Woman Sets Record For Shock Treatment

SHOCKED! ECT

Home
About Me
Effects of ECT
ECT News
Hall of Shame
Personal ECT Stories
Forced Electroshock
Trends in ECT
Studies, Statistics, Reports
Self-Help / Alt. Depression Treatment
ECT Bulletin Board

back to
depression community

send this page to a friend

Woman Sets Record
For Shock Treatment

March 1, 1997
The Times
BY JEREMY LAURANCE, HEALTH CORRESPONDENT

A WOMAN has undergone the longest continuous course of electric shock treatment for depression.

Since 1989 the unnamed patient has received more than 430 treatments, in which a pulse of electricity is passed through her brain, triggering convulsions. For the first four years she had treatment twice a week but it was then cut to once a fortnight.

The regular shocks were effective in warding off her despair, which was accompanied by feelings of guilt, and did not cause progressive mental damage, as doctors had feared. The depression returned when the shocks were administered less than once a fortnight.

advertisement

The woman had been treated for depression from the age of 43 with regular stays in hospital. Before the course of treatment began she had spent most of the previous five years in hospital. Since 1989, she has lived in a residential home and has been virtually free of symptoms. She is now 74, and understands fully the nature of her treatment.

Electric shock treatment, also known as electro-convulsive therapy, has a controversial history and was once described as barbaric. Today it is widely accepted by psychiatrists as a last-resort treatment for severe depression, although concern remains about its long-term effect on intellectual function.

The case is described by David Anderson, consultant psychogeriatrician at Rathbone Hospital, Liverpool, in the Journal of the Royal College of Psychiatrists.

top | sitemap | send page to a friend

HealthyPlace.com Depression Center Links
home ~ site map

HealthyPlace.com Homepage
Chat ~ Forums ~ Communities
HealthyPlace.com Films ~ HealthyPlace.com Radio ~ News
Site Map ~ Web Tour ~ Advertise ~ Email Us
send this page to a friend

We subscribe to the HONcode principles of the Health On the Net Foundation.