ECT -
Electro-Convulsive Therapy (Wiki)
ECT is an old yet effective
treatment for psychosis and mood disorders. It s frowned on somewhat due to the
medias depiction of the procedure which is typically
very innaccurate and sensationalist. Nowadays, the
procedure is a very far cry from Hollywood depiction.
You're knocked under, receive mild shocks to the
brain and wake up 15 minutes later probably
with the side effects of confusion, fear and memory loss. These usually clear within a few
hours with the exception of the memory loss which may take weeks or months to mend
- sometimes, you won't get it back at all.
Emotional flattening is another typical
side effect of the treatment. Muscle relaxants are also administered during
treatment to prevent injury.
Treatments are usually administered either two or
three times a week, probably on Monday, Wednesday and
Friday. Normally one receives six to twelve
treatments, averaging out at nine. The number
of treatments depends on the severity of the
illness and on the person themselves;
obviously as few treatments as is possible are administered.
Usually it takes several treatments for the positive effects to take hold.
Electrodes may be applied to the head in a number
of different ways, the most common placements being
bilateral and unilateral. In bilateral placements, the
two electrodes are placed on opposite sides of
the head, whilst in unilateral placement
one electrode is placed on the side of the
head and one on the top of the
head. Commonly, unilateral
treatments cause fewer and more minor
side effects but will take longer for the
therapeutic effect to take hold.
The night before the treatment, one should not eat or drink anything
from midnight onwards, because of the anesthesia. On the day of the treatment, one is lead into the
ECT suite and is lain down on the
trolley. Electrodes were placed on the chest (ECG,
monitoring the heart) and forehead (EEG,
monitoring brain activity, so that seizures may be detected). A needle is placed in the back of the
hand. Oxygen is then supplied via a
gas mask and the oxygen levels in one's blood stream is monitored by use of a clip placed
on a finger. Usually you are told that the
anesthetic is being administered and before you
know it you are waking up in the recovery suite, in
the recovery position.
After fifteen minutes of recovering the nurse that accompanied one asks a series of
obvious questions - what your name is, the date, what
had just happened and so on. One is then moved back to
the hospital where you relax and recover.
"In electroconvulsive treatment (ECT)
a convulsion is produced in a person by passing an electric
current through his brain. The duration of the convulsive
activity in the brain appears to determine its therapeutic
effects, while the intensity of the electrical stimulus
plays a role in determining its unwanted side effects,
particularly the short-term memory impairment in the
patient immediately after treatment. Several controlled
trials have shown that ECT is effective in treating
patients suffering from a depressive illness with
melancholia." - Encyclopædia Britannica