electro-shock therapy

[orbsycli]

i understand there are the old ways of doing electro-shock thereapy, and the modern.
what were the intentions and usage of old electro-shock therapy? how did it help people, if it did at all. i just read about people killing themselves after undergoing it.

what's different about the modern technique? is it still used?

[Biochemist]

Originally Posted by orbsycli

i understand there are the old ways of doing electro-shock thereapy, and the modern.
what were the intentions and usage of old electro-shock therapy? how did it help people, if it did at all. i just read about people killing themselves after undergoing it.

what's different about the modern technique? is it still used?

Electroshock therapy is used to treat depression. It works reasonably well to manage depression for a short time period. Some folks got extended relief after a single treatment.

It was used frequently in the old days before drugs were available. It was still used with some regularity through the '70's and '80s because many of the elderly with depression could not hande the side effects of the earlier medications (mostly tricyclics). Side effects included cardiac rhythm anomalies and urinary retention.

As the number of medications has increased, and the side effects have decreased, the use of electroshock has declined.

I suspect the people killing themselves (in your example) were more likely to have been driven by their underlying pathololgy (i.e., depression) than the therapy.

[Fishteacher73]

I think a lot of the "effectiveness" of electroshock therapy was probably just due to a Pavlovian response.

[Biochemist]

Originally Posted by Fishteacher73

I think a lot of the "effectiveness" of electroshock therapy was probably just due to a Pavlovian response.

Actually, it was quite effective for a number of patients. I think the documentation on this is pretty good. Of course, you cannot get around the placebo effects because you can't perform a blinded study. But I have personally seen seriously depressed (suicidal) patients that were significantly improved by EST. That was in the late '70s.

[infamous]

Just as a side to this discussion, when I was in my 20's I was nearly electrocuted. After a brief stay in the hospital I was released to continue my life with a greater understanding and appreciation for it's value. Even though I was unaware of it, many of my closest friends have sense commented that they noticed a distinct change in my personality. I was just wondering if this is a typical result, and if it in someway relates to the effects of schock therapy?

[Chacmool]

The new trend in psychiatry seems to be moving away from ECT, because the risks are seen to outweigh the benefits. Although I've also read about some people who failed to respond to any medication, but they responded very well to ECT.

A safer new alternative seems to be stimulation of the vagus nerve. It was initially used in the treatment of epilepsy, but studies have subsequently show that it is effective in the treatment of depression as well. This form of treatment doesn't seem to yield so many dangerous side effects.