Briefly describe electroconvulsive therapy. What are the justifications for using this type of treatment?

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First introduced in the 1930s, electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is a procedure used in the treatment of severe depression. In the procedure, an electric current of 70 to 150 volts is briefly administered to a patient's head and causes a loss of consciousness and causes seizures. Typically, health care professionals sedate patients and give them muscle relaxants before administering the current, and such preparations help reduce the intensity of muscle contractions produced during ECT. The typical patient receives about 10 such treatments in the course of a month, but some patients continue with maintenance treatments for months afterward.

ECT is a controversial technique. Apart from the obvious distastefulness of a treatment that evokes images of electrocution, side effects occur frequently. For instance, after treatment patients often experience disorientation, confusion, and sometimes memory loss that may remain for months. Furthermore, ECT often does not produce long-term improvement; one study found that without follow-up medication, depression returned in most patients who had undergone ECT treatments. Finally, even when ECT does work, we do not know why, and some critics believe it may cause permanent brain damage.

Despite the drawbacks, therapists still use ECT because in many severe cases of depression, it offers the only quickly effective treatment. For instance, it may prevent depressed, suicidal individuals from committing suicide, and it can act more quickly than antidepressive medications.

The use of ECT has risen in the last decade with more than 100,000 people undergoing it each year. Still, ECT tends to be used only when other treatments have proved ineffective, and researchers continue to search for alternative treatments.