Electroconvulsive therapy, or ECT, is a highly effective yet controversial psychiatric method that involves sending electric shockwaves into the brain to cure various mental ailments. Because the populace is not typically educated by psychiatrists on techniques such as ECT, their knowledge comes from inaccurate, and mostly negative, descriptions in the media dictated by non-psychiatrists. Additionally, many patient families are skeptical of ECT because it is not common practice to allow non-medical
Electroconvulsive Therapy, or ECT, is a treatment in which electrical currents trigger a brief seizure, which eventually relieves patients from severe mental illness symptoms. This procedure is used on patients with different mental illness’, but heavily used on those suffering from depression. There are many different types of depression, situational depression, atypical depression, and major depression. ECT is usually given to those suffering from major depression. Major depression can be characterized
Many treatments within the medical field have been considered controversial, but even after seventy-eight years of use electroconvulsive therapy, also referred to as ECT, is still one of the most questionable treatments. Just like any other treatment ECT has its risk and advantages, but it seems to have an even more negative connotation than other controversial treatments due to its violent history. Throughout the seventy-eight years that ECT has been around, research has been done to learn more
Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is a widely practiced intervention used to treat psychiatric disorders in specific groups of mental health patients.(1-3) A small electrical current is applied via electrodes attached to the patients head to induce a generalised cerebral seizure whilst the patient is sedated under a general anaesthetic.(4) The induction of seizures to treat psychiatric disorders originated from the historical observation that schizophrenic patients improved temporarily after a spontaneous
Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) was first developed in 1938. It has a history of abuse, exploited as a means of punishing or controlling people in mental hospitals, consequently ECT had poor reputation with negative depictions, but since then it has drastically improved with confirmed effectiveness. Despite the improvement in techniques, the use of ECT continues to decline since the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE,2003) states that it should only be administered to severely depressed
Electroconvulsive therapy, also known as ECT, is a medical procedure that is used in the treatment of mental illness. In ECT, a small electrical impulse is sent through the brain, resulting in an ephemeral seizure. Though the process is generally effective, modern science is unaware of the explanation behind ECT's success. Its history is filled with a large amount of stigma and the use of ECT as a therapy is still debated today. ECT has evolved to a point where its beneficial effects can be maximized
Electroconvulsive Therapy: Why is it Effective? Reported for the first time in the 18th century, was the use of convulsive therapy. Psychiatrists observed that after spontaneous epileptic seizure the psychiatric conditions of patients improved. Previously, in the sixteenth-century, Paracelsus, a Swiss physician and alchemist gave camphor by mouth to produce convulsions and to cure lunacy. Originally, the induced convulsions treated severe catatonic stupors and schizophrenia. Today we know the
Statement Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is a treatment for severe mental illness in which the brain is stimulated with a strong electrical current which induces a seizure. The seizure rearranges the brain's neurochemistry and results in an elevation of mood. This essay asks: Is ECT any safer and more effective in treating mood disorders than drug therapies? This treatment has a controversial history ever since it was first introduced in 1938. I intend to argue that electroconvulsive therapy is indeed
are in a hospital... Electroconvulsive therapy was used in the 1900s as a psychiatric treatment when medication would fail to ease patients’ symptoms of clinical depression, suicidal thoughts, or psychiatric illnesses. Using this type of therapy puts the patient at risk for a great amount of side effects when the equipment is misused or under improperly trained staff. The ECT treatment in most cases administered in the morning, or before breakfast. Electroconvulsive therapy has changed, it somewhat
When people think of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) they tend to think of R.P. McMurphy (portrayed by Jack Nicholson in 1975’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest) being, literally, shocked into submission. ECT, to many, is a scary and barbaric process more closely linked to a form of punishment than a therapeutic medical procedure. It is a medical horror story almost a century old. However, as with all things, the over 75 years since ECT was first used it has changed a great deal. It is no longer
electricity, magnets, or even implants to treat depression, obsessive compulsive disorder, and other various illness such as Parkinson’s disease. The better known types of brain stimulation are electroconvulsive therapy, vagus nerve stimulation, repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation, magnetic seizure
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
For the purpose of this assignment the experience of attending Electro-Convulsive Therapy will be discussed. It will include rationale for the procedure, an account of the procedure and the student nurses reflection on the experience using Gibbs’ model of reflection (Jasper 2003). Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is a medical treatment for severe mental illness in which a small, carefully controlled amount of electricity is introduced into the brain. This electrical stimulation, used in conjunction
use it as a form of therapy. ECT is administered annually to 100,000 Americans (Boodman 7). This inexpensive form of temporary relief is administered by the simple twist of a dial and is yet to be refined. These imperfections can make ECT an unpredictable and risky procedure that may even end lives. Still everyday, hundreds of desperate Americans give into these sometimes favorable artificial convulsions induced by electrical power. Works Cited Boodman, Sandra G. Shock Therapy...It’s Back. [Online]
life with out the fear of being seen as a out cast. Works Cited Kesey, Ken. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. The Viking Press. New York. 1973. Page 188. Noyes, Arthur P. M.D. and Kolb, Lawrence C. M.D. Shock and Other Physical Therapies. In One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest Text and Criticism: The Viking Press. New York. 1973. Page 499. Long, Phillip W. M.D. “Schizophrenia: Youth’s Greatest Disabler.” British Columbia Schizophrenic Society. 8th edition. April 12, 2000. www.Mentalhealth
She is taken to see a psychiatrist, Doctor Gordon, who she immediately dislikes. After several sessions and no signs of improvement, Doctor Gordon recommends electroconvulsive therapy, which is such a horrifying experience that she stops seeing him. But her descent continues, as she is plagued with suicidal thoughts, eventually culminating in a suicide attempt. She fails and recovers at various hospitals and psychiatric
in order to produce daily comas over several weeks It was one of a number of physical treatments introduced into psychiatry in the first four decades of the twentieth century. These included the convulsive therapies (cardiazol/metrazol therapy and electroconvulsive therapy), deep sleep therapy
please his father. As David works on the 3rd concerto, he starts to show signs of insanity. As David plays the piece in the concerto contest, he is showing facial signs of madness. When the piece finishes, he collapses. David then goes through shock therapy at a mental institution. When David recoups, his
Myth 50 focuses on the perceived brutality of Electroconvulsive (Shock) Therapy and the misconceptions associated with it. Studies have found that any Americans both regular and those with medical training have negative beliefs about the effects and uses of ECT. Many believe that is used mainly as a punishment for disgruntled patients in mental institutions and causes nausea and vomiting. ECT is thought to be fatal and potentially fatal with its damages greatly outweighing its benefits (if any at
a group home when he was a young man but did not feel safe there. Group environments, medication, and the council he sought at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign were not working for Kazmierczak, so the treatment option of Electroconvulsive Shock Therapy (ECT) seems to be appropriate. According to the textbook, ECT is used as a last resort for patients who suffer from Major Depression and may be seriously considering suicide. As someone who did not benefit from other types of treatment