Electroconvulsive Therapy Research Paper

Week 2 Discussion Board – Electroconvulsive Therapy Treatment

PROMPT: Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT) is still utilized to treat atypical depression. Shock therapy has had such a dark history in mental health. Find and read at least two articles on either the history of ECT or its use in treating depression. Cite those articles in your response. Share your feelings and thoughts regarding its use today. Be sure to discuss the information you gleaned from the articles. Reminder: You will be expected to discuss other students ' responses. You will want to return to the discussion and read those responses and respond briefly within the week. Respond to at least two of your peers. The more you can interact with your colleagues, the better the
discussion.

RE: “Share your feelings and thoughts regarding its use today…” I’ll admit my feelings and thoughts regarding the use of ECT today were filled with misinformation.
My awareness (wouldn’t claim knowledge on this…) of ECT was guided by what I had randomly seen on TV or glanced through in articles, not all favorable. I’m glad I read the articles because they brought light to a form of treatment I thought was best kept for bad B movies.

I found the brief history of ECT I read not that much different than many stories of battlefield medicine. In fact if you were to compare the early uses of ECT with the type surgeries performed at the Battle of Gettysburg, ECT had a much lower risk to patients and higher desirable outcome for long term effects.

ECT is a classic example of misinformation and the possible effects it can have on patients, treatment and therapy. It also provides a good example of why every treatment should have a clearly stated purpose and desired outcome so that if/when adjustments need to be made at least there’s a baseline to adjust from.

I believe ECT has a place in treatment today. Personally, I would (need) want to know more before treating anyone who has undergone ECT and certainly consult with experts in the field before any detailed discussions with a patient when considering it as a treatment
option.

So curiosity got the best of me and I went looking to see “who does ECT in WA…?” Here’s a link to an interesting article that describes ECT, and other similar treatments for Treatment Resistant Depression. http://wuphysicians.wustl.edu/dept.aspx?pageID=7&ID=11

RE: “…discuss the information you gleaned from the articles” Both articles present interesting points, ample resources for follow-up study and certainly inspire more questions.
On the surface ECT appears to serve as a reasonable treatment option with diagnosis that are resistant to treatment by medication or psychotherapy.

The trending opinions are that ECT is on the decline, there is limited current national data supporting use and recent recommendations to tighten regulation of electroconvulsive therapy. According to Brady G., C., David N., B., Eugene M., L., Lawrence H., P., Carole E., S., Mark, O., & Steven C., M. (n.d). Archival Report: Declining Use of Electroconvulsive Therapy in United States General Hospitals. Biological Psychiatry, 73(Risk Mechanisms for Bipolar Disorder), 119-126. doi:10.1016/j.biopsych.2012.09.005 the variables included in these arguments include:

* “Falling duration of psychiatric inpatient stays over the past 2 decades.” * “the percentage of hospitals conducting ECT decreased from 14.8% to 10.6%” * “stays for severe recurrent major depression in hospitals that conducted ECT fell from 70.5% to
44.7%” * “whereas receipt of ECT where conducted declined from 12.9% to 10.5%”

References:

Cyrzyk, T. (2013). Electroconvulsive therapy: why it is still controversial. Mental Health Practice, 16(7), 22-27.

Brady G., C., David N., B., Eugene M., L., Lawrence H., P., Carole E., S., Mark, O., & Steven C., M. (n.d). Archival Report: Declining Use of Electroconvulsive Therapy in United States General Hospitals. Biological Psychiatry, 73(Risk Mechanisms for Bipolar Disorder), 119-126. doi:10.1016/j.biopsych.2012.09.005