Answer:
With advances in psychotropic medications such as antidepressants and antipsychotics it's used much less. ECT is a very effective and rapidly-acting treatment. Sometimes it's necessary for severe/psychotic, treatment-resistant major depression, intractable mania and catatonic schizophrenia. Drugs often take days or weeks to become effective. When a person is actively suicidal, catatonic, unable to eat, etc. ECT may be necessary for rapid relief of symptoms and it can be life-saving.
Yes.
Yes. It is absolutely used in psychiatric wards and/or hospitals all over the US. It is a very safe procedure and patients are anesthetized and don't feel a thing. A headache is a common occurrence upon waking, and sometimes memory loss (temporary) occurs afterwards. But it worked miracles for me!
it is not like the movies it is just a small charge that will cause you to have a small seizure ..this all done while you are sedated... it helps people with depression
I have heard of many hospitals using shock therapy. What most people do not know is that Many Hospitals who have a Research Center in them, do all kinds of things to patients that would be seen and known as Cruel and Unusual...This is how they learn about the side effect to certain medications, they use trials on research patienst who have been admitted and sign a release form, so they can be used by the Hospital to record the results. Sometimes it is Fatal and sometimes it is Published.
People really need to ask a Zillion different questions when entering a Hospital, because you never know how your day will end.
Absolutely. As previously mentioned, the patient doesn't feel a thing. The major risk is difficulty with memory, which usually subsides in a couple weeks, but can in rare cases last a long time. There is no better or faster treatment for depression, so the patient must decide when the benefits outweigh the rare but disconcerting risks.
naw
Yes, it is used. Usually as a last resort to help a person who is severally depressed and no other methods have helped.
In general, it is safe; although the mechanism of why it works and what the long-term effects may be, are controversial.
Some studies show that even though it works short-term, the effacacy decrease over time and some patients can be left worse than when they started.
The notion that there are no side-effects because of the low voltage, is false. The brain is very sensitive to electrical stimulation. These signals can be disrupted by medicines, shock, even the environment.
I know of one anti-depressant, that causes many people to experience "electrical shock, like experiences (brain zaps)." Since these people have already had the electrical impulses in the brain severally effected by chemicals, EST would be contraindicated for these patients. The idea being, if a chemical can cause significant changes in electrical stimulation, true electrical stimulation could cause even worse, post-treatment shock experiences.
If at all possible, a patient's history should be considered before EST is applied. The side-effects for someone who is hyper-sensitive, may be devastating and permanent. However, these are exceptions; and in general it can be a great help, short-term, for those who are suffering in the extreme.