While its use is still controversial, it can be both an effective and safe treatment for depression. Research suggests that ECT is mostly used to treat major depressive disorder, but it may also be used to treat other psychiatric illnesses, like mania or schizophrenia. Anxiety disorders are common psychiatric illnesses and include:. ECT is not used to treat anxiety and therefore does not have a role in people who have solely an anxiety disorder.
ECT may have a role in people who have comorbid depression and anxiety. The concern of some psychiatrists is that while ECT may help with depressive symptoms, it could worsen anxiety symptoms, including obsessional thoughts or panic attacks.
Just as people with depression who are not responding to available treatments may benefit from ECT, those with schizophrenia who are not responding to antipsychotics may benefit from this treatment. Depression and other mood disorders are very common in people with Parkinson's disease. There has been a lot of research in recent years looking at the role and benefit of using ECT or Parkinson's related depression.
ECTs are for people who are not responding to medication and other treatment methods for depression. The classic example is the use of ECT for a person with major depressive disorder who does not respond to large doses of an antidepressant and psychotherapy. ECT is sometimes given in combination with other therapies in hopes that the combination will improve a person's symptoms more than ECT alone.
Over the short-term, side effects of ECT may include headaches, nausea, muscle aches, and confusion. Retrograde amnesia may last longer than these other symptoms but rarely persists. Long-term cognitive changes can be a side effect of ECT, with memory loss—mostly loss of memory regarding recent events—most common. A doctor will commonly ask memory or orientation-related questions after a person undergoes ECT to assess their degree of cognitive loss if any.
More severe possible side effects include cardiac pulmonary and brain-related effects. It is important that patients are aware of this risk and all other potential risks and benefits of ECTs before consenting to treatment. Despite a general sense by the public that ECT is dangerous and outdated when used based on careful selection criteria, it can be a relatively safe way of getting severe depression under control. Certainly, the risk of ECT needs to be carefully weighed against the risk of severe depression which is not responding to treatment, such as suicide risk and more.
ECT has a negative public perception or stigma. In addition, there is both a lack of awareness among primary care physicians of the role ECT can play and a lack of providers who perform the procedure.
It's important to note that ECT is a procedure that is performed when treatments such as medications and psychotherapy are ineffective in relieving severe depression or other psychiatric illness such as schizophrenia. When this is the case, the quality of life of a person is very important to keep in mind when considering the treatment. Before considering ECT, it's important to consider the possible alternatives.
The molecular changes allow more communication between neurons in a specific part of the brain also known to respond to antidepressant drugs. In a report of their study, published online on Oct. The new cells from the Narp-less mice have fewer branching dendrites, needed for communication with nearby brain cells, than the healthy mice do. ECT, given to depressed patients under anesthesia and after taking a muscle relaxer, sends electrical pulses to the brain through electrodes applied to the head.
The electrical stimulation triggers a seizure. Repeated a few times a week for a short period, ECT eliminates depressive symptoms for an extended time in many patients. Working with mice, Reti and others have shown previously that within a few minutes of ECT, certain genes notably including Narp are turned on in the hippocampus, a small, seahorse-shaped part of the brain in the temporal lobe that helps regulate emotions.
This is a procedure done under general anesthesia to treat severe incidences of depression, or incidences of psychotic behavior that might be manifested by bipolar condition. There are only a few reasons why electroshock therapy might be used without patient consent, including depression so severe that a person is at constant risk for suicide or is no longer eating or drinking, and usually if the person will not or does not respond to drug treatment for their condition.
While electroshock therapy can help end an incident of severe depression or psychosis , it is not a cure. Patients usually require more than one treatment, more often between six to twelve treatments to end a depressive episode. Some studies, which focus on the use of both ECT and medication, suggest that full-on psychosis or severe depression is less likely to recur if a person is on suitable medications after the treatment.
One of the best solutions for severe depression may surprise you: electroconvulsive therapy , or ECT. By some estimates, depression strikes 6. The incidence in women is nearly twice as high as in men. In major depression, people have little interest or pleasure in life for two weeks or longer. They may struggle to sleep, eat, find energy and concentrate. Their self-image suffers. Thoughts of death or suicide are common.
0コメント