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Electroconvulsive therapy pros and cons
Electroconvulsive therapy pros and cons
Electroconvulsive therapy pros and cons
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An individual who has a mental illness can be a danger to themselves and others. They don't live a normal life that is guaranteed to them, holding them back from being successful and having a bright future. If medications are not working for a mental illness, then the patient can consider electroconvulsive therapy. Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is a medical procedure that sends currents of electricity through your brain. ECT saves lives and is ethical to treat patients using “psychosurgical” procedure.
After ECT, patients can return to a normal lifestyle that is better than their previous one. In source A, Zoltan, a patient that appears as though he is lifeless suffers from catatonic schizophrenia. After going through ECT, he started having seizures that lead him to his recovery. “After each of the next induced seizures, Zoltan remained
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alert and interested for longer and longer periods, until after the eighth injection he left the hospital to return to his home and work.
His mental condition of four years was fully relieved”. ECT gives second chances to patients who appear lifeless and hopeless. It's almost impossible to eliminate all risks and side effects in any surgical or non-surgical procedures and ECT is no different. It depends on individual whether the side effect has a greater impacts on their life then the mental illness itself. In source B, Larry Wilson an ECT patient has experienced memory loss. But, he states that, “the side effects of Prozac...seem worst to me than forgetting a few things”. Where in source C, a famous victim, Ernest Hemingway, “shot himself two days after leaving the hospital” because he felt that ECT erased his memory which is far
more important to him than his mental condition. It depends on the person to choose if their mental condition that they are getting treated for is far worst then the side effects of ECT. Keep in mind that the side effects of ECT does wear off eventually. Either way, whether the patient chooses medicine or ECT there will be sacrifices that has to be made. This procedure is not designed to make patients fit in or “perfect” as none of us are, but it is a tool that can help them live life to their fullest potential. Over the years, ECT has become a more popular and effective treatment. It does not require high levels of electrical currents and is not violent like it use to be. ECT saves many lives and it has treated mental illnesses to a degree that people can go on and continue to live their ordinary lives. In source A, Zoltan soon recovers and was able to return to his normal lifestyle, “his mental condition of four years was fully relieved. Five years later, when Meduna left Europe for the United States, Zoltan was still well and working at his job”(Source A). If ECT can improve this individual's life and Zoltan is able to return home and start working after his mental condition was considered hopeless, then it can also change numerous lives throughout the world.“More than 100,000 patients receive ECT each year, and according to this month's American Journal of Psychiatry, the latest refinements of ECT are producing consistent and dramatic results”(Source B). The effectiveness of ECT is not rare. It is showing consistent results even if it has side effects such as memory loss. In most cases the procedures are successful. In America, there is a big amount of premeditated mass shooting caused by mentally ill people. The innocent did not die for a cause they believed in or for being at the wrong place at a wrong time, but because someone overlooked the mental issues that the person had and did not seek the right help. ECT is ethical because it prevents tragic events like this. There's a stigma attached to mental illness and all its treatments including therapy and specially ECT. The majority of people view this treatment as cruel and inhuman. But isn't it more inhuman to let someone be in a state of dependency and uncertainty when there's a treatment like ECT that can help them lead a relatively normal and more fulfilling life? Joanne Tesoriero states that, “I have no doubt that ECT saved my life, but I quit because I couldn’t quite stomach the idea of it”(source B). There are many cases like Tesoriero’s where the good outweighs the bad but because of the ongoing stigma of this specific treatment she couldn't continue receiving it. “Because of such bad publicity over the years, many medical centers have dropped ECT entirely. Today, few public or rural hospitals offer the treatment, and many doctors-in-training never even learn how to perform the procedure”(Source B). What is not ethical and not providing the options for people with the treatment that might save an individual or their loved ones. Also, if doctors don’t learn how to perform it then how can ECT develop and get better. An unethical act would be if someone uses ECT for something inhuman, such as when in Source E when, “ Rosemary Kennedy…. was given a lobotomy when her father complained to doctors about the mildly retarded girl’s embarrassing new interest in boys…. She lived out her life in a Wisconsin institution and died” (Source E). ECT is meant to be a backup procedure when all the other treatments have failed. It's not used for personal gains. It is a backup that is used when all the other treatments fail. ECT is ethical, what is not ethical is how it is being utilized. It should not be used to control or punish someone like when the father used lobotomy because he disagrees with her having an interest in boys. ECT is not going to be an easy decision and it will scar the patients and their families for life, but sometimes the only way out is tough and there's are sacrifices to be made. ECT sounds harsh, but it depends on the amount of pain the patients are willing to go through and the sacrifices that they have to make. ECT it is a tool that can give them a chance to live life to their fullest potential and it is an ethical procedure.
...ects, which in my opinion shows that its introduction into society (decriminalization) could benefit the community in many aspects (such as volunteering for a good cause) due to the increased sensibility that one may develop in regards to the society/others. I find that society has been misinformed about this chemical, seeing it solemnly as dangerous substance and classifying it along with physically harmful and potentially deadly substances such as heroin and cocaine. Not only is psilocybin non-lethal, but its potential for abuse is lower than that of caffeine. To summarize and conclude, I find that used responsibly, psilocybin along with other entheogens can be beneficial for one’s mental health and that more light needs to be shed on its benefits to allow society to see it in a different angle rather than what is propagated through the media about it today.
Unlike Naomi, Eric does not respond to drug therapy. Therefore, instead of a drug therapy, Eric receives the electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) or brain stimulation often an effective treatment for patients like Eric with severe depression who does not respond to a drug therapy. By shocking the brain, the ECT manipulates the brain’s chemical imbalance produced by the social-cultural stress experience. But after eleven ECTs in a month, Eric cannot function because of the temporary side effects of memory loss and confusion affecting his concentration to play the viola and his well-being. Then after four months of receiving ECT treatment, Eric returns to normal social functioning as a musician. Six months later, Eric is still playing the viola and has had no recurrence of his
... 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.
The magnetic pulses easily pass through the skull and causes small electrical currents that stimulate nerve cells in the targeted brain region. The magnetic field that is produced lasts 100 to 200 microseconds, and the procedure is less invasive than the ECT. rTMS may increase blood flow and the metabolism of glucose in the prefrontal cortex. It like ECT can additionally be a treatment option for mania but continues to be
According to Sharf, (2008) the eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) was designed to treat posttraumatic stress disorder. EMDR requires that the clients visualize an upsetting memory and accompanying physical sensations. The clients repeat negative self-statements that they associate with the scene. The procedure is repeated again and again until the client’s anxiety is reduced. EMDR focuses on desensitizing strong emotional reasons in clients and help them to reframe their belief systems to accommodate new emotional states (Sharf, 2008).
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 a safe treatment of mental disorders when other treatments have failed. Due to the development of safer and less traumatic ways of administering ECT, the treatment has made a comeback, is greatly used, and proves to be effective.
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 staff in the therapy room. Furthermore, some psychiatrists perceive this treatment as callous because it is occasionally used without the consent of a patient, should they not be mentally stable. Moreover, because of strong public opposition, ECT
Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) is a counselling model based greatly on talking therapy. It focuses on peoples underlying thoughts and past experiences, and how they influence current habits and behaviours. CBT tries to correct these and learn alternative ways of processing information to alter the undesired behaviour and/or habits. This is done through a combination of cognitive therapy (looking at the ways and things you think) and behavioural therapy (looking at the things you do).
Schizophrenia is a major psychiatric disorder, or cluster of disorders, characterised by psychotic symptoms that alter a person’s perception, thoughts, affect and behaviour (NICE, 2009). Tai and Turkington (2009) define Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) as an evidence-based talking therapy that attempts cognitive and behavioural change based on an individualised formulation of a client’s personal history, problems and world views. CBT as a treatment for schizophrenia can be understood within a wider framework of CBT as applied to a range of mental disorders such as anxiety, post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and depression (Tai and Turkington, 2009). CBT was built on behavioural principles that emphasised clear relationships between cognition, physiology and emotion (Beck, 1952). This essay will analyse CBT as a therapy for individual suffering from schizophrenia. It will discuss briefly the historical background and the development of CBT, the aims and principles, the evidence base of the strengths and weaknesses of the therapy. It will discuss as well the implication to mental health nursing practice. The focus of this essay is on intervention and psychosocial in nature which will be brought together in the conclusion.
The treatment involved passing electrical currents through the brain which would trigger a small seizure and ease the symptoms of certain mental illnesses, however the procedure was used without anesthesia and caused the patient to jerk uncontrollably, this treatment would sometimes result in fractures, memory loss, and other side effects. The treatment is still used today, although with much weaker currents and anesthesia. Another popular treatment used in the asylums was the injection of insulin into a patient to induce a coma. This treatment was thought to reset an individual’s brain and bring them back to “normal”, however, insulin coma therapy proved to be not very effective and was phased out in the 1960s. One of the most inhumane treatments for the mentally ill was the lobotomy, or the prefrontal leucotomy. This surgical procedure involved opening a hole in the head to sever nerve pathways in the prefrontal cortex. The lobotomy was performed at least 15,000 times in Britain before being phased out in the late 1950s. Another type of brain surgery discussed in the film, was one done on patient, Maggi Chapman, who underwent a surgery in which an electrode was attached to a part of her brain and then turned on to fry that part of the brain. Maggi goes on to describe how the next few years she felt like a zombie and had a difficult time going through life (BBC,
The introduction of ECT to the United States created a burst of therapeutic optimism in psychiatry. Psychiatrists used ECT experimentally on patients with major mental disorders. This led to its current use for Major Depression. A negative stigma has remained since movies like One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest stress the abuse of ECT: "The Shock Shop, Mr. McMurphy . . . might be said to do the work of the sleeping pill, the electric chair and the torture rack. It's a clever little procedure, simple, quick, nearly painless it happens so fast, but no one ever wants another one. Ever".
?What is the role of ECT in the treatment of mania?? Harvard Mental Health Letter. June 1997.
It was a cold, rainy day. I could see most of the kids at the bus stop had winter coats and hats. The clouds were particularly low in the sky. After evading the numerous puddles in the road, I reached the bus stop and walked up to a group of friends. A girl in my class spotted me and asked, "Are you going to the dance tomorrow?"
There are several people every year that are diagnosed with a mental disorder. In the world’s entire population, more than one percent of people have been diagnosed with schizophrenia (Brain and Behavior Research Foundation). When thinking of the billions of people in the world, it might not seem like that many people but once the number of those diagnosed is calculated it seems much larger. Currently there are more than seventy million people in the world that have been diagnosed with schizophrenia, only diagnosed. There are probably several more people who have this disorder and have not been diagnosed or are unable to obtain the resources to be diagnosed.
These problems cause the symptoms of schizophrenia, which include hallucinations, delusions, disordered thinking, and unusual speech or behavior. No "cure" has yet been discovered, although many different methods have been tried. Even in these modern times, only one in five affected people fully recovers. (4) The most common treatment is the administration of antipsychotic drugs. Other treatments that were previously used, and are occasionally still given are electro-convulsive therapy, which runs a small amount of electric current through the brain and causes seizures, and large doses of Vitamin B. (3)