00:00in 1982 a young nurse was suffering from severe unrelenting depression she
00:13couldn't work socialize or even concentrate well enough to read the
00:17newspaper one treatment changed everything after two courses of
00:23electroconvulsive therapy or ECT her symptoms lifted she went back to work
00:29then on to graduate school where she earned high grades at first she talked
00:35openly about her life-changing treatment but as she realized many people had an
00:39extremely negative impression of ECT she stopped sharing her experience ECT
00:46carried a deep stigma left over from a history that bears little resemblance to
00:50the modern procedure the therapy was first used in medicine in 1938 in its
00:56early years doctors administered a strong electrical current to the brain causing
01:01a whole body seizure during which patients might bite their tongues or even break
01:06bones modern ECT is very different while a patient is under general anesthesia
01:13electrodes deliver a series of mild electrical pulses to the brain this
01:19causes huge numbers of neurons to fire in unison a brief controlled seizure a
01:26muscle relaxant keeps spasms from spreading to the rest of the body the
01:31only physical indication of the electricity flooding the brain is a
01:35twitching foot the treatment lasts for about a minute and most patients are able
01:40to resume normal activities about an hour after each session ECT is commonly used to
01:47treat severe cases of major depression or bipolar disorder in patients who
01:52haven't responded to other therapies or who have had adverse reactions to
01:56medication half or more of those who undergo treatment experience an
02:01improvement in their symptoms most patients treated with ECT have two or
02:06three sessions per week for several weeks some begin to notice an improvement in
02:11their symptoms after just one session while others take longer to respond
02:16patients often continue less frequent treatments for several months to a year
02:21and some need occasional maintenance sessions for the rest of their lives
02:25modern ECT is much safer than it used to be but patients can still
02:30experience side effects they may feel achy fatigued or nauseated right after
02:35treatment some have trouble remembering what happened right before a
02:38recession for example what they had for dinner the previous evening rarely they
02:43might have trouble remembering up to weeks and months before for most patients
02:48this memory loss does improve over time what's fascinating is that despite its
02:53proven track record we still don't know exactly why ECT works neurons in the
02:59brain communicate via electrical signals which influence our brain chemistry
03:04contributing to mood and behavior the flood of electrical activity sparked by ECT
03:09alters that chemistry for example ECT triggers the release of certain
03:15neurotransmitters molecules that help carry signals between neurons and influence
03:20mental health ECT also stimulates the flow of hormones that may help reduce
03:25symptoms of depression interestingly ECT maintenance works better when
03:30paired with medication even in patients who were resistant to medication before as we
03:35come to a better understanding of the brain will likely be able to make ECT even
03:41more effective in 1995 more than a decade after her first course of ECT the nurse
03:48decided to publish an account of her experience because of the stigma
03:53surrounding the treatment she worried that doing so might negatively impact her
03:56personal and professional life but she knew ECT could make a difference for
04:01patients when all else failed though misperceptions about ECT persist accounts
04:07like hers have helped make doctors and patients alike aware of the treatments
04:11life-changing potential
Comments