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Nancy
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Electroconvulsive
Therapy: A Guide
(below
is the second excerpt from the guide)
Why are some people afraid to have electroconvulsive therapy? The stigma associated with ECT makes it difficult for some patients to accept treatment. When ECT was used many years ago in its earlier forms, side effects were sometimes severe. These included body shaking and jerking (which sometimes broke bones and dislocated joints) and memory loss. Furthermore, in the past, doctors sometimes over-prescribed ECT to treat disorders that were not helped by ECT. Also, people sometimes confuse medically applied ECT with "electroshock treatment" that has been used by some governments to torture prisoners.
ECT's stigma is unfortunate. ECT today is rarely harmful because safer techniques and better equipment are used. Bodily convulsions no longer occur and memory loss can be reduced by stimulating the brain on the side where memory is less involved. This is referred to as unilateral ECT. ECT is usually very beneficial for patients with depression. Doctors prescribe ECT mainly for severe depression and less frequently for other disorders. For a patient with depression who is actively suicidal, psychotic, or whose disorder is life-threatening, there is no better treatment than ECT because it acts quickly and helps a greater proportion of patients than medication. Most patients who suffer from depression and are treated with ECT feel that ECT was the best course of treatment for them.
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