Shocking, Isn't It?

Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), also known as electroshock therapy, is stilled used today by many psychiatric hospitals today.  Despite it's reputation from the past being something like this...

... ECT is making a quiet comeback.  But no need to be scared because the World Association of Psychiatry (WPA) requires the consent of the patient before therapy can be pursued and there have actually been many success stories of ECT such as the following:

“In the past two years, I have had several courses of ECT to treat psychotic, suicidal depression and believe me, ECT was the only thing that helped at all.  Three months after my last maintenance treatment, my moods are stable and I am a successful graduate student. I have told my psychiatrist that he saved my life with the ECT. I hate to admit it because I find the treatments abhorrent, but I truly believe that this awful treatment has saved my life more than once."(http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/241309)

So how does this miraculous therapy work?  And who is it used on?  ECT is mainly used for those patients with severe depression, and has been since the 1930's, making it one of the oldest methods of depression treatment.  This therapy works by stimulating the brain through neurotransmitters, which are normally given through anti-depressant medication.  However, for patients who may not be able to handle the side effects of certain medications, ECT can give more effective outcomes.  Also, it works much quicker than most medications.  This is why it is used mainly for severe cases, who need treatment rapidly.  

ECT has actually been proven to be 80% effective.  Reading about this surprised me because I wanted to know why this isn't used more often.  Well, a downfall to this great therapy is memory loss.  However, these memories return within weeks of treatment.  Also, ECT has been proven to not cause brain damage.  Resistance to this treatment could be due to its lack of publicity or its bad reputation, but the effects of ECT are often underestimated.  While it may not be an ideal long-term treatment (perhaps because taking pills seems less tedious than going to sessions of ECT), this form of therapy is an effective treatment which helps those who need quick therapy in severe cases.