The Brain And Electricity: The Siamese Syndrome
Being introduced in the early 1900’s, electroconvulsive shock therapy, or ECT, has deemed to be one of the most effectual and least understood treatments in psychiatry. Technically it has distorted in many ways since its conception and is now viewed as a secure and effective treatment of patients with key depressive disorder, schizophrenia, manic episodes, and other grave mental turmoil’s. Nevertheless, the neurobiological transformations critical to the therapeutic triumph of ECT have not yet been fully understood. Such a knowledge fissure has led to an erroneous representation of ECT in the media and fallacy about ECT being held by many patients and even health care professionals.
Paroxysmal rehabilitation was initiated in the early 1930’s in Europe by Ladislaus von Meduna as management for catatonic schizophrenia. Ladislaus generated seizures by the injection of camphor in oil but almost immediately interchanged camphor with metrazol because of its solubility and rapid onset of action. Also in 1934, Bini and Cerletti forged the use of electricity to persuade seizures. Electrical-induced convulsions were more prudent, inexpensive, and reliable than the camphor-induced convulsion.
In reference to the Journal of the American Medical Association, the magnitude of ECT trials executed in the United States surpasses appendectomy, coronary bypass, or hernia repair. While the most universal submission of ECT is for psychological infirmities, the uses of ECT vary from superlative depression and schizophrenia to cancer and Parkinson’s disease.
Even though it’s mechanism of action is not grasped, revisions by the American Journal of Psychiatry exhumed a contraction in the le...
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...e-hashed. The records of this treatment should not censure it to the annals of abortive medical practices, but the modern advances in this treatment should receive electroconvulsive therapy the status of a feasible treatment alternative for definite patients.
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... in assisting those who care about the bipolar individual, as well as providing socialization and a means to not feel alone. Generally, as a last resort, electroconvulsive therapy, or ECT is used. An electrical current is passed through the brain. This is thought to change the brain chemistry and increase the mood. This is used only for severe depression or when symptoms are unsuccessfully treated with medications. People with Bipolar Disorder are encouraged to avoid drinking alcohol, avoid the use of street drugs or misusing prescription medications, avoid unhealthy relationships, get plenty of sleep, and exercise on a regular basis. One thing is clear. The person themselves must be active in their own well-being in order to maintain a relatively healthy and productive lifestyle. In so doing, the prognosis for someone diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder is very good.
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?What is the role of ECT in the treatment of mania?? Harvard Mental Health Letter. June 1997.
An absence of education on the treatment is one of the most major reasons why electroconvulsive therapy is so strongly detested. Furthermore, individuals are not typically informed by psychiatrists on a technique such as ECT unless they are experiencing it personally, or someone they know is going through it. Consequently, countless individuals end up getting exposed to ECT for the first time through movies and other media depictions where it is, more often than not, portrayed negatively. Kellner states, “There have also been frequent misrepresentations of ECT in the media, and individuals and groups with particular social and political agendas have continued to convey distorted information about ECT (2)” (p. 1238). Education on ECT is so desperately needed for the reason that the information the majority of people seem to be given is incorrect or not based on fact. Additionally, these representations of the procedure are most always made to attack the treatment and render it inhumane. Moreover, the populous needs to be receiving their information from actual practitioners of this procedure, as opposed to those who are not, as it can help eliminate any inconsistencies or fallacies. By removing these misconceptions, numerous electroconvulsive therapy debates can be resolved, and a large amount of negative stigma towards the procedure can be
...ives to treating Epilepsy and its effects. Typically most doctors will prefer to keep the medicinal treatment as natural as possible. Although not many people have seizure alert dogs, they are out there and available as an alternative. However, if one’s Epileptic seizures are interrupting one’s normal day to day life activities that one partakes in, antiepileptic drugs may be the next step towards Epilepsy management. I have found through research that a corpus colostomy surgical procedure is only performed in severe cases of Epileptic seizures, and is only done as a last step towards treatment. All in all, I have come to find that Epilepsy can be treated and or controlled through the use of these resources. Nonetheless, as with many treatments used to treat Epilepsy, there are positive outcomes as well as possible consequences affiliated with these treatments.
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Depression was believed to be caused by evil spirits taking over body so priests would perform an exorcism to get rid of the bad spirits causing these mental diseases; depression. Herbs which caused convulsions would be used to “shake the bad spirits out”. Starting in the 16th century, they discovered that by measuring the amount of the “herbs” they used they could determine the severity of the convulsions (worse depression equaled more “herbs” which meant more severe convulsions). Then Benjamin Franklin discovered electricity, which enabled psychologists of the day to treat these mental illnesses with electroshock therapy to “shake the demons out”. The biggest problem with this new treatment was there was no way to stop the spasms which came
Many people think that electroshock therapy was only used to treat mental illness until the middle of the twentieth century. You may be surprised to learn that this radical therapy is still used as a treatment of last resort for certain diseases. The reason is because electroshock therapy, which triggers a grand mal epileptic seizure in the patient, somehow alleviates symptoms of such mental illnesses as depression. No one knows why the convulsions are effective, but they do seem to help many patients.
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