How do shock treatments work?
Shock treatments or electroconvulsive therapy(ECT) induce an artificial epileptic seizure by means of a small electric current applied to the skull. Before the ability of electricity to create a seizure was discovered various other methods, including intramuscular and intravenous injections of chemicals known to cause seizures were used. The ability of spontaneously occurring epileptic seizures to relieve certain mental illnesses was noted in the last century and led to a search for a safe and effective way to create seizures in non-epileptics. It is thus the seizure and not the electricity or any other means of causing it that is the effective thing in convulsive therapy. Modern ECT is always done under light anesthesia and after a powerful fast-acting muscle relaxant has been administered that totally blocks the visible bodily response to the seizure. Often the only evidence that a seizure has actually occurred is the readout on the EEG(brainwave monitor). For more information on ECT
Shock treatments or electroconvulsive therapy(ECT) induce an artificial epileptic seizure by means of a small electric current applied to the skull. Before the ability of electricity to create a seizure was discovered various other methods, including intramuscular and intravenous injections of chemicals known to cause seizures were used. The ability of spontaneously occurring epileptic seizures to relieve certain mental illnesses was noted in the last century and led to a search for a safe and effective way to create seizures in non-epileptics. It is thus the seizure and not the electricity or any other means of causing it that is the effective thing in convulsive therapy. Modern ECT is always done under light anesthesia and after a powerful fast-acting muscle relaxant has been administered that totally blocks the visible bodily response to the seizure. Often the only evidence that a seizure has actually occurred is the readout on the EEG(brainwave monitor).
