Electroconvulsive Therapy

[Mashira]

Are there any ECT nurses in here? I have questions as to what it entails.

[MickeyTong]

some things that have helped me with depression are sunlight, avoiding isolation, prayer, keeping my mind occupied by staying busy, etc...

And I was "chronically depressed"

StartingOver

These things are very helpful measures against mild to moderate depression and chronic dysthymia, but when someone has a severe depression they are either not possible or counterproductive. Staying busy is not an option for someone experiencing psycho-motor retardation. The company of others is painful for someone who feels drenched in shame and unworthy of any attention. A person who believes he is already dead and heading for Hell will not be reassured by prayer.

As you say, maybe when you become a nurse you'll have a different view.

[MickeyTong]

One of the most difficult things about ECT is the fact that people judge me for it. It is my decision ultimately..yes?

Jenin

One of the most difficult things about depression is that people judge you for it, as if it is some sort of personal failure. There is an unjustified stigma attached to it, and to its treatment.

You're doing the right things

[Starting Over...]

I'm not judging Jenin for her choice to use ECT. As I formally stated, I won't knock her for trying it.

Yes I am gritting my teeth as I say that because I am concerned about the long term effects

As regards to the other methods that I suggested, I was speaking of experience because I had been in a position where I was chronically depressed. Doctors were so quick to prescibe meds which only made my situation worse.

Nothing worse than having constant thoughts of suicide but you can't speak about how you feel because you are in a vegetative state. Imagine being in this condition as a teenager. Sucks huh?

As I got older I found other doctors,therapists, and means of getting a control over my situation versus being medicated to death. I am grateful that I did not have to go through ECT and I'm sure that option would have been next if the right doctor had convinced my parents this was the way to go.

I'm just the type of person that when the world sees the glass half empty, I see it half full.

[Whispera, MSN, RN]

no, I've never witnessed hair standing straight up after an ECT, unless it was standing up before it...

Startingover, all the things you mentioned are helpful if the person is able to do them, and if they fit their personality, but not everyone with depression can do them and a person isn't going to do them if they don't fit.

I think when you're in nursing school, you'll learn that there are types of depression that medications help and types that it doesn't help. Proper medications don't medicate a person to death. They give them the ability to feel happy when there's a reason to feel happy. They don't zonk the person out if the correct medication and dosage, or make him or her giddy.

There are many people that nothing helps until they try ECTs. I've seen impossibly depressed people find their ways back to being able to move and eat and get out of bed and smile after ECTs. I'm glad the treatment is available. Sometimes there are long term effects, sure, but a paralyzed life can be seen as worse than long term effects. Would you want to never feel you can get out of bed or dress yourself and always feel as if your brain is full of a cloud of black sadness?

There are people whose depression can't be helped by anything. Sad, isn't it? Maybe someday...

[cleback]

If I were catatonic, I would prefer ECT a thousand times over medications. I've seen it work wonders for these patients. (PS I'm surprised no one has mentioned the most common side effects-- migraines right after the procedure and memory loss).

However, I've noticed the improvements are substantially less (diddly squat for an alarming number of patients) for those with moderate depression.

Personally, I feel these two types of depression are completely different animals, and before the patients go for their first treatment, I can kinda guess which patients will/will not respond to ECT.

For those with the second kind of depression, I think the worst thing we can tell them is "You can't take care of yourself because you're depressed." No. We should be telling them you *have* to take care of yourself *because* you're depressed. People with depression have to eat right, practice good sleep hygiene, socialize... in addition to taking their meds. Of course, it's going to be difficult and even painful for them (it could be whole new lifestyle, a new way of thinking). But I like to make this comparision: If a patient has surgery, but does not take care of himself after, he will not get better. Likewise, if a depressed patient only takes his meds and does not make the lifestyle changes, he will not get better. It's not a purely chemical imbalance.... just like obesity or hypertension or type 2 diabetes, etc.

Sorry, my rant... But I think we have to be really, really careful about what we say regarding lifestyle changes vs medication treatment....