Electroconvulsive therapy - your experiences

[Tomityuk]

Hello,

I was wondering if anyone could help me. I am a product design student at Loughborough University (UK). I am looking into electroconvulsive therapy and how the experience of receiving this daunting treatment could be made less frightening.

If anyone has had ECT or is about to and would like to help me out with my research I would be most appreciative! Basically I am looking for personal experiences with ECT and ultimately if there is one particular part of the procedure that is the scariest, be it the cold clinical procedure room or the equipment itself or if it is just the thought of the side effects that come with ECT.

Many thanks for your help.
Tom.

[admin]

I have personal experience with giving ECT to people with depression.

ECT is quite a safe procedure and it is not the same as many years ago. Nowadays we give muscle relaxants and there would not be vigorous muscle twitches or movements as many years ago.

ECT is very effective for severe depressive episode and it is used if other treatments including antidepressants fail or if someone is in life threatening situation like not eating properly for days due to depression.

Side effects of ECT are headache, short term memory difficulties but there is very small risk of permanent memory loss. There is risks of anaesthesia which is similar to those of tooth extraction procedure.