ECT Use to Treat Mental Illness

This paper is a discussion of the question: Should electroconvulsive therapy be used to alleviate symptoms of mental illness? Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) was originally called electroshock therapy when it was first introduced as a treatment for severe cases of psychopathology in the 1930s. The process consists of administering varying jolts of electricity to the patient, jolts which interfere with the body's natural electrical transmissions and disrupt the patient's behavior. Early use of such therapy was extremely primitive, and electroshock fell out of favor with both the medical community and the general public. More recent research into the functioning of the brain has renewed interest in ECT as a means of treating some forms of mental illness, especially depression. This paper will argue that, despite some glowing reports sparked by this renewed interest, ECT is a dangerous and destructive technique, disrupting memory and causing other brain malfunctions, and should not be used under any circumstances.

Since the 19th century, science has experimented with a variety of health care uses for electricity, from treatments for hair loss to applications supposed to counteract impotence. While the prison system discovered lethal ways to execute criminals with electricity, the medical profession investigated how electrical impulses might enhance the quality of life. In the 1930s, psychiatrists began to study the use of electric shocks to handle extreme cases of ment

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iere (1998, March) observes that advanced study of the brain "greatly improved the understanding of electroconvulsive therapy since its advent in the 1930s" (p. 122). Electroshock was refined and renamed electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) and has regained some of its popularity within the medical establishment, especially as a treatment for severe depression. Martha Manning (1994), a therapist who battled an extreme case of depression, describes her reactions to reading the literature on ECT her doctor gave her in 1990, suggesting that she consider the treatment: [One] article cites a study in which a majority of ECT patients reported that it was no more distressing than "a dental procedure." Always the empiricist, I wonder what choices were offered to the participants. "Was ECT more like having your eyes plucked out by vultures, or undergoing a simple dental procedure?" (p. 102). Like other patients who were unable to find relief through available drug therapies or other forms of treatment, Manning eventually opted for ECT. She (1994) looks back on the experience with mixed feelings: "I am the first to admit the downside - confusion and memory loss. But damn it, it worked" (p. 166). Leonard Roy Frank, who also underwent

Category: Psychology - E