Electroconvulsive Therapy

choi

Dan Hurley, The Shock Doc. Can Sarah Lisanby help electroconvulsive therapy -- the most effective treatment for severe depression -- shed its brutal reputation?  The Atlantic, December 2015.
http://www.theatlantic.com/magaz ... ock-therapy/413179/

Quote:

"In the popular imagination, ECT—the application to the scalp of an electrical current strong enough to induce a brief seizure—is an archaic practice that might as well be relegated to a museum collection. But according to Lisanby and other leading researchers, the modern version of ECT, far from outmoded, is the most effective therapy available for severe, treatment-resistant depression and bipolar disorder (and even sometimes, when deployed early enough, schizophrenia). No one knows exactly why ECT works—there are many theories—but numerous studies have established that it does work: The vast majority of severely depressed, even suicidal, patients feel much better after a course of treatment. Many experience a total remission. Refinements over the past few decades, moreover, have dramatically reduced the temporary memory loss once associated with ECT.

" 'When you see modern ECT done,' Lisanby said, 'it’s nothing like the negative portrayals in the movies.' She ticks off some of the differences: 'We use anesthesia and muscle relaxants, so there’s actually no motor convulsions. It’s like any other medical procedure.'

"The [electroconvulsive] treatment’s chief drawback, for now, is that without maintenance therapy (whether drugs or more ECT), its benefits last many patients only about six months to a year.

"Through the 1970s, mental illness was seen as resulting primarily from early trauma and adverse experiences; the treatment was psychotherapy. Beginning in the 1980s, it was regarded as an imbalance of neurotransmitters, best treated with medication. Lisanby * * * 'brings the contemporary approach: It’s a disorder involving changes in brain circuitry.' This understanding points to the limits of drug-centered therapy; medications cannot target discrete brain circuits. * * * Thanks to Lisanby and others who have focused attention on this 'third option * * * we’re in a new era.'

My comment: About the last quotation. Medical proof is needed.