what do you think about electroshock therapy??

Question

are you for or against this radical therapy??

Answer 1

I will speak from personal experience.

I have had ECT treatments 2 times in my life. They helped incredibly!

It is not radical and it is not cruel. Those words are based on the past.

Today, you get put to sleep and are given a muscle relaxant. The muscle relaxant is given so that when your body seizes, you don't injure yourself. Years ago, they did not give muscle relaxants and that is why in movies, you see people flailing around and twiching.
Once you are asleep, the doctor puts a probe on one side of your head and induces a shock. The whole thing last like 5 seconds. It takes longer to get put to sleep and wake up than it does for the shock.

The only side effects I had were a headache and my stomach felt sick. I did not have any memory loss. I went home and took a nap and felt better later in the day.

In most cases, the treatment in the US is given Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Most people have 6-12 sessions.

It really helped me and I experienced no major side effects.

Answer 2

Very much so, there is no proven results it helps, some people claim it does but they are very few in number, it has though proven to cause brain damage not just short term memory loss people have said how they can no longer remember things that happened through their life.
It also kills thousands of people a year, there is this great website all about ECT and the damage it does, I have been trying to find it for the past few days once I do I will link it here.
I have seen the damage it does done, friends once happy come out as zombies cant remember child hood memories anymore you remind them of things they did but they do not recall, sometimes they just sit and dribble sometimes they beg you not to let it happen again.
Would you put your hand up to have electricity surge through your brain?

Answer 3

Working in a psych. facility I've seen several ECT treatments with amazing results for depression and other psychiatric situations. It's not a radical procedure at all.
When people think of electroshock, they think of the buzzing, dimming lights, the sound of crackling electricity, and the stench of barbeque, like they show in the movies, but in reality it's a simple treatment.
Patients are sedated and a mild current in applied for a brief moment to induce a seizure (much like an epeleptic one).
Most don't recall the session at all.
Many of the patients I've worked with have wondered why they didn't do it sooner after suffering for so long with their problems.

Answer 4

I am a mental health nurse and have seen many ECT treatments. there are normally 6-12 treatments given and in my experience it is a last resort treatment but is the most effective. The fatility rate is EXTREMELY low, its about 4 in 100,000. All my ECT experience has however been in older adult services (65+) and I have only ever seen positive results.

Answer 5

Cruel and inhumane