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Shocking PsychiatricsExamining
Electroconvulsive Therapy

• By Evangeline Airth

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What Is Electroconvulsive Therapy?

• Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) consists of a
  series of grand mal epileptic seizures induced by
  passing 120 volts, the amount in ordinary house
  current, to the brain for about a half-second. A
  course of treatment usually lasts two to three
  weeks, with shocks given perhaps ten to fifteen
  times.

• The belief is that the frontal lobe of the brain
  is the part most affected in depression and that,
  by damaging it temporarily the depression may be
  eased and, with repeated treatments, cured.

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The History of Electroshock Therapy

• In 1938 the Italian neurologist Ugo Cerletti and
  his assistant Lucio Bini developed an alternative
  method of inducing seizure by using electric
  shocks.

• In the 1940s and 1950s the extensive use of ECT
  became a sort of behavior control of patients
  in mental institutions. During these first
  years using this treatment, nearly 40 of
  patients suffered from various complications and
  the overall mortality rate was 1 in 1,000

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What ECT Treats

• Although researchers don't fully understand just
  how ECT works, it's thought that the seizure
  causes changes in the brain chemistry. ECT is
  thought to help alleviate the symptoms of certain
  mental illnesses, and is generally used in cases
  such as
• Severe depression, with psychosis, suicidal
  intent or refusal to eat
• Mania, in cases where there hasn't been a good
  response to medications
• Schizophrenia, when symptoms are severe or
  medications aren't sufficient

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But Does It Actually Work?

• For over 50 years, psychiatrists used ECT to
  treat schizophrenia, even though there was no
  evidence that ECT altered the schizophrenic
  process. In the 1950s, ECT was reported to be no
  better than hospitalization or anesthesia alone
  for schizophrenics
• In the 1960s, advocates of ECT were convinced
  that electricity and seizures are therapeutic in
  mental illness and vigorously defended its use
  for depression. However a recent US study showed
  that ECT was universally effective in depression,
  regardless of type 70 to 80 of depressed
  patients improved. The study also showed,
  however, a 69 improvement rate after 8 weeks of
  placebo alone.

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Controversial Facts

• From the American Psychiatric Association
• ECT is no more dangerous than minor surgery
  under general anesthesia, and for some patients
  may be less dangerous than treatment with
  medications.
• From Federal Food and Drug Administration
• The FDA classifies ECT machines as a Type III
  device. This means that ECT is an experimental
  procedure, classified in the highest risk
  category by the FDA. Class III means that the
  machine has not gone through the rigorous FDA
  testing required of medical devices, including
  safety testing and efficacy assessments.

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Adverse Effects of ECT

• Risks-
• Brain Damage
• Memory Loss
• Chance of Death
• Seizures and Epilepsy
• Cardiovascular Complications
• The positive effects of the treatment also wear
  off quickly, often resulting in a relapse of the
  patients symptoms, and the need for repeated
  treatments. Many patients have received several
  courses of treatment, and some patients are even
  "maintained" on shock treatments indefinitely.

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• "As a neurologist and electroencephalographer, I
  have seen many patients after ECT, and I have no
  doubt that ECT produces effects identical to
  those of a head injury. After multiple sessions
  of ECT, a patient has symptoms identical to those
  of a retired, punch-drunk boxer...After a few
  sessions of ECT the symptoms are those of
  moderate cerebral contusion, and further
  enthusiastic use of ECT may result in the patient
  functioning at a subhuman level.
  Electroconvulsive therapy in effect may be
  defined as a controlled type of brain damage
  produced by electrical means."
• Sydney Samant, M.D. Clinical
  Psychiatry News

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Why Its Pseudoscience

• . Because the brain damage associated with ECT
  destroys memory traces in the brain... a patient
  "responding" to ECT and even becoming
  asymptomatic is not necessarily healthy or cured
  but may be functioning at a low mental level. The
  true causes of the patient's depression are
  untouched by ECT however the patient's concern
  over these problems is temporarily absent from
  their memories. By avoiding the true problem,
  most patients will relapse and require more
  electroconvulsive therapy as soon as the brain
  recovers enough for the person to remember the
  original trauma.