Electric Shock Therapy
July 25, 2009
The electric shock therapy or the shock treatment is given to a mentally unstable person under supervision of an experienced professional. Although the therapy has its pros and cons but it remains as one of the powerful treatments available for most of central nervous system diseases.
What is this Therapy?
The electrodes are placed either on side of the patient’s head or on both the sides. When the electrode is placed on only one side of the head it is called unilateral ECT. When the electrodes are placed on both the sides the method is called bilateral ECT. Unilateral is less effective but has lesser side effects than bilateral. Bilateral is more powerful and risk of memory loss is very high.
Placement of electrodes is called bifrontal when the electrodes are placed somewhat in between unilateral or bilateral.
The seizure threshold of a person is identified using “dose titrationâ€, “fixed dose†or by rough estimation. In “dose titration†the psychiatritst finds the value through trial and error. In “fixed dose†the seizure threshold is determined by giving same dose to all patients.
The threshold differs on basis of age group and sex. For example, younger women have a less seizure threshold than elderly men. The medications that the patient is taking also influence the threshold.
The electrical stimulus applied to the person must be above this threshold value. A stimulus below this threshold will cause seizures but will not be effective for treatment. The electricity stimulus must be more than one and a half of the threshold value when bilateral placement is used. In case of unilateral ECT, the stimulus should be 12 times more than the threshold. The convulsions last for at least 15 seconds.
The exact mechanism of the therapy is not known.
Side effects of Electric Shock Therapy
According to scientists, the human brain needs to receive convulsions for one hour before any brain damage may occur. A standard ECT will last from anything between 15 seconds to 1 minute. Also, it has been was found that the death rate is just one in ten thousand patients. Apart from temporary memory loss in some cases, the treatment is considered safe.
One major precaution taken during ECT is that the person should not be under influence of anesthesia.
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