Things have moved on from One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Electroconvulsive therapy is one of the best treatments available
‘If you’re looking for a word to describe contemporary ECT, top of my list would be “boring”.’ Photograph: Carlos Davila / Alamy/Alamy
It might come as quite a surprise to learn that, as a psychiatrist, if I ever had the misfortune to develop severe depression, my treatment of choice would be electroconvulsive therapy (ECT). Why? Well, to put it simply, ECT is the most rapid treatment for severe depression that we currently have to offer – with a recent study in the BMJ highlighting its effectiveness.
For the uninitiated, ECT is a medical procedure in which an anaesthetised patient has a small electrical current applied to their scalp in order to induce a seizure for the purposes of treating severe mental illnesses and occasionally neurological disorders too. Each treatment takes just a few minutes and is usually administered two or three times a week. ECT course length varies depending on the needs of the patient, but on average eight to 12 treatments are given.
It’s almost impossible to discuss ECT without the word “barbaric” being used. For anyone who is familiar with the psychiatric era of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, this is understandable. But things have moved on a great deal since then. Indeed, if you’re looking for a “b” word to describe the process of contemporary ECT, top of my list would be “boring” – the use of a general anaesthetic and muscle relaxant means there’s probably more drama involved in having a filling than ECT.
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