ECT Literature Review

First, the definition of depression must be made. Depression is an actual psychological illness that involves more than a feeling associated with sadness, grief, loss, and other “seemingly depressing” events or circumstances. Any person that suffers or has been diagnosed with depression would state that it is not of mere imagination or all within inside their heads. Depression involves actual sciences as several researches involving brain chemistry would state.

Throughout the nation and our world people are suffering from this disease. Depression effects people of both genders, all ages, and any background. The history of mental illness, specifically depression were extremely helpful in today’s treatment and diagnosis. We know that all individuals are different and because of this, we can assume that each case of mental illness, more specifically depression, is unique in its own way as well. One treatment that is very effective for one person may not be equally as effective in a similar case simply because of the differences in patients. History, types of depression, symptoms, and treatments are all equally important in finding ways to help one who is suffering from depression.

Depression is a serious mental illness that most adolescents struggle with, through their teenage years of life. Suicides rates are increasing as the years go by, especially in teens and adolescents. There are several controversial treatments and antidepressants for depression and they seem to work with teens, but not all. Allowing a teen to have an antidepressant should not be aloud because studies have shown that most teens and adolescents does not benefit them with their brain. In today’s society, doctors give teen a antidepressants and send them on their way. Giving antidepressants to teens and adolescents is not the route to go when treating depression.

Yet, new researches lead scientists to think that the overproduction of stress hormones may be in cause. New treatments, like brain stimulation through electrodes, were put into place and were proved really effective based on current testing. Scientists are also experiencing fast-acting antidepressant such as ketamine for immediate, but also long-lasting effects. Still, the most effective method to counter depression is therapy associated with medication, a method by which most people even get better before the end of all steps planned. However, the side effects of medication and the onerous character of this method have lead people to abandon it and seek for another

Concluding, that taking antidepressants may be a more easier approach for someone with depression. Other than antidepressants, electroconvulsive therapy, also known as shock therapy, is another therapy that falls under the biomedical approach. Electroconvulsive therapy is used for people with severe depressive disorder (Hockenbury and Hockenbury 2013). Electroconvulsive therapy is used when people with depression do not respond to antidepressants. When undergoing electroconvulsive therapy, the patient is given a brief shock resulting in a mild-brain seizure. The advantage of electroconvulsive therapy is that it is proven to work within just a short few days, which makes this therapy suitable for people with suicidal thoughts. However, a downfall of electroconvulsive is that its effects are not long-term (Hockenbury and Hockenbury 2013). Even though electroconvulsive therapy lacks long-term results, it is an immiedate solution to effective therapy for people who are having immediate suicidal thoughts. In that case, electroconvulsive therapy will better benefit patients with suicidal thoughts, as going through psychotherapy treatment does not have immediate effects that the

I really enjoyed this talk by Sherwin Nuland about how he became so severely depressed due to a bad marriage that even the doctors thought nothing could be done for him. They felt the only thing left that might fix him, was a pre-fontal lobotomy and thankfully for him and for us that did not happen. If he had had a lobotomy, I doubt we would have had the chance to hear that wonderful speech he just gave. Anyhow, I was aware that electroshock convulsive shock therapy is one of the last resort treatments for depression and that it can help those that are severely depressed when nothing else would work. In fact, my husband’s grandmother received a form of it called insulin shock therapy for her depression many decades ago. Anyhow, I think it takes

Cacioppo and Freberg (2013) discussed medication and its usage in the treatment of depression and bipolar disorders. Depression and bipolar disorder, both share the common experience and underlying biological roots of depression. The most common medications discussed are tranquilizers, antidepressants, behavioral and cognitive behavioral techniques are used to treat anxiety disorders. Surprisingly to what most individuals think aerobic exercise is way to treat the medical and cognitive behavioral. However, the number one option that is highly chosen is antidepressant medications. Which is generally also an option that is being overprescribed instead of finding other alternatives of treatment. Cacioppo and Freberg (2013) also further discussed medication and its usage in the treatment of ADHD. Their treatment is done with medication and a behavior therapy. The most common drug name is Ritalin that I have seen several children on the medication. In my personal opinion, when children are diagnosed with ADHD they are immediately prescribed some form of medication like Ritalin. Hardly ever do you see some sort of behavior therapy that is been used or other alternatives. While most parents are happy that the child is diagnosed they also do not ask for other alternatives for their

Autism is a social cognitive disorder that affects the process of childhood development in one in 68 children in the United States, according to recent studies. In The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, the main character, Christopher, is an autistic 15-year-old boy who receives the majority of his treatment via a specialized school for those that are disabled. Siobhan is his “friend” – actually a special education therapist – and main source of consulting and treatment. Treating or handling autism via specialized schools or a special education classroom in public school is a popular choice among parents for their autistic children. It is not the only treatment, or the most acclaimed. With so much research being done on autism as

The Chi-square test was implemented in order to calculate the differences in the allotment of the treatment and control groups. The percent changes of the epileptiform discharges were calculated using the paired t-test and ANOVA of the data collected from the EEG examinations after 1, 2, and 6 months of musical treatment. A value of p < 0.05 was considered significant [10].

Depression commonly affects a vast amount of patients in the primary care setting (L. Foldager, 2011). The increased cases of depression over the years are worrying (Mitchell et al., 2013). There is thus a need to enhance diagnosis and treatment. The purpose of the paper is to review an evidence-based clinical practice guideline (CPG) used to effectively diagnose and treat individual suspected of having depression by health practitioners in the primary care setting.

ECT was a technique in which one would shoot electricity through the forehead of a patient in order to induce a seizure. Psychiatrists placed electrodes on both sides of the patients skull and sent a jolt of electricity through the skull (Lilienfeld). This form of treatment ws completely barbaric, as patients who underwent ECT laid on a gurney, fully conscious, non-medicated and terrified. “It is unique among psychiatric treatments: a significant medical intervention requiring general anesthesia and entailing risks…” (Abrams). Patients would receive electroconvulsive therapy without any muscle relaxant or anesthetic, thus making the treatment very crude and uncomfortable. In reaction to the traumas that many psychiatric patients experienced, they would grimace in pain, thrash uncontrollably, and lapse into a stupor (Lilienfeld). Electroconvulsive Therapy was essentially a very aggressive, inhuman process, as it left many patients

Electroconvulsive therapy, also known as electroshock therapy, is a standard psychiatric treatment in which a patient receives electric shocks which cause spasms. The treatment is meant to provide relief from psychiatric illnesses; it is effective against depression. Studies have shown that retrograde amnesia occurs to some extent in almost all patients. The amnesia is only immediately after treatment and is mostly temporary. This is still a big problem as it causes a

Evidence-based psychiatric practice (EBPP) is a broad term referring to clinical practice that is informed by evidence about interventions and considers patient needs, values, and preferences and their integration in determining individual care. EBPP uses evidence-based medicine (EBM) to assess the quality of evidence relevant to the risks and benefits of treatments (including lack of benefit). According to the Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine, “Evidence-based medicine is the conscientious, explicit and judicious use of current best evidence in making decisions about the care of individual patients”.

It was used to treat depression, anxiety and stress/distress symptoms of the patients. One of the concerns of the study was also to investigate if the effect on depression is brought about by self-compassion. The experiment was done in two phases. In phase one, patients with mild/moderate psychology distress were used, where 8 patients each were randomly assigned to receiving MBCT or treatment as usual (TAU) and assessed both before and after the treatment. The effect of treatment on anxiety and depression was analyzed using analysis of variance. In phase two, the TAU group received the treatment and was assessed both before and after receiving it. The results from this were combined with those receiving MBCT in phase one and the two groups were followed up at three months. It was concluded that MBCT group in phase one had significant improvements and a decrease in anxiety while in phase two, both groups at three month follow up showed statistically significant improvements in both anxiety and depression. It was also concluded that the effect on depression/anxiety was brought about by self-compassion. Although the study was successful and showed positive results, it would be better to use larger sample size for the purpose of a substantial

Psychotherapy is as effective as medication in treating depression and is more effective than medication in preventing relapse (DeRubeis, Siegle, & Hollon, 2008). Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) pertains to a class of interventions whose premise is that mental disorders and psychological distress are maintained by cognitive factors. Beck (1970) and Ellis (1962), were the pioneers Cognitive Behavioral Therapy approach of the core premise of holds that maladaptive cognitions contribute to the maintenance of emotional distress and behavioral problems. A review of meta-analytic studies by Hofmann, Asnaani, Vonk, Sawyer, and Fang (2012) examined the efficacy of CBT and it demonstrated that this treatment has been used for a wide range of psychological problems such as cannabis and nicotine dependence, schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders, depression, anxiety disorders, bulimia, insomnia, personality disorders, stress management and more studies being conducted to study its effectiveness. There is a well-established literature regarding effective cognitive behavioral therapy in treating mental health problems, specifically those utilizing face-to-face counseling. However, less people seek treatment not only a lack of treatment availability, but also reticence to seek help because of perceived stigma associated with mental illness, discomfort discussing mental health problems, and / or a preference