Monash Journal
Australia
April 9, 2003

ELECTRO convulsive treatment (ECT) or electric shock therapy, as it was once known, conjures images of cruel doctors holding mentally ill patients down as they fry their brains with electricity.

Yet a little delving into the method will lead one to discover that the treatment is commonly used and effective in beating depression.

Tania (not her real name) from Mulgrave has suffered from depression for some time and earlier this year reached the lowest point of her life. After trying anti-depressants and spending months in and out of hospital, her doctor suggested she try ECT.

“My depression was at a very low point where I wanted to hurt myself, I had tried many anti-depressants, but they weren’t working.

“When it was suggested to me I was scared, but I felt optimistic that there might be another form of treatment which might work.”

Tania has received one round of treatment, which means six times over a two-week period and said it has been effective.

Psychiatric and ECT director at Dandenong Hospital George Osianlis said the treatment was effective in treating depression because it induced a seizure in the brain causing changes to brain chemistry and an “unjumbling of negative thoughts”.

Dandenong Hospital runs ECT treatments three days a week and Dr Osianlis said the hospital had been using it for 50 years.

“It is a lot more common and safe than people think. If somebody was to observe modern-day ECT they would see it is short, and the patient feels nothing throughout the procedure.”

He said that public perception needed to change and movies such as One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest showed the procedure in a bad light.

Tania agrees: “I know I thought it was archaic, and all I could think of was the horrible scenes in movies. I think the public still view it as an outdated and dangerous treatment.”

Patients are given an anaesthetic and are connected to a thymation machine. Electric plates are put on their head and connected leads determine the dose of electricity to be sent to the brain.

Tania said she remembers nothing from her treatments but has experienced tiredness, headaches and short-term memory loss.

While these symptoms are common, Dr Osianlis said improvements to patients’ depressed state could be seen after only a couple of treatments.

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