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Electroshock therapy remains common in treating depression


  3. Mr_Costello
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Protests have taken place for a ban on the treatment, but electroshock therapy is frequently used by Canadian psychiatrists to treat severe depression.
Mr_Costello

20 responses // Electroshock therapy remains common in treating depression

  • i just find this to be terribly WRONG, i'm against the use of electroshock therapy.
    misticblue7
  • http://current.com/items/88852527_new_study_prozac_does...
    Image...
    Is that because anti-depressants like prozac don't work? Surely there is a better method to the madness...
    abbym0308
  • ditto misticblue // it's blatantly obvious this has direct effects on cognition and memory, brain structure and pregnancy. Then whole Involuntary ECT practice brings out the wrath in e to say the least. There are a 1001 other methods that a 9 year old alone could think of.
    Mr_Costello
  • I see no way electroshock therapy could help treat depression. Are there any clinical (preferably blind) studies that prove that this actually works?
    neokn
  • if you read the fine text on the articles about prozac it does say that prozac works in cases of extreme depression ie it can actually help the people who need it but it might not work for stressed out housewives.

    it wouldnt surprise me if this article was placed by scientologsits. it never ceases to amaze me how much they slander psychology and psychiatry under organizations with different names without providing the full story and yet are so quick to slam those that criticize them. ive had scientologsts tell me that psychiatry is the same thing as Hitler and the Holocaust of WWII. go figure.
    eisnein
  • Electroshock is pretty creepy. There's a guy at my church with an extreme case of "Bipolar disorder with Schizophrenic tendencies." He goes in about once every two months to have electroshock "treatment." On the weeks leading up to the treatment, he will be all over the place, talking gibberish about "going back to 86' to change Lincolns birth certificate so he can chill with Spock at the Stanley Cup," and things along those lines. The week of his treatment, he virtually disappears. When he reappears, he's silent and completely well behaved; it's really creepy. But after a few weeks, he'll be back to his old self, and back to the electroshock machine. Weird, weird stuff...
    mransom
  • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aS_d0Ayjw4o
    re: mransom
    Thats a perfect example of how electroshock "therapy" does nothing but reduce symptoms but does nothing else.

    I recommend you see the movie "Beautiful mind". In the movie, electroshocks only made John Nash worse than better. I don't want to base my facts on "some" movie but electroshocks really are creepy

    neokn
  • having a family member with severe bi-polar disorder who underwent 18 months of regular electroshock therapy, i know and have seen first hand its benefits. as scary and archaic as it sounds, in some cases it really is the only thing after years of treatment that has been successful.
    missargyle
  • thats very interesting missargyle

    If you dont mind me asking, how long in general after shock therapy do the symptoms come back? Is it leaving any permanent scars (physical or mental)? What other treatments have failed?
    neokn
  • she was diagnosed in 1997. put on every different cocktail of antidepressants and antipsychotics that they could think up. in and out of mental hospitals, but usually after the mania died away and the 72 hours was up she was able to convince the california judges that she should be released. i think after she had gotten her 7th or 8th DUI (she self-medicated with alcohol) and crashed her 5th car she had a longer stay in an institution (about 5 or 6 months). her doctors finally got her on a mixture of meds that kept her mostly under control, but by this point she needed constant help and supervision as the drugs made her so groggy she couldn't function alone.

    electroshock was a last resort.

    as was mentioned in previous comments, the days and weeks following a session left her emotionless and zoned-out. she was on a regular treatment plan, but by the end the time between sessions got longer and longer and she has now been free of the treatment for over 2 years.

    she started off volunteering and within a year the organization she had been working with hired her as a part time employee. her general mood, confidence level and memory have been the most noticably affected by the treatment. her overall intellectual capacity has been reduced significantly (she was working on her phd). her confidence level has dropped dramatically because she doesn't have the intellectual capacity she once had, but at the same time, she a kind, caring and giving woman. she feels like she is making a difference in the lives of people in her community. to me, she is a success and i'm so happy to have her in my life.
    missargyle
  • Very complicated issue. Some people have reported that it really helped them, and some people say that the side effects just made things worse.
    currenton
  • Thanks for sharing missargyle!

    Although I am a little bit surprise, it seems that electroshock really does help some people and I'm glad it helped your family member return to a happy, fulfilling life.

    Then the question is whether electroshock therapy should always be used as a last resort or should it be used prior to treatment with drugs. Do you think the decrease in intellectual capacity was caused by the drugs or electroshock therapy? Or is there just no way to tell?
    neokn
  • Hi missargyle, I also had an experience with a a close family member. I think that the treatment may have helped although it is hard to know because he is still dealing with a reduced level of this depression.
    The good news is that the really tough symptoms of memory lapses do go away.....
    currenton
  • Why is it we believe that these 'problems' can be 'fixed' with a little colored pill or excessive use of electricity?
    Sure it effectively alters the brain's uptake of certain neurotransmitters to give a feeling of joy, but that's not the way our brain's normally deal with alterations in chemical balance.
    We are just speeding our demise that much faster.
    CapraRoyale
  • CapraRoyale,

    The pills are not about a feeling of Joy. Depression is a disease and it prevents people from leading a normal life. It's also ver unhealthy, and dangerous. So if medication can help, it should be used.
    currenton
  • Although I see where you're coming from, i am not coming from that same place.

    Define normal.
    And how is it dangerous.
    CapraRoyale
  • CapraRoyale,

    Normal: being able to sleep at night, eat, go to work, etc.

    Dangerous: Heart problems, blood pressure, and self inflicted harm.
    currenton
  • The United Nations has already determined that Tasers are a form of torture. How much different is a Taser than electroshock therapy?

    Not much if you ask me.
    jubal
  • Okay, understood.
    This is all based around our current state in society.
    I'm thinking low level human interaction as a species.
    Survival of the fittest type deal.
    CapraRoyale
  • hey, its canadian, at least its free.
    diode

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