Shock therapy makes a quiet comeback (100K/year)

Source: MSNBC

Despite the stigma, 100,000 desperate patients a year now seek treatment




Most people might be quicker to associate electroshock therapy with torture rather than healing. But since the 1980s, the practice has been quietly making a comeback. The number of patients undergoing electroconvulsive therapy, as it's formally called, has tripled to 100,000 a year, according to the National Mental Health Association.

During an ECT treatment, doctors jolt the unconscious patient's brain with an electrical charge, which triggers a grand mal seizure. It's considered by many psychiatrists to be the most effective way to treat depression especially in patients who haven't responded to antidepressants. One 2006 study at Wake Forest University School of Medicine in North Carolina found that ECT improved the quality of life for nearly 80 percent of patients.

"It's the definitive treatment for depression," says Dr. Kenneth Melman, a psychiatrist at Swedish Medical Center in Seattle who practices ECT. "There aren't any other treatments for depression that have been found to be superior to ECT."

Most patients are given three treatments a week for a total of six to 12 sessions. After that, once the patient’s mood has reached a plateau, the psychiatrist may stop the ECT sessions and prescribe an antidepressant. If someone hasn’t responded well to antidepressants in the past, ECT won’t do anything to change that. For those patients, a doctor may prescribe a different antidepressant from those that had failed before. Or those patients may need once-a-month follow-up treatments, called maintenance ECT, which can continue for years.



Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26044935

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the downside (long term cognitive damage) is discussed later in the article.

Surgeon and author Sherwin Nuland discusses the development of electroshock therapy as a cure for severe, life-threatening depression -- including his own. It’s a moving and heartfelt talk about relief, redemption and second chances.

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/sherwin_nuland_on_electroshock_therapy.html

I was told by doctors it's a risky proposition. It causes forgetfulness anyway and if it doesn't improve your mood - well. I understand it's totally unknown if this can really help you. You have to take the chance. I think it's way too scary.

goes on to correlate that to the Shock Doctrine

a la Friedman. It's the entire thesis of her book, that these operate as twin logics of radical personal/economic transformation. Oh, and that they're both individual and social torture.

I can personally attest to the fact that this does not relieve depression.

Oh wait..They're talking about electric shock therapy?

they should have the right to take drastic means such as undergoing electroshock. The danger, however, is when this kind of "therapy" is forced on people. Did you know that involuntary ECT is still performed in the state of California?

I had ECT in 2005, and I know for a fact that it is NOT done involuntarily. I had it done at UCSF (San Francisco) for severe depression that did not respond to medications, etc. It DID cause temprary memory loss (I had four treatments), and the more treatments one has, the more severe the memory loss. Furthermore, they give you a choice between unilateral or bilateral treatment. Bilateral (both temples) is supposedly more effective, but the side effects are more severe. I had bilateral shocks, and I believe the residual effects lasted for 2-3 months. Did it help? Well. . .. I think I felt so numb afterwards that it felt like it worked. . . However, some people require regular "tune ups", meaning that they have to go in for treatments 2-3 times a year! I have not had any more shocks, and I certainly don't plan on it! Would I recommend it? Yes, if someone has tried everything else and is desperate like I was.

who lives in California. This year.

possible. JCAHO does not permit it, and any hospital found to be coercing patients into having involuntary ECT can lose their license. I'm a hospital administrator, so I DO know.

The APA notes that the conceptual requirements for informed consent for ECT, as proposed by the 1978 APA Task Force on ECT, are still applicable and include: (1) provision of adequate information; (2) the patient must be capable of understanding and acting reasonably on such information; and (3) consent must occur in the absence of coercion.7 It is noted that a hallmark of informed consent is the quality of the interactions between the patient and the physician—especially as consent for ECT is an ongoing process. While JCAHO requires written informed consent for a series of ECT, there are no specific recommendations as to the content of the consent.

See below for California guidelines regarding ECT:

Can a person refuse ECT?

Yes. If you can give written informed consent but refuse, you cannot be given ECT. This is true no matter where you are being treated (a facility, a doctor’s office, a private home, a clinic). If you refuse ECT, the doctor must write in your record that you refused ECT against the doctor’s advice. The doctor must also tell you that you are responsible for anything that happens to you because you refused the treatment. The doctor cannot make you feel forced to agree to ECT. For instance, the doctor cannot threaten that you will be moved to another facility or lose privileges if you do not accept ECT.

So yes, it is possible.

You have to be able to give informed, written consent, or you CANNOT be given ECT. ECT CANNOT be forced on anybody, PERIOD.

ECT was abused in the 1940s and was forced on many, many patients.

The law states that WITHOUT a consent, nobody can be forced or coerced into having ECT.

Please refer to California Title 22-Healthcare-- if you want more information.

California has the most progressive laws in the nation regarding the rights of the mentally ill. Even obtaining a 5150 on a patient (right to detain a patient for his/her own protection from self-harm) can be problematic. Forcing ECT would be considered, at the very least, as assault and battery against said patient.

I was quoting this in my other post,
apparently the patient has to say they've regained "capacity" first,
do most patients know that?

"9. What happens if I do not want ECT, but my conservator, guardian, or relative thinks I need it, or agrees to it on my behalf?

"If you can give written informed consent but refuse, ECT cannot be given to you. If a court has said you cannot give written informed consent, then ECT can be given to you but only if your conservator, guardian, or responsible relative gives written informed consent (see Question #10). At any time during your ECT treatment(s), you can say you have regained "capacity." Then ECT must be stopped immediately and you must be reevaluated (see Question #10, paragraphs (e), (f), and (g))."

http://www.pai-ca.org/pubs/539801.htm

If someone in California did have it done without their consent, it happened--period.

Laws are often broken. Or haven't you been paying attention to the rape of our Constitution for the last 8 years?

I don't recall calling anybody a liar, and I don't see any statements I've made calling anybody a liar. Maybe you need to take a class on how to read, idiot.

you'd start "feeling better" too if you knew you had more of those coming, after the first one.

Freud may still be worth studying as a philosopher, but most of his teachings on treating mental illness have been de-bunked by use of the scientific method.


Every article I've seen advocating the use of ECT for intractable clinical depression notes that memory loss is an expected side effect. Depression can be so painful that people are willing to give up a few memories to get back on track.

it was a general psych class, so we didn't study just freud

my aunt has had ECT, and after seeing her and hearing the prof, i'll stay away from the "treatment" thanks

I'm sure it feels better after that stops.

Horrible experience, about 10 years ago. had such a bad reaction afterwards the doctor said I had symptoms of PTSD.

the thought of it

:scared:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-395143/Magic-mushrooms-help-depression-say-scientists.html

I have spent the major part of my 45 years depressed. Paxil worked for about 4 of the 6 years that I took it, but became ineffective, and I also got weird electric shocks in my brain, which the Drs at the time did not believe. After a horrible withdraw 8 years ago, I have not found another Anti-depressant that my body and brain could tolerate. Paxil also left me with an anxiety disorder which I did not have before taking it. The only long stretch of my life where depression seemed to be under control, was when I was in art school in Syracuse. Upstate Ny has great mushrooms, and in the summer, you can get them fresh. Many of the times that I did them, I did not take enough to trip, just enough made me feel good. I am seriously going to start testing dosages on myself to see if they will work as an anti-depressant.

Where they suddenly treat life as something precious and live it to the fullest.

ECT is a terrible idea, and most of the drugs they prescribe people often seem to do more harm than good. I've never taken any of that shit, but I know a lot of people who have. They gain a shitload of weight, have sexual side-effects, they're tired all of the time, and a bunch of other shit.

And when the costs of EST come in under those of a lifetime rx of anti-depressants we'll see the insurance companies pushing for everyone to be shocked.

No thanks.

The Court ordering this for anyone should be the first victim.