Ect therapy for depression

How does ECT relieve depression? What are the pros and cons of ECT therapy? When medication fails to ease the symptoms of clinical depression , there are other options to try.

Brain stimulation techniques such as electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), for example, can be used to. Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) can provide rapi significant improvements in severe symptoms of several mental health conditions.

ECT is used to treat: Severe depression , particularly when accompanied by detachment from reality (psychosis), a desire to commit suicide or refusal to eat. WebMD explains how it works and its side effects and risks. This video provides an introduction to ECT for patients, family members and clinicians that may.

ECT is an approved medical treatment that involves the use of electricity to produce a brief seizure in a person under general anesthesia (while the person receiving the treatment is asleep). ECT, TMS and Other Brain Stimulation Therapies. When treatments such as medication and therapy aren’t able to relieve the symptoms of depression or another mental health condition, there are other options available.

A psychiatrist might suggest electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) or other forms of brain stimulation.

ECT involves a brief electrical stimulation of the brain while the patient is under anesthesia. Unlike antidepressant medications, the ECT procedure involves a direct effect on the central nervous system, is faster-acting, and avoids the systemic side-effects of. It is not known how or why ECT works or what the electrically stimulated seizure does to the brain.

An individualized program of follow-up treatment with electroconvulsive therapy ( ECT ) combined with an antidepressant was effective in preventing relapse in patients years and older who had had a successful initial course of treatment for severe depression. Shock therapy is now known as electroconvulsive therapy or ECT. The brain is still not well understoo nor is the reason for the treatment effects ECT (shock) therapy has on some individuals. It is known that ECT affects hormones, neuropeptides, neurotrophic factors, and neurotransmitters in the brain. ECT therapy is most commonly used in patients with severe mental illnesses that do not respond to other treatments such as antidepressants or other psychiatric medications.

Unfortunately, ECT isn’t a permanent cure. Learn about electroconvulsive therapy ( ECT ) for depression as an alternative treatment option for patients who are unresponsive to antidepressant medications. Read about the history of ECT and costs and side effects of the procedure. What is electroconvulsive therapy ( ECT )? During ECT , a carefully calculated electric current is passed to the brain through. The aim of the treatment is to relieve the symptoms of some mental health problems.

ECT can provide rapi significant improvements in people who have severe symptoms of depression , mania, catatonia or other mental health disorders.

Yet research indicates that nearly years after its discovery, ECT remains the single most effective therapy for treatment-resistant cases of depression and some cases of bipolar affective. If you’re on medication and in talk therapy and aren’t getting or seeing improvement fast enough, ECT may be an option to discuss with your doctor. Aside from depression and mania, it can also address schizophrenia, Tourette syndrome, and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, notes the source. Piershalski, with the VA New York Harbor Healthcare System. Extensive research and experience have allowed us to deliver what remains the most effective treatment for depression with minimal memory impairment and side effects in the large majority of.

ECT involves sending an electric current through the brain to cause a controlled seizure. Experts do not entirely understand why the seizure is effective, but it’s thought that it eases the symptoms of depression by changing the brain’s chemistry.