Electro Convulsive Shock Therapy (ECT)

Electro Convulsive Shock Therapy (ECT) (Full Version)

All Forums >> [Casual Banter] >> Off the Grid

Message

Duskypearls -> Electro Convulsive Shock Therapy (ECT) (7/27/2012 8:01:23 PM)
Has anyone had any first or second hand experience with this sort of therapy in regards to treating depression?

LadyHibiscus -> RE: Electro Convulsive Shock Therapy (ECT) (7/27/2012 8:49:17 PM)
When I was in the day hospital after a medication switch gone awry, one of the other outpatients was a lady who was in ECT. It took her a few hours to get herself ready for class, and she was fabulous, perfect hair and makeup, beautifully dressed. I have never felt so much concentrated rage emanating from a person. The aura extended at least a foot around her. She was no longer actively suicidal (and resented it deeply) but I am not sure she was less depressed. I wondered why we were sanding projects to 'relieve stress' when hammering would be so much more beneficial, but I can see the value in not having obvious weapons around someone like her. I have met two others who tried it with moderate success and not too much memory loss.

kdsub -> RE: Electro Convulsive Shock Therapy (ECT) (7/27/2012 8:58:37 PM)
My daughter went through a series of treatments 5 years ago. Physically she was just fine but she experienced profound memory loss. After a particular treatment she could not remember which apartment she lived in. I had to walk her to the door. She lost both long and short term memory and has not regained it. As far as her depression it seemed to stabilize her downward spiral for awhile but she is still heavily medicated and has trouble functioning due to the side effects of the medications. So…in our experience it was not worth it but it may work just fine for others. Butch

Tantriqu -> RE: Electro Convulsive Shock Therapy (ECT) (7/27/2012 9:04:06 PM)
A friend's dad was depressed; I hated going to her house because I would have to be polite and talk to him even though he would be laying down on the couch in his bathrobe, sometimes with a blanket over his head, and would never respond to my painful attempts at small talk. He went 'away', which I later found out was for ECT, and within ten days he was back home, dressed and conversing, and within another week was back at work. Science is amazing.

LadyHibiscus -> RE: Electro Convulsive Shock Therapy (ECT) (7/27/2012 9:10:41 PM)
The brain...we really know so little about it. :(

littlewonder -> RE: Electro Convulsive Shock Therapy (ECT) (7/27/2012 9:12:56 PM)
Not yet...see me in about 10 years

Tantriqu -> RE: Electro Convulsive Shock Therapy (ECT) (7/27/2012 10:09:59 PM)
Amazing strides in the last 100 years; even 50 years, when 'hysteria' was still a diagnosis.

MalcolmNathaniel -> RE: Electro Convulsive Shock Therapy (ECT) (7/27/2012 10:29:55 PM)
Here's what I know about it: I am an electrical engineer who did his junior paper on electrocution. If a doctor comes near me with one of those devices he better be prepared for a gun battle. That would be me being nice about it. <Deleted a lot of things that would upset people.>

Rule -> RE: Electro Convulsive Shock Therapy (ECT) (7/27/2012 10:40:28 PM)
quote: ORIGINAL: Duskypearls Has anyone had any first or second hand experience with this sort of therapy in regards to treating depression? What is the success rate? When is that rate acceptable? I distrust all medical interventions, especially the shotgun variety. I spoke with an old psychologist a couple of weeks ago. He earns his money in the luxury class: listening to rich folk talk about their marital / divorce problems and charging them a lot of money. Anyway, he asked me what percentage of diseases in my estimate were iatrogenic. I answered ninety percent. To my surprise he claimed that it is as much as a third - much higher than I expected him to say, but not as high by far as my own guess. Imagine the savings on health related costs and all the misery to be avoided if physicians stopped treating their patients. Depression appears to be a characteristic of some submissive personalities, according to my observations. I do not consider that to be wrong nor a disease.

MissToYouRedux -> RE: Electro Convulsive Shock Therapy (ECT) (7/27/2012 11:24:42 PM)
I had coffee the other day with a woman who had it. She's still fragile, but she said it saved her life.

pyschosubmission -> RE: Electro Convulsive Shock Therapy (ECT) (7/28/2012 12:32:43 AM)
As someone who is only relatively recently out of a psych unit, here in the UK, I can tell you I have had a lot of experience with people who had it. Its a bit of a mix, some people it works wonders on. Some people it doesn't do much at all. I will say a lot of research has been done in psychiatry in the past 30 years. ECT sounds scary, but it can and does work. And while I often wonder about the priotrites in a medical system that runs for profit, doctors have nevertheless swore an oath to first do no harm

kitkat105 -> RE: Electro Convulsive Shock Therapy (ECT) (7/28/2012 1:58:10 AM)
I don't like it. I've seen it performed and while it does seem to work (at least temporarily), much like chiropractors, the patients require regular "readjustments".. i.e. will constantly be getting ECT a number of times per year. Yes, it is more humane that what it was (it's done under sedation/muscle relaxant).

Aswad -> RE: Electro Convulsive Shock Therapy (ECT) (7/28/2012 4:17:21 AM)
quote: ORIGINAL: Duskypearls Has anyone had any first or second hand experience with this sort of therapy in regards to treating depression? Second hand. First off, since there are so many different ideas about what constitutes severe depression, I will define it in the simplest way I can: if you're no longer eating regularly, sleeping tolerably or taking care of basic personal hygiene, then you've reached the level that is severe. Prior to that point, ECT is not a sound choice, in my personal opinion, unless you have persistent suicidal ideation (that is, recurring thoughts of suicide, or specific plans, or a sincere feeling that you would rather be dead than go on). Occasional suicidal thoughts usually don't lead to suicide, whereas persistent ones have a higher probability of that, making them more pressing as far as actually "jumping ahead" in treatment goes. With severe depression, it is necessary to establish a drug based regimen in order for ECT to have a lasting benefit. It in itself is a way to break out of the depressive state, not a way to end the depressive illness. You need something that will actually deal with the illness as well. Drugs are currently the gold standard for severe depression, as there is quite simply not enough to work on to get anywhere with behavioral therapy. When the literature diverges on this point, it is my experience that it comes down to these sources using a different definition of severe. Therapy is great. But it is insufficient to put a severe depression of chronic duration into remission. Sometimes, drugs are insufficient on their own, or there may be a time factor (e.g. risk of suicide). Most of the time, ECT will not give lasting loss of memories older than a couple of days prior to the treatment, and it is rare for people to experience a significant and enduring loss. Any time there's a lightning storm, someone will get struck by the lightning. The odds of it being you are slim. But you have to decide how severe the loss is, factor in how unlikely it is, and then weigh that against the odds of suicide (1 in 3)¹ and the loss endured due to the ongoing illness and the risks you otherwise take in life. Any time you drive a car, there's a chance you'll end up dead, a few limbs short, or vegetating in a hospital. Most of us take that risk without it giving us pause. Similarly, many psychiatrists advocate the same tradeoff as regards ECT in outpatients. If you draw the short straw, that sucks. If you don't, it will in most cases almost immediately reverse the depressive state, and allow the meds to stabilize you. ECT is a very useful treatment. I wouldn't do it unless I was downright catatonic for at least a year, but that's me, and it's rarely the right assessment. Drugs also have side effects. The potent drugs, the ones usually reserved for otherwise refractory cases and severe depressions, have severe side effects. Some, like Parnate, will require a strict dietary regimen to be adhered to. Some, like Anafranil, require regular bloodwork. Most have some contraindications that are not to be trifled with. All require a professional to keep an eye on the long term effects and can benefit from combination with therapy. In short, they're serious drugs for a serious illness. Much like ECT, which should only be used when you've found a drug regimen that will be adequate to stabilize you once the ECT kicks you out of the depression. Unless the right drugs are in place, you might as well use sleep deprivation, because the effect is the same: a reprieve of short duration. With the right drugs, the effect is a lasting remission. The drug regimen I used in my severe depression was a combination of 2.4mg/kg/dy Parnate, 16mg/dy Subutex and 3x5mg/dy Dexedrine. Makes you feel weak and nauseated. Takes a few pounds off your weight. Messes up your sleep for a while. Expect some vomiting. I had a cramp in my bladder muscles at first, requiring a week with a catheter. There were other effects, too. But it made me better. Realize I didn't just feel better, I got better. Started to function again. Got me on my feet. Took a long time for me to even learn to recognize such basic signals from my body as hunger and pain. But I improved. Achieved remission. Tapered it down to a maintenance dose of 1.2mg/kg/dy Parnate without the other two. Whatever route you take, it will be unpleasant, but you will recover in the end, and it's worth sticking around for that. Feel free to message me on the other side. I wish you well, — Aswad. ¹ For anyone reading, bear in mind that this suicide risk is well beyond what is seen with cancer and other horrific illnesses.

Moonhead -> RE: Electro Convulsive Shock Therapy (ECT) (7/28/2012 5:45:57 AM)
quote: ORIGINAL: Rule Depression appears to be a characteristic of some submissive personalities, according to my observations. I do not consider that to be wrong nor a disease. I take it these subs are cut as well? I'm sure a missing prepuce causes depression as well as all of the genetic diseases it leads to... (FR to the sane people in this thread ;) ) My understanding was that ECT can be very effective on certain forms of depression that don't respond well to medication or psychotherapy. I'm also told the methodology has got a lot more refined since the '60s, and One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest (which appears to be what got ECT the bad rep in the first place) was antipsychiatric rant from a hippy who was prey to the mega '60s "only the nutcases are sane" cliche. Also: if I was down with non symptomatic depression myself, I'd much rather have a jolt of ECT than be pumped full of downers or Prozac, let alone the insulin shock treatment they used before ECT came in...

kalikshama -> RE: Electro Convulsive Shock Therapy (ECT) (7/28/2012 6:48:59 AM)
I found One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest to have a lot more depth than an antipsychiatric rant. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Flew_Over_the_Cuckoo's_Nest_(novel) One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest was a direct product of Kesey's time working the graveyard shift as an orderly at a mental health facility in Menlo Park, California.[2] Not only did he speak to the patients and witness the workings of the institution, he took psychoactive drugs (Peyote and LSD) as part of Project MKULTRA.[3] From this, he became sympathetic toward the patients.[4] The novel constantly refers to different authorities that control individuals through subtle and coercive methods. The novel's narrator, the Chief, combines these authorities in his mind, calling them "The Combine" in reference to the mechanistic way they manipulate and process individuals. The authority of The Combine is most often personified in the character of "Nurse Ratched" who controls the inhabitants of the novel's mental ward through a combination of rewards and subtle shame.[4] Although she does not normally resort to conventionally harsh discipline, her actions are portrayed as more insidious than those of a conventional prison administrator. This is because the subtlety of her actions prevents her prisoners from understanding that they are being controlled at all. The Chief also sees the Combine in the damming of the wild Columbia River at Celilo Falls, where his Native American ancestors hunted, and in the broader conformity of post-war American consumer society. The novel's critique of the mental ward as an instrument of oppression comparable to the prison mirrored many of the claims that French intellectual Michel Foucault was making at the same time. Similarly, Foucault argued that invisible forms of discipline oppressed individuals on a broad societal scale, encouraging them to censor aspects of themselves and their actions. The novel also criticizes the emasculation of men in society, particularly in the character of Billy Bibbit, the stuttering acute who is domineered by both Nurse Ratched and his mother. These and other interpretive threads are synthesized and analyzed in Peter Swirski's "You're Not in Canada until You Can Hear the Loons Crying or Voting, People's Power and Ken Kesey's One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest".[5]

tj444 -> RE: Electro Convulsive Shock Therapy (ECT) (7/28/2012 8:42:24 AM)
When i was younger (17 to mid-20s) I knew someone that had that done, i dont know what he was like before the treatment but after he seemed fine to me.. he became a published writer..

OttersSwim -> RE: Electro Convulsive Shock Therapy (ECT) (7/28/2012 8:57:46 AM)
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1357601/Carrie-Fisher-confesses-Oprah-regular-electric-shock-therapy-help-battle-depression.html I have seen her in interviews since and she is honestly...a bit twitchy...and her speech is a bit slurred. Not sure if this is from the ECT or if she had a little nip in the green room before filming...

MercTech -> RE: Electro Convulsive Shock Therapy (ECT) (7/28/2012 9:24:31 AM)
If you boil electroconvulsive therapy down to the brass tacks it is rather a frightening concept; scramble the synapses so rearrange the thought patterns and hope they fall into something closer to mainstream definitions of sanity. The proof is in the success rate. Not like the electrical lobotomy results they had in the 1950s. Depression is an insidious condition and can grab your life and crush it with little warning. How far are you willing to go for a chance at relief?

littlewonder -> RE: Electro Convulsive Shock Therapy (ECT) (7/28/2012 9:48:50 AM)
quote: How far are you willing to go for a chance at relief? For me personally....anything...anything at all and I'm not exaggerating one bit. I would lovelovelove to live a normal, happy, life.

Moonhead -> RE: Electro Convulsive Shock Therapy (ECT) (7/28/2012 9:58:15 AM)
quote: ORIGINAL: kalikshama I found One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest to have a lot more depth than an antipsychiatric rant. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Flew_Over_the_Cuckoo's_Nest_(novel) One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest was a direct product of Kesey's time working the graveyard shift as an orderly at a mental health facility in Menlo Park, California.[2] Not only did he speak to the patients and witness the workings of the institution, he took psychoactive drugs (Peyote and LSD) as part of Project MKULTRA.[3] From this, he became sympathetic toward the patients.[4] The novel constantly refers to different authorities that control individuals through subtle and coercive methods. The novel's narrator, the Chief, combines these authorities in his mind, calling them "The Combine" in reference to the mechanistic way they manipulate and process individuals. The authority of The Combine is most often personified in the character of "Nurse Ratched" who controls the inhabitants of the novel's mental ward through a combination of rewards and subtle shame.[4] Although she does not normally resort to conventionally harsh discipline, her actions are portrayed as more insidious than those of a conventional prison administrator. This is because the subtlety of her actions prevents her prisoners from understanding that they are being controlled at all. The Chief also sees the Combine in the damming of the wild Columbia River at Celilo Falls, where his Native American ancestors hunted, and in the broader conformity of post-war American consumer society. The novel's critique of the mental ward as an instrument of oppression comparable to the prison mirrored many of the claims that French intellectual Michel Foucault was making at the same time. Similarly, Foucault argued that invisible forms of discipline oppressed individuals on a broad societal scale, encouraging them to censor aspects of themselves and their actions. The novel also criticizes the emasculation of men in society, particularly in the character of Billy Bibbit, the stuttering acute who is domineered by both Nurse Ratched and his mother. These and other interpretive threads are synthesized and analyzed in Peter Swirski's "You're Not in Canada until You Can Hear the Loons Crying or Voting, People's Power and Ken Kesey's One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest".[5] It's a vastly better novel than film, but sadly most people know it from the dumbed down version with Jack Nicholson that more or less equates ECT with lobotomy, mostly to set up a mercy killing in the final reel.

Page: [1] 2 3 4 next > >>

Collarchat.com © 2025

Terms of Service

0.03125