. ECT research is ethically justified and should always continue to be conducted with the highest ethical standards. ECT research entails few ethical peculiarities such as involving multiple sessions were capacity to consent can change. It would be unethical not to conduct ECT research.May 13, 2016
When did they stop doing ECT?
While the idea of inducing a seizure for therapeutic reasons was first recorded in 1785, ECT was not developed until the 1930s. It was subsequently introduced to England and was commonly used well into the 1960s and 1970s. But its use waned towards the end of the 20th century.Apr 17, 2017
Does ECT lower IQ?
However, former patients have publicly testified that ECT can result in a very significant (>30 point) permanent decrement in IQ score (Food and Drug Administration, 1982; Andre, 2001; Cott, 2005: p.Jan 2, 2018
Can ECT cause long term damage?
Some studies also suggest that ECT causes long lasting or permanent memory damage, they add, although ECT advocates claim this memory loss is caused by depression not ECT itself.Jan 30, 2019
Does 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.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of electroconvulsive therapy?
The Pros & Cons Of ECT However, ECT does have several disadvantages. First and foremost, the treatment requires sedation, making recovery complex and much longer. Second, ECT has a higher chance to cause serious side effects for some individuals, including memory loss, which can deter potential patients.Apr 18, 2021
What are the risks of electroconvulsive 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.
Why does ECT have stigma?
Inaccurate information biased against ECT generates negative opinions and belief systems, which can lead to societal stigma toward individuals undergoing or having undergone ECT, possibly leading to discrimination (6).May 7, 2019
When was ECT invented?
It was fiction taken literally as medical fact. 7 When ECT was invented in 1938, modern anesthesia had not yet been developed; thus, ECT had to be given in unmodified form.
Is ECT a controversy?
ECT, like abortion, is surrounded by controversy and strong opinions on both sides. Fortunately, for those of us who practice ECT, the discussion is not quite as heated nor the risks as high as for our colleagues in ob-gyn. Still, modern ECT continues to have an undeserved, anachronistic reputation. There has never been a concerted effort ...
Is there an antidepressant for depression?
These include vagus nerve stimulation and transcranial magnetic stimulation, both of which have had limited efficacy and applicability to seriously depressed patients. 15,16 There is still no antidepressant treatment that even approaches the efficacy of ECT in patients with severe depression. ECT, like abortion, is surrounded by controversy ...
Is electroconvulsive therapy controversial?
Electroconvulsive Therapy: The Second Most Controversial Medical Procedure. ECT, like abortion, is surrounded by controversy and strong opinions on both sides. Fortunately, for those of us who practice ECT, the discussion is not quite as heated nor the risks as high as for our colleagues in ob-gyn. Many articles about electroconvulsive therapy ...
What is ECT therapy?
Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is a procedure that deliberately applies electric current to the brain, through the scalp, to cause a short seizure. It is used to treat people with severe mental illnesses, like depression, that did not respond to other treatments. Appointments 866.588.2264. Appointments & Locations.
When to use ECT?
ECT is generally used as a later treatment option when severe depression is unresponsive to other forms of therapy, or when the patient is so ill that his or her life is in danger. It also is used when these patients pose a severe threat to themselves or others, and it is dangerous to wait until medications take effect.
Why is electroconvulsive therapy used?
Why is electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) used? ECT is one of the fastest ways to relieve symptoms in severely depressed or suicidal patients, in patients who suffer from mania, and in other mental illnesses.
What is ECT in medical terms?
Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is a procedure in which a brief application of electric current to the brain, through the scalp, induces a seizure. It is typically used to treat a patient who is suffering from severe depression. Cleveland Clinic is a non-profit academic medical center.
Is ECT a quick fix?
There also is a misconception that ECT is used as a "quick fix" instead of long-term therapy or hospitalization. Unfavorable news reports and media coverage have added to the controversy of this treatment. In fact, ECT is safe and among the most effective treatments available for depression.
What is the effect of ECT on the brain?
ECT causes the patient to have a seizure. Electrodes are placed on the patient’s scalp and a finely controlled electric current is applied, which causes a brief seizure in the brain. Because the muscles are relaxed, the seizure will usually be limited to slight movement of the hands and feet. Patients are carefully monitored during the treatment.
How long does it take for short term memory loss to go away?
Short-term memory loss is the major side effect, although this usually goes away 1 to 2 weeks after treatment. You should be educated and informed about ECT and any treatment prior to receiving it. Ask for educational literature, videos, and an honest discussion with your doctor about the potential benefits and side effects.
When was ECT used?
ECT used as a threat in hospitals in 1950s. Many depictions of ECT in film and television have portrayed the therapy as an abusive form of control. Most famous is the film “ One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest ,” in which an unruly patient is subjected to the procedure as a punishment.
How does ECT work?
ECT works by using electricity to induce seizures. This is certainly a counterintuitive way of treating illness. But many medical treatments, such as chemotherapy for cancer, require us to undergo terrible physical experiences for therapeutic purposes. The conflicts over ECT have other sources.
What is Carrie Fisher's ashes?
Carrie Fisher’s ashes are in an urn designed to look like a Prozac pill. It’s fitting that in death she continues to be both brash and wryly funny about a treatment for depression. The public grief over Carrie Fisher’s death was not only for an actress who played one of the most iconic roles in film history.
When was ECT invented?
ECT was invented in Italy in the late 1930s. Psychiatrists had already discovered that inducing seizures could relieve symptoms of mental illness. Before ECT, this was done with the use of chemicals, usually one called Metrazol.
Who wrote the book "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest"?
These modifications were learned early, but it took a while for them to become standard practice. Ken Kesey , who wrote the original novel of “ One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest ,” released in 1962, worked in a mental hospital in the 1950s. He would have been able to witness all of this.
Is ECT a form of abuse?
Many critics have portrayed ECT as a form of medical abuse, and depictions in film and television are usually scary. Yet many psychiatrists, and more importantly, patients, consider it to be a safe and effective treatment for severe depression and bipolar disorder. Few medical treatments have such disparate images.
What was the anti-psychiatry movement?
In its most extreme versions, the anti-psychiatry movement rejected the very idea of mental illness. But physical treatments, and most especially ECT, aroused its strongest rejections. Most advocates of anti-psychiatry – even those who questioned the very reality of mental illness – were supportive of talk therapy.
What is shock therapy?
Treatment for mental illness in those days was fairly limited, but the family doctor suggested that she try a revolutionary new method: “shock therapy,” or electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), which involves using electricity to induce a seizure in the brain.
What happened to Carmela?
It’s difficult to know exactly what happened nearly 70 years ago when Carmela had ECT. Most of my relatives who were alive at the time have died, and her medical records are long gone. After speaking to three relatives who were alive at the time and two others who have heard stories secondhand, here’s what I’ve managed to piece together.
Who is Kitty Dukakis?
One of the most well-known advocates of ECT is Kitty Dukakis, the wife of former Massachusetts governor and presidential candidate Michael Dukakis. Michael Dukakis described to me how for 17 years, beginning in her 40s, Kitty, for no apparent reason, went through recurring cycles of depression.
What is the purpose of electric eels?
The ancient Romans used electric eels to treat problems like headache and gout.
Can ECT cause memory loss?
But it’s also due to two other factors: One bout of ECT is rarely enough to help people control their symptoms — and there’s a really good chance that it will cause some level of temporary, or long-term, memory loss. Still, tens of thousands of Americans allow doctors to apply electricity to their brains every year.
Is ECT a good treatment for depression?
But even though most psychiatrists now believe that ECT is an effective treatment for severe depression, it’s still the object of suspicion. This is due in part to the early methods of administering the treatment, which were, by all accounts, barbaric, and which still reverberate in our cultural consciousness.
Why is ECT controversial?
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.
What is the principle of ECT?
Modern ECT practice complies with the principle of respect for autonomy. The principle of justice calls for ECT to be available to all the psychiatrically ill who need it, regardless of age, gender, social and financial status, or nation, hospital or catchment area. The decisive factor is the need for the treatment.
What is the oldest psychiatric treatment?
Electroconvulsive therapy is the oldest psychiatric treatment now in use, but modern practice is very different from that of early years. The technique of stimulation has been refined, and superficial anesthesia with muscular relaxation and oxygenation are in wide use.
What are the four principles of health care?
Four principles of health care--beneficence (doing good), non-maleficence (not doing harm), respect for personal autonomy and justice (equality of opportunity) --are widely accepted since their proposal by the philosophers at Georgetown University (Beauchamp and Childress, 2001).
Is ECT evidence based?
As long as ECT has an evidence-based superiority over other treatments, however, it should be utilized for the benefit of patients. Proper use not only assures patients of an effective treatment but is considerate of health care costs.
What is informed consent?
Informed consent is either given orally or written. All patients are treated equally. Respect for patient autonomy is a central maxim of ECT, as it is of all medical interventions. There are occasions, however, when there is an obvious need for ECT in a non-consenting patient.
Is informed consent a requirement?
Informed consent is a feature and, indeed, a requirement, for health care, except in instances considered an emergency. The same attitude that is a feature of systemic health care applies to psychiatry and particularly to ECT. Before treatment, patients are told why the treatment is recommended and the anticipated benefits and risks.
