"Electroshock
comeback raises tough questions"
by Helen Fallding
Today's Seniors, London Edition, March 1997
Mary lives in a London nursing homes. She sits in the lounge,
rocking gently and looking into space as she talks. Diagnosed with
depression, Mary goes to London Psychiatric Hospital (LPH) once a
month for electroconvulsive therapy(ECT). Popularly known as
electroshock, the treatment involves attaching electrodes to the
patient's scalp and delivering enough electrical current to induce a
seizure. Most people feel better after half a dozen treatments, but
the effects wear off after about a month.
ECT is making a quiet comeback as psychiatrists realize
antidepressant drugs don't work for everyone. The typical
electroshock patient is an elderly woman living in an institution.
Doctors usually prescribe medication for depression, but aging
brains don't respond well, says Dr. Kiran Rabheru, head of
geriatrics at LPH.
The hospital is the largest treatment center in southwestern
Ontario. It delivered 562 treatments to 66 patients last year, up
from 304 treatments five years ago. Patients typically receive three
treatments a week for as few weeks, then go on antidepressant
medication or maintenance ECT to prevent a relapse. ECT is generally
seen as a last resort, but Rabheru thinks it should be offered
earlier. "If I had a serious depression, that's what I would
want for myself."
Mary, now 68,was in bad shape before she started getting ECT. She
couldn't sleep at night and she tried killing herself with an
overdose of aspirin. Though she's been feeling better before for a
while now, she still goes in for her monthly treatment.
The Ontario ECT consent form states that "temporary
impairment of memory may occur," and, according to
psychiatrists, memories return in about six months in almost all
cases.
But some patients tell a different story. Jane, who fell into a
depression after her husband died, has paid a high price for feeling
like herself again. After about 18 treatments, she no longer knows
her way around London. Jane wants to pass her history on to her
grandchildren, but she doesn't remember it.
Opponents of electroshock claim ECT causes brain damage. Most of
the big names in ECT research say there's no evidence of brain
damage but opponents insist their work is suspect. The report of the
American Psychiatric Association's 1990 task force on ECT is
peppered with references to Dr.Richard Abrams, who, according to The
Washington Post, co-owns one of the world's largest ECT machine
companies.
Wendy Funk-Robitaille used to be a social worker; now she says
she can't even get a job in a corner store because she can't do
arithmetic. "I don't remembrer being a kid. I don't remember
having my kids. All of that is gone."
Funk-Robitaille is suing her doctor, her psychiatrist and an
Alberta hospital, in what she has been told is in the first case of
its kind in Canada. She's worried about the older women who are
prescribed ECT more and more often these days. "They don't have
anyone to stand up for them."
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