Have you had ECT? What is it like? Is it dangerous? Did you have side effects!
Question:
Have you had ECT? What is it like? Is it dangerous? Did you have side effects?
Answers:
The side effect of ECT
The side effect of ECT that has received the most attention is memory loss. ECT results in two types of memory loss. The first involves rapid forgetting of new information. For example, shortly after the treatment, patients have difficulty remembering conversations or things they have recently read. This type of memory loss is short lived and has not been shown to last for more than a few weeks after the completion of ECT.
The second type of memory loss concerns events from the past. Some patients will have gaps in their memory of events that occurred in the weeks to months and, less commonly, years before the treatment course. This memory problem also improves after the completion of ECT. However, permanent gaps in memory may exist for some events, particularly those that occurred close in time to the treatment
What is ECT and why is it controversial?
No-one seems to be able to give a clear explanation of how ECT works, and this is a cause of controversy. On the one hand, its critics describe it as a crude treatment that causes brain damage; on the other hand, its supporters defend it as an effective and life-saving technique.
Mind conducted a survey, in 2001, of mental health service users who had received ECT. (Shock Treatment: A Survey of People's Experiences of Electro-convulsive Therapy [ECT].) It reported that as many people found it unhelpful as helpful:
'I would happily die rather than have ECT again.'
(Woman, Yorkshire.)
'If I had not received ECT I would be dead by now.'
(Woman, Staffordshire.)
36 per cent of those treated in the last five years found it helpful in the short term (within the first six weeks of treatment)
27 per cent found it unhelpful or damaging in the short term
43 per cent felt that it was unhelpful or damaging in the long term.
Two-thirds of all those asked, and almost half of those who had had ECT in the last two years, would not agree to have it again.
Many psychiatrists are convinced that it is an effective treatment for seriously depressed people, when no other treatment has been effective or available. They would argue that it is a suitable treatment when it is important to have an immediate effect, for example because a person is so depressed that they are refusing to eat or drink, and are in danger of kidney failure.
Some more links:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/619519...
http://www.ect.org/category/effects/...
Make your decision wisely.