ECT in the present era of medicine is safe and bona fide therapy. The reason for the bad reputation is because delivery of ECT in the older days was never controlled and complications were never anticipated. Today, a lot more is known about the therapy and both delivery and safety have been refined and improved to near perfection.
Who is a candidate for ECT?
ECT is generally reserved for individuals who have:
- severe depression, accompanied by acute psychosis or suicidal ideations
- failed to respond to a variety of standard anti depressant drugs
- side effects or are unable to tolerate anti depressant drugs
- mild to moderate degree of psychosis which does not warrant the use of life long
drug therapy
- depression but have failed to respond to all forms of other therapies
Electroconvulsive therapy is a very effective and rapidly acting treatment for severe major depression. ECT has been found to be beneficial in individuals who suffer with some forms of mania (a mood episode which is associated with grandiose, hyperactive, irrational, and destructive behavior). When it comes to treatment of other mental health disorders like schizoaffective disorder, catatonia or Parkinson's disease, the role of ECT therapy is questionable.
ECT even though an effective treatment has been under utilized in the USA even though there are close to 9 million America who suffer from depression. Data indicate that only about 330,000 individuals have received ECT. ECT is delivered as an outpatient treatment.
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