In the book I’m writing on electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) I’ve had to address the question as to how ECT works. However, in spite of the fact that ECT has been in use since the 1930s we really don’t know how ECT works.
But recently we may have gotten a bit closer to figuring it out.
[Note: I am running a survey on real patients’ experiences with, and perspectives on, electroconvulsive therapy (ECT). If you’ve had ECT and want your voice heard, please take the survey here. More detailed information on the ECT survey can be found here.]
Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT) and Brain Derived Neurotrophic Factor
One of the things we have noted is that people who undergo ECT have measurably increased levels of brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) which is critical in supporting healthy cells and cell growth in the brain. This increase in BDNF is something we’ve noticed when people take antidepressants as well. When you think about it, it makes sense that this would be part of why ECT and other therapies work as it combats the shrinking of the brain seen in depression and other mental illnesses.
Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT) “Reboots” the Brain
And one of the things I have said is that electroconvulsive therapy does not “reboot” the brain. There is just nothing similar to this analogy that we can point to with regards to ECT. Until now, that is.
Recent research shows that functional connectivity in areas of the brain may be up-regulated in people with depression. In other words, there are areas of the brain with too much connectivity. This theory is known as the “hyperconnectivity hypothesis.”
This seems counter intuitive when you think of depression but I suppose it’s like anything else, too much of anything can be a bad thing, especially in the brain.
Recently a study was done where functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) measured the connectivity in areas of the brain. And specifically around the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortical region it was found ECT decreased the functional connectivity, and this decrease in functional connectivity seemed to correlate with positive results from the ECT on depressive symptoms.
Thus ECT was found to change the functional architecture of the brain in a way that helped with depression.
Note that the study size was extremely small but that this is typical for studies using technology like fMRIs. Thus, we cannot say this study proves anything but we can say it leads us in a new, and perhaps promising, direction in terms of discovering how ECT works.
Please see Electroconvulsive therapy reduces frontal cortical connectivity in severe depressive disorder for all the details.
Why Does it Matter How ECT Works?
Well, on the one hand, it doesn’t. For the people for whom ECT has worked, how it worked doesn’t matter a lick. However, the end goal for researchers is to figure out how ECT works so that they can retain the therapeutic component of the treatment while reducing the side effects (like memory loss). Maybe this study got us one step closer.
(Thanks to Herb for pointing out the new research.)
I have suffered severe high anxiety for twelve months due to a variety of bodily pains, i do not suffer from panic attacks. I am aware that it is sychokogical condition due to shock from multiple deaths within my family. ( Every day is a living nightnare ) I have been prescibed at least six different types of antidepressants. unfortunatly none have given me any relief. Question is could ect be the answer for me. I have taken into account the possibility of long term affects.
Hi all,
Note: I am running a survey on real patients’ experiences with, and perspectives on, electroconvulsive therapy (ECT). If you’ve had ECT and want your voice heard, please take the survey here. https://natashatracy.com/treatment/neurostimulation-treatment/ect/real-patient-experiences-ect-perspectives-ect/
– Natasha Tracy
If you break a leg and your leg is put in a cast, after a while it will work just fine.. tell me the same about ECT. I dont have enough money to go to the casino. I sire dont have enough to go to the ECT casin and gamble with my brain. If the Doctors who administered ECT did had ECT done to them I wonder how many would say to do it.
Hi Michael,
Having ECT is certainly a personally choice but I can tell you one thing: two doctors that I work with have both told me that they would get ECT for depression — and over other treatments. But, of course, that’s just them.
– Natasha Tracy
They told you “they would get it” because they were administring it, so they tried to convince you to have it… or did they have it done in the past on their brains?
That’s like saying “cats would be Whiskas”, when you are not a cat and never ate cat food.
You can pretty much say anything, shill for anything… It’s like when doctors say stuff like “fat and happy” and “sanity over vanity”, but when they walk out of their office, they sure don’t turn around when a fat woman walks by thinking “she must be so stable” or “sanity over vanity”.
Hi VenusH,
They could have been lying, it’s true, but neither of them had anything to gain as ECT wasn’t even on the table at the time (nor has it been with these doctors at all).
– Natasha Tracy
I am not saying they are “lying”, but to them it might be one of the theoretic scenarios. Like when you discuss what would you do if you were taking part in Hunger Games or what would you do in case of Zombie apocalypse. All theory.
I’ve had roughly 30 treatments of both unilateral, then bilateral ECT. The doctor told me the side effects would last about 4 months(initially he denied that I was having them). I still have the side effects & the brain damage is both retro & anterograde amnesia( not full, but my memory is terrible & I ave to read books 3+ times or more to really absorb most of it.
However, I refuse to think of myself as victim, or forge an identity out of a negative experience because doing so would be even more armful than the treatment. I also refuse to believe myself or anyone has the right to make a voluntary treatment illegal for anyone who wants it. I have talked to people who were undergoing it years later & it helped them quite quickly, I was happy for them. People need to stop complaining & understand that it’s better to make your own choice, then have someone who knows better make it for you. If anyone has the credibility to say this it’s people like me.
This is all in spite of me having a horrific experience. People do this stuff so often. What gives anyone here the right to take away those people’s will to live. I wish I had stopped before 31 treatments(they didn’t help y depression at all btw), but I cant change the past. I can accept it & move on. I recommend everyone do the same, you will be happier.
D. Fowler. I am quite busy these days. I had intended to get back here several days ago, but that was not possible. I will return as soon as I can.
@D Fowler. My pleasure. I happen to agree with Breggin about plasticity. My reasons are pretty technical so let me explain another time. But about Dr Breggin, he is often considered a quack. I do not think he is, just that he is not very good at direct argumentation and tends to overstate his case about ECT. For example, his comparison of ECT damage with prefrontal lobotomy is a bit too sensationalistic for me. That just turns off many readers, that said, I became interested in the article, when I read Breggin in the Huffington Post. Instead of stopping there I went to the article and learned a lot. I did that, because I wished to back up my ideas when in discussion, and I am just plain interested in neuroscience. I’ve been studying it on and off since 1969. So let me get back another time. And thanks Natasha for letting me hijack your blog.
to George and Natasha, this best sums up my believe on this outdated, dangerous practice.
http://wellbeingfoundation.com/ECT2.html
It’s from the Well Being Foundation and gives a lot of truthful information about how dangerous ECT is…the only thing he says which I may disagree with is like Breggin he thinks all mental illness is from life events, traumas, how one is treated when I DO believe there can be a chemical imbalance of sorts, but that is based on my limited knowledge…in my case a brain injury at birth contributed to an unstable brain so to speak.
@D Fowler. You have asked a lot of interesting questions. A decent reply will take several posts here. One main point is this. Memory difficulties are not the sole adverse side effect of ECT. Another is anterograde amnesia. That’s a difficulty with absorbing new information and getting them solidly stored in the beain. The technical term for such storage is consolidation. ECT is known to adversely affect all this, although I have seen it mentioned only twice (by Sackheim in passing and by the memory researcher Squire). I had almost no memory loss but intense anterograde amnesia for four months. That’s the normal time for this cognitive deficit. I was a decent undergraduate student of mathematics and physics, but had to leave college for one or two semesters because of this effect. My mind felt fuzzy and I could not keep up with the teacher. Nor could I read the textbook adequately. For all I or anyone else knows, anterograde amnesia might well persist longer. Indeed, I have long noticed a slowing-down of my ability to comprehend fiction decently; I am not sure about math and logic, my professional responsinilities as a philosophy teacher in Europe. For years I attributed this to the ECT, and now conjecture that the article supports this. The left dorsolateral prefrontal area is one of the three main areas concerned with cognition, the ECT was bilateral in January 1962, the area is indirectly connected with one main organ subserving cognition- Hippocampus-so some influence seems reasonable but unproven. In any event, the effect is there. I became interested in this recently and shall request a battery of neuropsychological tests in the near future. This educational disruption and my consequent anger, could have destroyed my life, say by suicide or booze. I am pretty resourceful and can act decisively and rapidly when necessary. These, my willingness to take necessary risks and having some good friends in 1962 America, got me through this. So more another time. Feel free to use anything I write.
Thank you George, I have noticed some days I’m more on than others…in my case psychotic breaks, maybe induced my chronic mercury toxicity due to “amalgam illness,” may be the big big culprit adversely almost destroying my long term memory, I say this because I think it’s true 2 years after my dec 04 psychotic break I couldn’t read, or remember much of my life, this was prior to ECT…than in 2007 when I had my 9 unilateral ECT treatments, I remember feeling electric zaps in my head and weird vibrations, along with seeing weird or thinking I was seeing weird patterns in things…(this is too hard to describe, but I think it was indirectly or directly from the ECT.)
I’m sure the ECT hurt me a lot and antereograde amnesia I think you said is trouble learning new things, which the brain does through consolidating information and the act of keeping it all together, if I have that right…I certainly have GREAT difficulty with learning most things now, but if I can blame that all on the ECT I tend to doubt, because I distinctly remember not being able to read a page of a biology book after the psychotic break I just wrote about.
I have tremendous anger over the ECT….I feel I was lied to, duped, perhaps coerced some, I had asked the doc if permanent memory loss was a problem, I asked twice, and he said not at all…my father who is an electrical engineer did some reserach online, but not enough, but he did talk to a few doctors about if it was safe or not, the consensus was it was safe…I remember my mom read the very misleading book “Shock” by Kitty Dukakis, all of this, plus my severe depression and brain fog, and psychosis made me desperate enough to try ECT…
I’m still in horrible regret over it, but I’m learning to accept it, and realize I’m not the only one who’se undergone this damaging treatment, and the brain may heal with time! Even now I’m writing far better than just last week, so there is hope.
Sir, what do you think about neuroplasticity and if it’s possible for the brain to improve with retrograde and antereograde amnesia problems over time? Do you think the ECT damage is somewhat reversible, or do you side more with people like Peter Breggin who claim it’s irreversible? What has been your experience in healing your brain, strictly in a cognitive sense? Last question, (don’t feel obligated ot answer is,) emotionally do you feel “all there” or do you think that people like Breggin are right in saying ECT permanently dampens emotion making one more “hollow” or less sensitive, lacking insight, not completely in tune with life…I don’t know how best to state the feeling of not being in tune with the conscious world around us, that’s the best I can do.
So I’m VERY interested in hearing, and learning more about your story, and I’m glad you decided to push on through despite your obvious anger, of which I had and still have plenty as well.
@D. Fowler. I shall think about a proper answer and get back to you and the others as soon as I can. The reason concerns a long discussion I had within the past hour, with a very thoughtful oncologist, who has, it seems, successfully treated me for what is technically called High-Risk prostate cancer. That’s a long story but is not essential here. The doctor is quite well trained. I explained at length why it seems probable that ECT routinely induces brain damage. Briefly, I told him in detail what I had sketched here, with full medical information. He told me that my reasoning was logically well-developed and probably true. This strengthens the case against ECT, for I did not need to refer to case studies and statistics, or to vague statements about supposed successes. This matter is purely biological. It looks indeed like Karl Pribram was right. HOW all this affects emotion and thought is hard to discuss, but I shall think about it and do my best. And BTW, I was educated at a time in America when science was valued by many. Today, about 44 % of Americans believe that the Sun is in orbit around the Earth. With such idiocy, it is no wonder that doctors and their propagandists get away so easily with stuff like ECT. Well, givene some time.
George I just read this reply, and thank you for it…that’s great that you have a good understanding of how ECT may damage the brain, and I still get depressed and angry just reading, “ECT routinely damages the brain,” as if the doctors have any right to assume psyche patients brains are expendable for whatever stupid reason…coming to terms with the fact that you or I may have been damaged is always difficult, but the silver lining is we can be smart, and strong enough not to ever let something like this happen to us again…I was so traumatized, somewhat still am at times, by ECT that I got scared of forced ECT if I should decompensate in the future, for whatever reason…I don’t think they do forced ECT in Massachusetts though, and I have a solid peer, and family backing to ensure that would never happen.
YOu write brilliantly and it’s clear your intelligence is well in tact despite the ECT damage…I responded to your other post, and my question still is to anyone, “do you think the brain can repair itself after ECT?” I’m guessing to some extent it can, but I obviously don’t know how far.
Yes, it makes me sick to think you may be right about that statistic 44% think the sun revolves around the earth…I didn’t think that was possible, but than again with fundementalist thinking on the rise, and people like Sarah Palin making idiotic claims of mankind living with the dinosaurs, I guess this shouldnt’ be surprising.
D
YOu guys may want to check out this site, http://www.experienceproject.com/stories/Have-Had-Ect/3698739 it’s the experience project where people write in on their experiences with things…obviously this one is on ECT experiences…many people posted, I read 80% of them, as you can see if you read them, just as many people hated ECT as liked it, or there abouts, and the one’s that LIKED it all report substantial memory and cogntiive impairment except for like 3 people…It IS encouraging that some people fair so well w ECT, but you guys know my feelings on the risk benefit ratio being much higher towards the risk part of the equation.
@ Brian and mr Fowler, I have suffered cognitive and emotional deficits from ECT since Jan 62. I am a trained philosopher with a strong background in the natural sciences and math. Having studied the main article used above, I think I understand how ECT causes damage routinely. I moved to Europe in 72, partly from disgust at the rampant use of ECT. I was instrumental in getting it illegalised in the Netherlands for 20 years, although I did not know that for about 32 years. I now live in Sweden. Several months ago I met a young doctor by chance. To be brief, he told me that the article caused ECT to be all but eliminated here. Despite the American hype, the article does show that ECT often inflicts permanent damage, by reducing the connections of a main area subserving thought, an area concerned with emotion, *the* area coordinating the interaction of these and the internal connections of the cognitive area I mentioned. Before this discovery a main brain physiologist whom I knew, Karl Pribram, wrote that the brains of ECT victims “are not pretty.” I too think it should be banned. It has nearly ruined my life, and closure for me consisted in understanding why, physiologically. It would be a service to humankind if you would cooperate in writing a book. Thanks to that one article, ECT can no longer be defended on neuroscientific grounds. Forget my several previous comments; I wrote all but one of them confusedly and realised that later. Only my topmost comment is correct.
George, I would like to know some more details about your situation, to write this article, hopefully for Mad in America blog…how many ECT’s and what kind did you have? Are you saying our emotions are completely gone, or blunted, or is there some hope for emotional well being? Are there things you can still do quite well despite the ECT related damage? How do you think the ECT industry gets away with their unfounded ideas, and how are they able to just deny the permanent memory, cognitive, and emotional problems that almost all of us seem to have to one degree or another? Why isn’t more being done in this country to regulate ECT, and is banning something that is inevitable, or not?
Finally is there SOME healing that can happen after the treatments? Is it POSSIBLE to regain some of that lost cognition, or learn coping skills to get past it? Finally for my own piece of mind I had 9 unilateral ECT treatments being that it is on the low side, does that help my situation, or is it more like playing Russian Roulette with your brain, some people are damaged at 6 whilst others 40? What do you think sir.
thank you,
D
As someone who considers myself damaged memory and cognitively by ECT, I am now looking for a silver lining in that perhaps some of you have gotten some of your lost memory or cognitive problems back or have made improvements over the years.
I want to write at least an article on ECT, maybe for Mad in America blog, or another unbiased blog, and later maybe a book, so it would be great to hear from people who felt they were damaged in some way by this treatment, but later found improvements in some way, shape or form.
It would also bring more closure for me, as someone who has battled with horrible regret over doing this treatment, to think some of you can and do get some things “back” or are able to overcome some of your cognitive obstacles.
Finally, I truly think ECT is playing Russian Roulette with one’s brain, as some fair fine, and some like me are really damaged, and to Natasha, I find it hard to say we are few isolated cases, I have read hundreds of anecdotal accounts of peeps damaged or claim they were of a permanent nature.
I’m not going to post the reams of research I’ve done on this topic but rather just offer a warning from personal experience. I have a wife and two kids and was a senior executive with a Fortune 500 company, had a high IQ and was high functioning. I went to a highly respected hospital as an outpatient to have ECT done. In the end, my memory and cognitive abilities were damaged to the point where it’s unlikely I’ll ever be able to work again in a capacity near what I could before ECT. I can’t remember my children’s births, my own wife’s birthday, or many other important life events. I process information and thoughts much more slowly and my memory is so damaged that it’s sometimes difficult to have conversations with people because I don’t know what we have and haven’t discussed. So, yes, modern ECT is different in that it looks much better. You don’t have to worry about breaking bones, shaking, convulsing or scaring anyone who witnesses the treatment but your brain is still exposed to the same damage as before. I’ve heard some people say it helped them and was worth it. For me, it might’ve helped or maybe I would’ve seen the same improvement with the same amount of bed rest I was forced to take during ECT treatment. What I do know is that the damage wasn’t worth the benefit because it hasn’t cured anything but it has done a ton of damage.
Brian, I too have been very damaged by ECT…and of course there is no end to the suffering caused my these doctors who don’t tell you how dangerously high the voltage, current or WAtts are, as I was able to later find online.
I want to write a paper or maybe book on ECT focusing on those who believed it has damaged them, as well as those who faired better. I’m looking for all kinds of experiences…I was wondering if you could share your experience with me, as I’m really curious to learn what you think ECT has damaged, what it HASN’T damaged, (as most people who write about ECT I’ve found focus on the damage,) and if you think the brain can at all heal from the damage?
Also how many and what type of ECT ‘treatments’ did you have? And what can us survivors do to one day get these “doctors’ to start taking our very real memory and cognitive problems seriously, and what can we do to get the shock facts straight, as one can read 80% recovery and no chance for permanent damage, to everyone is damaged in a few studies. IT makes me mad as hell to think we are being lied to, and told the “memory will come back<" when so many like you and me it hasn't.
Finally has anything improved since you had these treatments?
thanks,
Devon
One more point to Brian or anyone else who think or know shock treatment has damaged their brain. Have you thought of calling or emailing the ECT clinic or outpatient where you had the treatments done? I did and was able to get some closure explaining all that I thought was unfair or biased in what the doctors tell you vs. the patients real experiences, and I conveyed to them my wish for a more truthful informed consent form.
Brian and others, the more we talk, write etc. to our doctors talking of our very real negative experiences with ECT, the more chance of getting a fair and unbiased study on this outdated treatment.
Natasha, if you know so many have been terribly damagd by this treatment, and you do now, why do you keep saying “it works, we just don’t care how?” There ARE people who have studied how it works, the brain damage theory to many makes the most sense, as there are empirical data from studying autopsies and fmri’s etc. to back it up.
I truly think you’re trying to find a silver lining to ECT, even though you yoruself have admitted it didn’t help you and you hated it….
again people have been posting how ECT ruined or nearly ruined their lives, like with me, and you ignore these people in favor of the one’s who faired well on ECT.
AT the very least we should be able to freely admit that the number damaged is huge, and the studies I’ve read show the majority DO report lasting and permanent damage memory, cogniton, and the 07 SAckeim study of course, he was a huge ECT proponent., and yes unilateraly is much stronger for seziure threshold than bilateral.
Finally it IS important to know why things work the way they do…you wouldn’t want to get treated for cancer by a doctor that couldn’t explain HOW it works right? NOw it’s ok to do this with the human brain the most fragile and important part of us in terms of our well being etc.?
If ECT damaged 1 out of 200, it should be banned as that’s very high, if it is as bad as some studies show than clearly we are dealing with an outdated, and barbaric way of “treating people.” Finally the ECT of modern times is more dangerous via higher current, voltage than ONe flew over the cuckoos nest…the ECT industry just conviently leaves that part out, like everything else they leave out including how many of their patients are damaged.
Ever think it’s asanine that the ECT docs don’t follow up with their patients and ask how their memory is? IT’s instead out of sight out of mind for them, while the patient is left with permanent damage and also on disabiltiy as is so often the case, and for life for many of us.
STop defending a treatment that destroys lives…you didn’t like it, why are you saying it’s so “great?”
Hello,
Actually I don’t know of “so many” people who have been harmed. I know of a few, isolated, unverified cases. That is very different.
The studies I’ve seen, and that is many, do not agree with your assertions. You cite nothing.
– Natasha Tracy
Hi Natasha Tracy,
I was writing to quickly and did not adequately distinguish my experiences from my opinion about the new article. Consider only the article. In ordinary language, ECT reduces the number of functioning neurones within the left dorsolateral and the connections
of that with other brain areas, namely, with frontal and limbic structures. That’s damage. The issue then is this: is the hyperconnectivity notion true, and if so, how does the reduction
relieve depression? If it is true, we do not know how it relieves, and if false, we might be damaging useful neuronal relations. In both cases the reduced connectivity can cause functional impairment. That is how I see this. It implies that concussion is not involved, and that as Ms Prax states, the article used an hypothesis without defending its proof. Maybe it is adequately established elsewhere, but (1) I remain to be convinced of that, and (2) it must be shown that the neuronal.disconnection is in no way harmful. The two points are unanswered; to me , relief is caused by an intervention whose theoretical basis is meager and whose *other* results are not stated. They might be harmful in some or many cases . Finally, the dispute is not between ECT and talking cures, but between ECT and talk in a broad social context. The context might help cause the depression and should be considered. All in all, it is too early to be sure that hyperconnectivity causes serious depression by itself. Excuse my longwindedness, but I’m a trained philosopher who prefers lengthy analysis to poor observations about less than ten cases. Just note the lack of detailed, long-term follow-up of the cases.
PS Sorry, one more point. If neurones do not regrow, connectivity will be reduced, within the prefrontal lobe and between that lobe and other areas. This will induce changes in emotional reactions to thinking and to executive control of thought. I resent this strongly, as it did influence my mental life adversly.
I suffered eight bilateral ECTs in 1962. No anaesthesia was used, the shocks were administered twice a week for four weeks. this was in a private mental institution. I was threatened with more shocks if I did not conform to the place’s silly routine of “occupational therapy.” There was only momentary memory loss, but about four months of anterograde amnesia, which forced me to abandon my study of university-level mathematics. I recently read the article on hyperconnectivity, with a very critical friend. He and I decided that ECT most likely caused brain damage to my left dorsolateral prefrontal lobes. The standard arguments that reduced connectivity is not harmful seem false. First, if neurones grow again, there is no guarantee that they will grow properly: the chemical environment is quite different than several years after birth. Second, even if they do regrow, there is no guarantee that synaptic connections will be functionally effective. Finally, even if connections are made in a way closely resembling the initial state, their long-term potentiation will not exist; their functioning will be ineffective or wrong. ECT has nearly ruined my life, and as a university teacher with a background in the natural sciences, math and philosophy, I am in a position to understand that article. I feel quite strongly that ECT should be abolished totally.
Hello George,
With all due respect, the ECT of 1962 bears no resemblance to the ECT of today and should not be compared, not to mention the fact that most people do not get bilateral treatments.
– Natasha Tracy
My mom did OK with ECT. Her breakdown was the worst I’ve ever seen.
Airbus A380 the biggest passenger plane ever flies by attaching four RollsRoyce engines with 72,000 pounds of thrust each. I love that plane.
Oh, an A380 almost crashed a few years back. It was due to a part from RR that was smaller than your thumb that they didn’t make right. An amazing pilot saved a lot of people.
Thought you might be interested in a new article about how ECT creates lasting effects on the brain and what implications that has for our understanding of major depression.
http://jama.ama-assn.org/content/307/17/1790.1.long
Hi Mosiegirl,
Thanks for the link but that’s actually the data on which this article is based :)
– Natasha Tracy
Dear Natasha,
Here’s a very interesting piece of news relevant to patients in the U.S. that you might care to share with your readership.
http://www.pbn.com/Important-Treatment-Option-for-Depression-Receives-Medicare-Coverage,66462
Warmly,
Herb
vnsdepression@gmail.com
http://www.vnstherapy-herb.blogspot.com
Thanks for the link. They’re coving rTMS in parts of Canada now too.
– Natasha
‘ ECT decreased the functional connectivity’ meaning ECT damaged brain connections. In the fMRI scans you can see the damage correlates where the electrode was placed. It ‘seemed to correlate with positive results from the ECT on depressive symptoms’ because it causes concussion (brain damage) that’s why people are temporarily euphoric. So this study of nine people has shown brain damage. To say that depressed people have more connections in the brain than others has not been proved. Just another one of their silly theories. They have put a positive spin on brain damage. See Professor Read’s comments at the end of this article. http://ectstatistics.wordpress.com/2012/03/20/have-scientists-in-aberdeen-solved-the-riddle-of-how-electroconvulsive-therapy-works/
Dear Ms. Prax,
Since you are an advocate for banning ECT as a treatment option I would like to ask you when talk-therapies, holistic approaches and medications are ineffectual for the individual what alternative treatment(s) would you suggest for one who is suicidal and otherwise medically healthy?
Warmly,
Herb
vnsdepression@gmail.com
http://www.vnstherapy-herb.blogspot.com
I’ve had ECT in the past and fortunately it worked for me. I had to deal with temporary memory loss but have not had any long-term effects. Personally, I do not need to know how it works (kind of like I don’t need to know how a plane is able to fly) but I’m glad it did. There has been a debate over the years about the efficacy of ECT. The images from “One flew over a cuckoo’s nest” certainly doesn’t help any. For those where medication doesn’t work, ECT can be an option.
Peace
Karl
Hi Karl,
Thanks for your comment. I’ve always been curious about how planes fly, personally, but I try desperately not to think about it when I’m on one. Seems so entirely impossible that enormous tin cans fly.
Of course, it also seems impossible that ECT works too, but it does, so wonders, they abound.
Thanks for sharing your experience.
– Natasha Tracy