Oh yeah electroshock therapy is actually something we still do. I’ve worked at two places actually who do it. They put the patient under full medical sedation like they would for surgery (they even have a little mini recovery and PACU in the ECT suite). In fact the only main difference between an ECT suite and an OR suite is that the actual procedure room is just clean, not fully sterile since they’re not actually opening the person.
On the floor we have to observe all the same pre-op and post-op precautions, like NPO (nothing to eat or drink) after midnight, and changing them into clean clothes in the morning. We don’t have to do a chlorhexidine scrub (again not sterile) but showers are encouraged (sometimes the patient is too sick / overestimulated to tolerate even a bed bath though). Our only special precaution is that we have to stop all anti seizure meds the night before because the whole point is to induce a seizure.
They just put electrodes on kinda like they would with an external defibrillator to stop an abnormal heart rhythm (except obvs they put them on the head, not the chest). Then induce a controlled seizure that lasts like 60 seconds or so, then use medications to stop the seizure if necessary. In fact it’s almost exactly like a heart defibrillator in that we’re turning their brain off and on again to get it to work! Funny that that works with organs like it does with computers! 😅
edit: and since someone asked (and someone did correctly answer a few comments down but-), it’s for catatonia and treatment resistant depression mostly. I’ve had patients so deep in catatonia they can’t eat and need IV fluids to stay hydrated and need to be turned and cleaned to prevent bedsores and other skin breakdown because they literally can’t move. and ECT brings them back somehow. 🤷♀️
The people it works for will keep coming back outpatient usually too. We’ve even had people show up in the ER downstairs saying they can feel the depression / catatonia coming back and wanting to be readmitted for another course (but if they didn’t have complications the first time around they usually just take them back on outpatient). It’s literally life-saving.
um. yeah. they do that after regular surgery too. a shitton of sedatives will do that. ect is also associated with temporary memory loss but it wears off just as quick as with a regular seizure, a little faster even. Also every time I’ve been in the procedure room for it the most that happens is the person’s feet wiggle a little for a few seconds?
idk maybe it’s just that I’ve seen way more terrifying medical shit done when I was sitting suicide watch in the ICU (I’m a DNR after seeing what it takes to keep someone alive at the brink of death) but it was like the least unsettling thing I’ve seen in a procedure room. In my OR clinical rotation the surgeon was literally HAMMERING that Lady’s titanium hip into place for 6 hours.
Shit sounded like a dwarven mine in a fantasy movie just DING DING DING with a fucking hammer in a sliced open little old lady for 6 hours straight. THAT was disturbing. Feet wiggling for a few seconds is nothing. especially not when you see it bring someone back from catatonia so deep they can’t eat.
Not the original commenter, but my understanding is that it’s used for severe depression when other treatments have been unsuccessful, so sort of a last resort. And apparently it’s fairly effective iirc, especially when compared to other treatment options (e.g., antidepressants).
I’m curious as to whether having a seizure disorder would correlate with lower depression rates, or if electroshock-induced seizures may lead to higher chances of having non-induced seizures in the future.
Oh yeah electroshock therapy is actually something we still do. I’ve worked at two places actually who do it. They put the patient under full medical sedation like they would for surgery (they even have a little mini recovery and PACU in the ECT suite). In fact the only main difference between an ECT suite and an OR suite is that the actual procedure room is just clean, not fully sterile since they’re not actually opening the person.
On the floor we have to observe all the same pre-op and post-op precautions, like NPO (nothing to eat or drink) after midnight, and changing them into clean clothes in the morning. We don’t have to do a chlorhexidine scrub (again not sterile) but showers are encouraged (sometimes the patient is too sick / overestimulated to tolerate even a bed bath though). Our only special precaution is that we have to stop all anti seizure meds the night before because the whole point is to induce a seizure.
They just put electrodes on kinda like they would with an external defibrillator to stop an abnormal heart rhythm (except obvs they put them on the head, not the chest). Then induce a controlled seizure that lasts like 60 seconds or so, then use medications to stop the seizure if necessary. In fact it’s almost exactly like a heart defibrillator in that we’re turning their brain off and on again to get it to work! Funny that that works with organs like it does with computers! 😅
edit: and since someone asked (and someone did correctly answer a few comments down but-), it’s for catatonia and treatment resistant depression mostly. I’ve had patients so deep in catatonia they can’t eat and need IV fluids to stay hydrated and need to be turned and cleaned to prevent bedsores and other skin breakdown because they literally can’t move. and ECT brings them back somehow. 🤷♀️
The people it works for will keep coming back outpatient usually too. We’ve even had people show up in the ER downstairs saying they can feel the depression / catatonia coming back and wanting to be readmitted for another course (but if they didn’t have complications the first time around they usually just take them back on outpatient). It’s literally life-saving.
Afterwards the patients walk around like zombies for many hours and it is incredibly unfun to witness.
um. yeah. they do that after regular surgery too. a shitton of sedatives will do that. ect is also associated with temporary memory loss but it wears off just as quick as with a regular seizure, a little faster even. Also every time I’ve been in the procedure room for it the most that happens is the person’s feet wiggle a little for a few seconds?
idk maybe it’s just that I’ve seen way more terrifying medical shit done when I was sitting suicide watch in the ICU (I’m a DNR after seeing what it takes to keep someone alive at the brink of death) but it was like the least unsettling thing I’ve seen in a procedure room. In my OR clinical rotation the surgeon was literally HAMMERING that Lady’s titanium hip into place for 6 hours.
Shit sounded like a dwarven mine in a fantasy movie just DING DING DING with a fucking hammer in a sliced open little old lady for 6 hours straight. THAT was disturbing. Feet wiggling for a few seconds is nothing. especially not when you see it bring someone back from catatonia so deep they can’t eat.
A hard reboot will do that to ya.
What kind of conditions is electro therapy used to treat?
Treatment resistant chronic depression.
Not the original commenter, but my understanding is that it’s used for severe depression when other treatments have been unsuccessful, so sort of a last resort. And apparently it’s fairly effective iirc, especially when compared to other treatment options (e.g., antidepressants).
I’m curious as to whether having a seizure disorder would correlate with lower depression rates, or if electroshock-induced seizures may lead to higher chances of having non-induced seizures in the future.
there is actually a huuuge overlap between anticonvulsants / antiseizure medications and anti-manic agents (mania being the opposite of depression).