Electroconvulsive Therapy Patient Information Video
Excellent information in this video about Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) from Medicana life. Haven’t written about ECT for a while, hope you find all the information on this site useful. The information about ECT is carefully selected by me, a psychiatrist with special interest in ECT and depression. Related posts on ECT can be found down this blog post.
Another short introduction especially on indications for ECT by Dr Daniel Carlat can be found online here
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February 14, 2012 @ 5:40 am
I would not advertise for a technique that is non-specific, with great level of memory lost, relapses and huge claims such as a good treatment for so many different pathologies!
ECT temporary weakens the synaptic connections, so memories are greatly affected and temporary “relive” is observed! After a period of time most probably these synaptic instability gets back to it most stable position ( state of pre-treatment)and most subjects go back to their original state. I doubt if remission is high for ALL the pathologies undergoing this treatment!
I think approaches such as deep brain stimulation is more promising! The area of stimulation is more specific at(ex: BA-25 for depression), with No disturbance of memory! Even though number of subjects going through this process has been low compare to ECT, remissions at least in regards to treatment resistance depression has been encouraging.
March 1, 2012 @ 7:32 am
This is a useful and thorough video on ECT. Any thoughts on TMS? It seems like a more mild alternative to ECT. It’s still pretty new, so not sure how that’s working on patients.