Neurology, Addiction and Psychiatry Conference

Electroconvulsive Therapy is a relatively known psychiatric treatment commonly applied to more severe mental health disorders such as treatment-resistant depression, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia. This therapy involves using controlled electrical stimulation of the brain that results in a brief seizure and possibly altering the chemical composition of the brain with the aim of reducing symptoms of mental illness. Regardless of the controversies that make up its history, modern-day ECT is well known to be a safe and effective treatment for patients who have failed to respond to other treatments such as medication or psychotherapy.

The procedure for ECT is most often administered in a hospital where it offers general anesthesia for the purpose of keeping the patient perfectly comfortable and pain-free during the actual procedures. Electrodes are applied to a patient's scalp, and a controlled amount of electric current is transmitted through the brain that in turn causes the patient to experience a seizure, which can range anywhere from 30 to 60 seconds. The treatment session itself, from preparation to recovery time, is around 30 to 45 minutes long. ECT is typically given two to three times a week for several weeks depending on how a patient reacts to the treatment and in what state they are.

The main indication of ECT is major depression, especially when other treatments have failed. It is most effective for suicidal patients, catatonic patients, or those suffering severe psychotic depression. Besides the treatment of depression, ECT has other applications in the treatment of bipolar disorder, specifically for the cases involving severe mania or depressive episodes, and schizophrenia for patients with severe psychosis or failure to respond to the antipsychotic medication.

Although the most effective treatment with no lack of side effects, ECT does have possible unwanted effects. The most common adverse effects include short-term memory loss, confusion, and headaches-all of which resolve within hours or days of having the treatment. Long-term memory loss is possible but rare, therefore any patient should be informed of risks prior to commencing treatment.

ECT science is being continually developed with studies on optimizing electrode placement, pulse width, and frequency of treatments to improve outcomes and minimize side effects. Maintenance ECT is sometimes used for prevention of recurrence in patients who responded well to initial treatments.

Despite some misconceptions about ECT, it is a great life-saving treatment option for patients with severe psychiatric disorders and a source of hope when other treatments have failed to ameliorate. Ongoing advances in this field, it continues to be a very useful tool for neuromodulation of mood and mental health disorders.