Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT)

yellowled24
yellowled24 Posts: 3,118
edited August 2008 in All Encompassing Trip
Who's had it done or knows anyone who's been treated with it?
Any med students or Drs here who want to discuss?
"....and was very surprised to see that he didnt actually have a recipe for anus-ankle soup." - Big Ed
Post edited by Unknown User on

Comments

  • yellowled24
    yellowled24 Posts: 3,118
    bump ;)
    "....and was very surprised to see that he didnt actually have a recipe for anus-ankle soup." - Big Ed
  • Lizard
    Lizard So Cal Posts: 12,091
    not me.
    is that what they did to jack nicholson in one flew over the cuckoo's nest?
    So I'll just lie down and wait for the dream
    Where I'm not ugly and you're lookin' at me
  • Cree Nations
    Cree Nations Posts: 2,247
    Lizard wrote:
    not me.
    is that what they did to jack nicholson in one flew over the cuckoo's nest?

    I think so.
    My uncle Norman was in that show.
    >>>>
    >
    ...a lover and a fighter.
    "I'm at least half a bum" Rocky Balboa

    http://www.videosift.com/video/Obamas-Message-To-American-Indians

    Edmonton, AB. September 5th, 2005
    Vancouver, BC. April 3rd, 2008
    Calgary,AB. August 8th, 2009
  • Lizard
    Lizard So Cal Posts: 12,091
    Cree Nations wrote:
    I think so.
    My uncle Norman was in that show.
    really?? the big native american indian guy?? :)
    So I'll just lie down and wait for the dream
    Where I'm not ugly and you're lookin' at me
  • yellowled24
    yellowled24 Posts: 3,118
    Lizard wrote:
    not me.
    is that what they did to jack nicholson in one flew over the cuckoo's nest?
    yeah, i think so...
    "....and was very surprised to see that he didnt actually have a recipe for anus-ankle soup." - Big Ed
  • Cree Nations
    Cree Nations Posts: 2,247
    Lizard wrote:
    really?? the big native american indian guy?? :)

    Im not sure and have to ask my aunty again. I was asking her about one of my uncles that I dont really remember as a kid and she told me "oh Norman, he was in that Jack Nicholson move where he was in the crazy house" I think he mighta been one of the extras in the mental hospital actually but not so sure.
    >>>>
    >
    ...a lover and a fighter.
    "I'm at least half a bum" Rocky Balboa

    http://www.videosift.com/video/Obamas-Message-To-American-Indians

    Edmonton, AB. September 5th, 2005
    Vancouver, BC. April 3rd, 2008
    Calgary,AB. August 8th, 2009
  • Who Princess
    Who Princess out here in the fields Posts: 7,305
    Several years ago I talked with someone who had been treated with ECT. What did you want to know about it?

    Also, I've seen video of a person actually receiving ECT (in a documentary) and it wasn't anything like it appeared in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. It was a pretty mild procedure.
    "The stars are all connected to the brain."
  • yellowled24
    yellowled24 Posts: 3,118
    whoprincess wrote:
    Several years ago I talked with someone who had been treated with ECT. What did you want to know about it?

    Also, I've seen video of a person actually receiving ECT (in a documentary) and it wasn't anything like it appeared in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. It was a pretty mild procedure.
    The memory loss associated with receiving ECT is something ide be concerned about...

    And is it permanent or do you need ongoing treatments?
    "....and was very surprised to see that he didnt actually have a recipe for anus-ankle soup." - Big Ed
  • catefrances
    catefrances Posts: 29,003
    the thought that someone would jolt my beautiful brain in that way is totally abhorrent to me.
    hear my name
    take a good look
    this could be the day
    hold my hand
    lie beside me
    i just need to say
  • Who Princess
    Who Princess out here in the fields Posts: 7,305
    yellowled24 wrote:
    The memory loss associated with receiving ECT is something ide be concerned about...

    And is it permanent or do you need ongoing treatments?
    From what I understand for most people the memory loss is temporary but not always.
    You receive ECT only if you are so clinically depressed that you are suicidal and medication hasn't been effective. So not very many people receive ECT treatments anymore. I think patients receive a series of treatments, 4-5 at most, although don't quote me on the number. It's really been a long time since I talked to someone about it. That information was from people I knew who worked in psychiatric hospitals when I was working in a mental health agency.

    I met a woman during that time who had received ECT years before. She hadn't had any side effects and she believed it had kept her from committing suicide. But that was the only person I ever met with first hand experience.
    "The stars are all connected to the brain."
  • yellowled24
    yellowled24 Posts: 3,118
    whoprincess wrote:
    From what I understand for most people the memory loss is temporary but not always.
    You receive ECT only if you are so clinically depressed that you are suicidal and medication hasn't been effective. So not very many people receive ECT treatments anymore. I think patients receive a series of treatments, 4-5 at most, although don't quote me on the number. It's really been a long time since I talked to someone about it. That information was from people I knew who worked in psychiatric hospitals when I was working in a mental health agency.

    I met a woman during that time who had received ECT years before. She hadn't had any side effects and she believed it had kept her from committing suicide. But that was the only person I ever met with first hand experience.
    thats pretty similar to what ive read too...though i thinktheyre saying some ppl require up to 12 treatments. Its used for severe depression and for others who dont respond to meds etc.

    Ive been on meds since i was 13 and am just slightly over it. 12 years is long enough, im ready for something else....
    Though am worried about the memory loss....
    "....and was very surprised to see that he didnt actually have a recipe for anus-ankle soup." - Big Ed
  • Who Princess
    Who Princess out here in the fields Posts: 7,305
    I really wasn't aware that ECT was used unless someone was hospitalized for severe depression and they weren't responding to medication. But I haven't worked in mental health for many years.
    "The stars are all connected to the brain."
  • vedderfan10
    vedderfan10 Posts: 2,497
    I work in a psychiatric facility that does ECT. I think they hold the clinics once or twice per week. The patients are sedated prior to the treatment and you leave the same day. It's not an overnight procedure unless they give you all twelve of your treatments at once, which is something I don't believe they do. It's certainly NOT the barbaric looking procedure from One Flew...The technology has changed quite a bit.

    Also, you usually have to meet with the psychiatrist in charge of the ECT clinic and have a big detailed consultation - it's not something they do unless all other treatments have been unsuccessful. They are VERY careful about who they recommend this treatment to. Before the 80's people got the jolt for any reason...smoking dope, skipping school, masturbating...

    Memory loss can happen, but yeah, it's usually temporary. In some VERY rare cases it can be permanent. My mom had 3 treatments of ECT for post-partum depression after I was born and her memory has never been an issue...in fact, I only found out about her ECT only recently...

    Hope this helps...
    be philanthropic
  • justjoshingu
    justjoshingu Posts: 538
    i'm currently doing a clinical psych rotation and am with people who are severely depressed, schizo, bipolar etc....

    ect is a last resort....
    it works
    it is associated with short term memory loss.
    its not anything like it used to be in the movies.

    people who have been on it have asked us for it again...

    now i know that sounds wierd but let me put it like this

    when the patients go off thier meds (and they all do at some point) they will have these breaks. hearing voices who tell them to kill, rape, or whatever. at some point they get picked up and put on meds. so now the meds kick in (hopefully) and they have some idea of whats going on. and then you tell them "hey you tried to attack your case manager with a butcher knife because the devil told you there was a transmitter in her head" and it freaks them out because they dont want to hurt people. so they end up wanting to do anything that will help them. and when the drugs stop helping as much or the side effects get too big, they are willing to try to ect. and then they see it works and they dont have to take drugs everyday. and thats when people ask us.
    mean people suck!
    but nice people sw****w

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