ECT fast and effective for severe depression
09 October 2024
Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT) is a type of therapy for mental illnesses that involves transmitting electricity to the right and left temple in the patient's brain to stimulate brain tissue to relieve emotional stress.
Geriatric Psychiatry, Dr Chan Yee Fai from Sunway Medical Centre, Sunway City explained that ECT is only used for psychiatric disorders, especially severe depression, which is accompanied by thoughts of depression.
Generally severe depression does not improve with medication, in which case the psychiatrist will recommend ECT to the depressed patient.
He says the traditional treatment for depression is still medication, but this is a long-term treatment that takes more than 2 weeks to work, but for patients with severe depression who cannot afford to wait, and who may be at risk of killing themselves the next minute if they are suffering from depression, ECT is definitely an acute treatment for these patients.
ECT works within a few days after the patient receives it, so it works faster than drugs.
He added ECT can also be used to treat schizophrenia, a serious mental health condition in which symptoms include hallucinations, abnormal behavior, and loss of willpower (hunger strikes, not socialized).
“ECT is performed three times a week, and patients are hospitalized for observation. The treatment requires general anesthesia and the patient is given a muscle relaxant medication which relaxes the muscles of the body before the treatment.”
“When ECT begins, the psychiatrist will operate the voltage and send an electric current into the patient's brain. At the same time, the psychiatrist will closely monitor the patient's heartbeat, blood pressure, brain waves, etc., and use an oxygen mask to provide oxygen to the patient,” he says.
Dr Chan says, after receiving ECT treatment, many patients with severe mental illness are quite satisfied with the treatment results, and their mental status and mood can be improved.
However, he added, after going home, they do not take the medication according to the doctor's instructions, or even stop taking the medication without authorization, and then they relapse and receive ECT treatment again after five or six months.
“Therefore, patients are reminded that even after receiving ECT treatment, they still need to receive antipsychotic medication to minimize the recurrence of the disease,” he says.
Source: Sin Chew Daily
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