What happens after ECT treatment?

What happens after ECT treatment?

After the Procedure When you awaken, you may experience a period of disorientation lasting from a few minutes to several hours. Headaches, jaw pain, and muscle soreness may occur. ECT requires a series of treatments, often initiated two to three times a week for a few weeks and then the frequency is tapered down.

What are the long term effects of electric shock treatment?

Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) has been controversially associated with long-lasting memory problems. Verbal learning and memory deficits are commonly reported in studies of people with bipolar disorder (BD).

Does ECT have long term side effects?

Longer-term side effects loss of creativity, drive and energy. difficulty concentrating. loss of emotional responses.

Can you get brain damage from ECT?

Despite many scientific and governmental authorities having concluded that ECT does not cause brain damage, there is significant evidence that ECT has indeed caused brain damage in some patients, both historically and recently, and evidence that it always causes some form or degree of brain damage.

Was electroshock therapy successful?

What is the Success Rate of Electroconvulsive Therapy? ECT is an effective medical treatment option, helping as many as 80-85 percent of patients who receive it. Most patients remain well for many months afterwards.

What does electroshock therapy feel like?

On the days of an ECT treatment, some people experience nausea, headache, jaw pain or muscle ache. These generally can be treated with medications. Medical complications. As with any type of medical procedure, especially one that involves anesthesia, there are risks of medical complications.

When did they stop using electroshock therapy?

The use of ECT declined until the 1980s, “when use began to increase amid growing awareness of its benefits and cost-effectiveness for treating severe depression”.

Has anyone died from ECT?

Conclusion: The ECT-related mortality rate was estimated at 2.1 per 100 000 treatments. In comparison, a recent analysis of the mortality of general anesthesia in relation to surgical procedures reported a mortality rate of 3.4 per 100 000. Our findings document that death caused by ECT is an extremely rare event.

Can ECT change your personality?

ECT does not change a person’s personality, nor is it designed to treat those with just primary “personality disorders.” ECT can cause transient short-term memory — or new learning — impairment during a course of ECT, which fully reverses usually within one to four weeks after an acute course is stopped.

What are the negative side effects of ECT?

The most common side effects of ECT on the day of treatment include nausea, headache, fatigue, confusion, and slight memory loss, which may last minutes to hours. These risks must be balanced with the consequences of ineffectively treated severe psychiatric disorders.

Can electroshock therapy erase memories?

Figure 1: People with PTSD are usually troubled by their memories of the traumatic events and suffer from the extreme negative emotions associated with these memories (as shown in the top panel); However, Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT) has the potential to erase specific traumatic memories, and therefore help people …

Does electroshock therapy work for PTSD?

ECT is the most effective treatment for improving mood in patients with depression and there is new evidence emerging that suggests ECT can also improve PTSD symptoms independently of co-morbid depression.

What are the alternatives to electroshock therapy?

Alternatives to Electroconvulsive Therapy New Treatment Plan. ECT and treatments like it are therapies of last resort. Vagus Nerve Stimulation. A vagus nerve stimulator is a lot like a pacemaker for your brain. Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation. Transcranial magnetic stimulation uses an electrical coil to produce electrical activity in a targeted area of the brain. Experimental Treatments.

Do they still do electric shock therapy?

But electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is still being used — more in Europe than the United States — and it may be the most effective short-term treatment for some patients with depressive symptoms, a newly published review in the journal The Lancet suggests.

What are the long term effects of ECT treatment?

Frequently, a person who undergoes ECT also takes antidepressant medication or a mood stabilizing medication. The most common side effects associated with ECT include: Some people may experience memory problems, especially of memories around the time of the treatment.

Is electroshock therapy still legal?

Electroshock Therapy Still Legal for Kids in the US. It is the only school in the United States that still allows this barbaric practice. The controversial private school came under fire in 2012 after video surfaced of a disabled teen boy being tied up and shocked for seven hours by his teachers.