ECT (electro-convulsive therapy) also known as Brief Pulse Therapy is a treatment option in psychiatry.
It is one of the oldest forms of treatments used in psychiatry for various disorders. Major indications include:
Over the years the treatment form has been modified into a safer, shorter and most effective form of treatment.
The patient is expected to come empty stomach which means no solids or liquid foods including water for at least 4-5 hours.
The patient is anesthetized for a brief period (15-20 minutes) during which a stimulation of 1-3 seconds is delivered to achieve the desired results.
This generates a seizure activity which is monitored and after which the patient is out of anesthesia and can be safely sent home depending on the severity of the illness. Vital monitoring, maintaining the airway and ventilation is done throughout the procedure.
Due to its highly effective nature, the treatment is known as “The Gold Standard” form of treatment in Psychiatry.
A routine pre-anaesthetic work-up is required before taking the patient for the procedure.
Common side effects include mild headache, jaw pain or body aches after the procedure.
Some memory disturbances are also observed which last upto around 20 days in which the patient might forget minute details of the day, which is regularized on it’s own once the treatment is over. There is no major damage to memory in the procedure unlike what is portrayed by social media where the patient has absolute loss of memory.
No other major side-effects are seen during or after the procedure.
