Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

Clearing misconceptions about ECT

It is a scene repeated in Malayalam movies — a mentally disturbed patient is punished for his innocent pranks by a cruel and villainous psychiatrist who orders him into the `shock room'. Sufficiently chastised, by the `painful' treatment, the patient retreats to his shell, while his family sheds pitiful tears.

Thanks to such movies and half-truths handed out to people through various sources, Electro Convulsive Therapy (ECT) or `shock treatment' has come to much disrepute. The images of a patient being given ECT in movies have created fear and revulsion in the minds of the people.

Two days ago, questions regarding this "crude method of treatment for mental patients" and "whether it was not time that we stopped this cruelty" were raised in the Assembly. ``This is a dangerous trend. The misconceptions regarding this valuable treatment method in the minds of public should be cleared," a senior psychiatrist in the city says.

Mental illnesses are still barely understood by people. Doctors say that even in the era of modern medicine, a mentally disturbed patient is brought to the mental hospital as a last resort, when all else — prayers and religious rites — fail.

Often, such delays can affect the duration and effectiveness of the treatment.

Mental illnesses are a result of certain imbalances in the bio-chemical reactions in the brain. ECT uses a brief application of an electric stimulus to the brain to create a generalised seizure, which can control the imbalances in the brain.

ECT is used to treat people with severe depression, acute mania and certain types of schizophrenias (catatonic), where doctors cannot wait for the drugs to take effect or the drugs may have side effects, which could interfere with the treatment.

"Today, it is called the `Modified ECT' and is done under the strict monitoring of doctors and nurses, with the patient under general anaesthesia. The patient does not feel any pain and wakes up confused, with no memory of what had happened immediately before. ECT is a very useful tool for treating patients with manic depression, who constantly display suicidal tendencies," says D. Raju, Head of Psychiatry, medical college, who is also the secretary of the State Mental Health Authority.

C. Maya

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