ECT

Question 1

What does ECT aim to do?

Answer 1

Prevent excess dopamine

Shock malfunctioning part of the brain

Question 2

What did the first studies show?

Answer 2

Low recovery rates for people who didn’t receive ECT

Question 3

How does ECT work?

Answer 3

Injected with short acting barbiturate (unconscious) and muscle relaxant to produce spasms
Electric current passed between two electrode of non dominant side and middle of the forehead

Question 4

What did Tharyan and Adams do?

Answer 4

Compared ECT with other biological treatments and sham ECT

Reviewed 26 studies with 798 participants

Question 5

What did T&A find when compared with antipsychotic drugs?

Answer 5

Drugs had a better effect

Question 6

What did T&A find when comparing it to sham ECT?

Answer 6

More people improved with actual ECT

No indication as to whether this improvement was maintained

Question 7

What did T&A conclude?

Answer 7

A combination of ECT and drugs resulted in the greatest improvement

Use drugs when ECT alone doesn’t work

Question 8

How does Sarita et al contradict T&A’s conclusion?

Answer 8

Found no symptom reduction between 36!schizophrenics when given sham and actual ECT

Question 9

Why is ECT not appropriate?

Answer 9

It has significant risks such as
Death
Brain damage/memory loss