Brain Electric Shock Therapy

We are talking about a stimulus that is capable of producing changes in a person s brain.

Brain electric shock therapy.

Typically 70 to 120 volts are applied externally to the patient s head resulting in approximately 800 milliamperes of direct current passed through the. Brain stimulation therapies involve stimulating or touching the brain directly with electricity magnets or implants. Shock therapy is now known as electroconvulsive therapy or ect. Electroconvulsive therapy or ect for short is a treatment that involves sending an electric current through your brain causing a brief surge of electrical activity within your brain also known as a seizure.

The aim of the treatment is to relieve the symptoms of some mental health problems. Electroconvulsive therapy ect formerly known as electroshock therapy is a psychiatric treatment in which seizures in the brain without muscular convulsions are electrically induced in patients to provide relief from mental disorders. You might also hear them referred to as brain zaps brain shocks brain flips or brain shivers they re often described as feeling like brief electric jolts to the head. What they have in common as the name implies is that they have a significant impact.

Electroconvulsive therapy ect is a procedure done under general anesthesia in which small electric currents are passed through the brain intentionally triggering a brief seizure. The brain is still not well understood nor is the reason for the treatment effects. As far as we know the ancient greeks were the first ones to experiment with shock therapy. Electroconvulsive therapy is the most researched stimulation therapy and has the longest history of use.

Ect seems to cause changes in brain chemistry that can quickly reverse symptoms of certain mental health conditions. With ect an electric current is briefly applied through the scalp to the brain inducing a seizure. Other stimulation therapies discussed here vagus nerve stimulation repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation magnetic seizure. Shock therapy was so called as an electric shock is used to induce a controlled seizure intended as a treatment primarily for mood disorders although other conditions may be treated as well.

The bloomberg news headline crowed. The label shock therapy encompasses therapies that are actually quite different from each other. Electroconvulsive therapy ect ect is a procedure where controlled electric currents are passed through the brain while the person is under general anesthesia.