Souders II 1

Robert D. Souders II

Mrs. Smith

British Literature A

16 May 2016

Benefits of Electroconvulsive Therapy

Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), or electric shock therapy, is a form of brain

stimulation. This procedure sends a brief amount of electric pulses to produce a generalized

seizure. It helps reduce and take away some major mental illnesses when medication fails. The

Mental Health America (MHA, 1) website on ETC states that this method is used on

approximately 100,000 people a year, mostly in general hospital psychiatric units and in

psychiatric hospitals. The MHA say it is generally used for patients with severe depression,

acute mania, and certain schizophrenic syndromes (Electroconvulsive, 1). The science of

electroconvulsive therapy is a multi-beneficial science that helps many people in different ways.

Electroconvulsive therapy should be, and is the first choice for some people with severe

depression and other mental disorders such as schizophrenia, since it is the most effective and

quickest method for promising results. According to MD Charles Kellner in Psychiatric Times

(speed of response to ECT), he says that patients begin to respond after the first treatment. Even

though the full duration of treatment takes up to 12 weeks, the electroconvulsive therapy works

faster than any type of medication. Also, an experiment at Oxford University compared the

effectiveness of electroconvulsive therapy with other medication. There were 18 trials which

showed that ECT is significantly more effective than medicated drugs such as antidepressants.
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Electroconvulsive therapy has saved many lives. Some people with severe depression

and suicidal thoughts do not have enough time for medication to kick in. Since

electroconvulsive works a lot faster, it is able to rewire a persons mind in order to make them

change their mental state to keep living. Best Health magazine shares a womans story on how

she was saved by ECT. They say that this woman was so depressed she almost never spoke and

that she was quickly finding no reason to live. In May of the year of her depression, her GP gave

her antidepressants. By June, Best Health says that she could not even work anymore because of

her depression. This woman says that she felt like a burden to everyone. In the morning on

october 27th, 2008 she had her first session of ECT. The same day that afternoon Best Health

says that she was walking through the park and for the first time she was enjoying herself. This

shows that just after one treatment of ECT, this woman goes from being depressed and saw no

meaning to her life to happy and joyful. This woman says ECT saved my life. This powerful

story, with more similar, shows on how ECT saves the lives of severely depressed people.

The side effects of ECT is less severe than the ones from medication such as

antidepressants. Arthur Allens article on page one of Coping with side effects of Depression

Treatments on WebMDs site list the side effects of medication that can be very unpleasant

such as anxiety, constipation, nausea, and the list continues on. Many of these side effects would

appear to make someone be more depressed such as the anxiety, irritability, increased appetite

and weight gain, fatigue and drowsiness, and insomnia. The Mayo clinic says the side effects of

ECT are a little bit of confusion, some very short term memory loss, and minor headaches.

According to the Mayo Clinic site on ECT risks the confusion lasts for the first couple of

minutes up to a couple hours after the treatment. Also, that the memory loss is short term as
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some patients may not remember much of the events occurring before treatment. This is said to

improve as memory comes back a couple months after treatment ends. Additionally, the

headaches can be treated with simple medication such as ibuprofen. These side effects compared

to the ones of antidepressants are way less severe as they do not make one be more depressed

like some of the side effects of medication may do. This is why ECT is more beneficial to one

with a mental illness than medication.

The science of electroconvulsive therapy has many benefits for people. MD Kellner said

that it is the quickest method of treatment. Oxford researchers have proved that it is the most

effective method. ECT has proved to have saved many lives as with the woman who almost lost

her life to depression, but got her life back due to the effectiveness and quickness of ECT. Also

the WebMD and the Mayo Clinic show that ECT is worth the risks compared to medication such

as antidepressants. With these factual statements by experts and the story of a woman who

actually took the ECT treatments, it is safe to say that electroconvulsive therapy is a moral

method of science in order to help patients with mental disorders.

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Work Cited

Allen, Arthur. "Coping with Side effects of depression treatment." WebMD. N.p., 9 Mar. 2011.

Web. 20 May 2016.

Clinic Staff, Mayo. "Electroconvulsive Therapy Risks." Mayo Clinic. N.p., 19 Sept. 2015. Web.

20 May 2016.

"Electroconvulsive Therapy ." Encyclopedia of Mental Disorders. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 May 2016.

"Electroconvulsive Therapy ." Mental Health America. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 May 2016.

Kellner, Charles H. "Speed of Response to ECT." Psychiatric Times. N.p., 11 May 2010. Web.

20

May 2016.

Mayor, Susan. "ECT May Be Better Than Drugs For Short Term Depression." NBCI. N.p., 15

Mar. 2003. Web. 20 May 2016.

"Saved by Shock Therapy." Best Health. N.p., Dec. 2010. Web. 20 May 2016.

Tracy, Natasha. "Pros and Cons of Electroconvulsive Therapy ." Bipolar Burble. N.p., 19 May

2015. Web. 20 May 2016

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