ELECTROCONVULSIVE THERAPY Free essay! Download now
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ELECTROCONVULSIVE THERAPY
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A form of therapy used in medical practicePreview
Running head: ELECTROCONVULSIVE THERAPY
ELECTROCONVULSIVE THERAPY
Electroconvulsive Therapy
Convulsive therapy dates back to 1934. Meduna introduced genral seizures induced by chemical actions in schizophrenic patients, based on a belief that schizophrenia and epilepsy bore mutual incompatibility (Mukherjee, 2006). Regardless of these assumptions, it is widely accepted that electroconvulsive therapy has positively impacted on psychiatric patient care. Despite a false assumption, it became evident that convulsive contributed to a dramatic improvement on psychiatric patient’s clinical condition. During the introduction period of electroconvulsive therapy as well as other forms of treatment including coma therapy and psychosurgery, it was widely held that mental conditions were a result of degenerative diseases affecting the brain. It was additionally held that these condition did not yield to therapeutic interventions (Mukherjee, 2006). Its initial introduction however, challenged these ideologies and augured the introduction of psychopharmacological agents (Mukherjee, 2006). Its application then developed as the preferred treatment approach to psychiatry (Abrams, 2002).the methods application grew since then and hence the emergence of interesting treatment facts associated with this methodology. Its impressive efficacy however was prime to its wide acceptance in treatment of the aforementioned conditions (Mukherjee, 2006). Most information regarding its application was however, anecdotal and standardized clinical approaches emerged later alongside psychopharmacological agents.
Unlike at initiation where it was considered the standard for testing emerging psychotropic efficacy, research in the area soon expounded to exclusively focus on medications. Alongside the emerging focus shift, the clinical usage of ECT diminished too (Mukherjee, 2006). This was on realization of the fact that pharmacological strategies often showed more efficacy with minimal side cognitive side effects which were common with ECT (Brandon, S. et al., 2002). Additionally, perception ECT as an invasive treatment approach grew across the field of psychiatric treatment. This perception grew to become a pillar for ideological debate with regard to mental illness treatment and the role played by biological intervention approaches (Brandon, S. et al., 2002). This ideology contributed the total abandonment of this technology in some countries. In the united states for instance, its usage declined in public hospitals drastically. However, increased limitations of the existing pharmacological approaches opened a new developmental era for electroconvulsive technology. Pharmacological limitations are mainly a product of the increased resistance to medications, intolerance, safety concerns, and the side effects associated with medication.
Spurred by growing limitation awareness of pharmacological approaches, as evidenced in medication resistance, intolerance to medication, concerns of safety and persistent side effects (e.g., tardive dyskinesia), a new era of research in ECT began in the late 1970s (Brandon, S. et al., 2002). This work incorporated more exacting methodological standards and led to new information about indications, treatment technique, side effects, and mechanisms of action. The role of ECT in ...
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