@@cadaankudhiigleh I am 6 treatments in and spouse says she can tell that I have more motivation. It's more difficult for me to tell. As far as side effects go, muscle-aches and headaches were common after treatments, but we were able to "pre-medicate" for those, and they're not as bad now. The only other side effects that I've really noticed are memory issues, especially on treatment days.
@Craven.Morehead69 well, the short answer is yes... For a while, then I started to backslide a few months ago. After talking with my therapist I started treatments again a couple weeks ago. Hopefully this round goes well, but I may just have to get maintenance treatments in the future.
"Medication resistant depression" -- what does that mean when the majority of people don't feel better of antidepressants. Psychiatric drugs are not science based and are no better than placebo.
I was on an over prescribed amount of antidepressants and I was still feeling so so depressed and crying all the time . I've had 6 rounds of ECT so far and I feel like a brand new version of me ! The lights really came on after the 4th session ! I can't recommend it enough !! It has been life changing for me !
@@fighterflight I had short term memory loss immediately after it but it did return . I also had a feeling of places I have been to before seeming completely brand new as if I hadn't been to them . I guess it is a bit hard to gauge memory loss as if you can't remember it then you don't know you have forgotten it .
Thank you for creating a video about ECT. It needs to be talked about more (both the pros and cons). One thing I would say as someone who has had ECT is that it makes me really sad that memory loss is not talked about more and does not seem to be studied in a more nuanced way (for example, studies really differentiating the number of times someone has had it and how that might change the intensity of side effects). It makes me very sad how dismissive doctors can be of patients' reporting of memory issues. Most things I've seen written by doctors and researchers about ECT say things like "well depression causes memory issues too", but I can tell you that is not what I'm talking about when I talk about memory loss. I had 31 treatments over about 5 months. According to my records at least some (maybe most?) were bitemporal. This was 8 years ago. I STILL can't encode short-term memory well. It is like living in a semi-perpetual present. And some autobiographical memories were just completely wiped. I only find out about them periodically. I've heard people say "well no one remembers what they did X number of years ago", but most people remember when they had a trip with a friend to an amazing national park even if they don't remember everything they did. I have lots of pictures from this apparently amazing trip I went on with my Mom in my thirties that I have no memory of. I look at the pictures and they spark nothing. Zero. It's strange to look at a picture of yourself (a recent picture, not a trip when you were a little kid) and not even remember having gone on a trip at all. When I was first told I went on this trip I literally was like "what are you talking about, we never went there" and when I was showed the pictures I was like "still don't remember doing this". I periodically find out about other experiences (usually experiences with friends or family on trips and things--memorable stuff) that are just lost to me and I only find out I did them when someone tells me (it's like hearing about someone else's life). I don't know if ECT saved me or not. I'd like to think it did. I'd like to think that losing parts of myself and having the struggle with short term memory encoding was a good trade off for the alternative of being dead or locked up. I have to believe that or I would be angry. I just wish our lost memories and our current memory struggles were not dismissed, especially when it seems like most of the studies that study memory loss with ECT have a lot of holes in them (irony intended). I appreciate you talking on this topic and I hope as you continue your work with patients you will keep this in mind. We're not making it up and not everyone's memory losses (and inability to encode new memories) are from depression (I haven't had depression in 8 years, thanks ECT!). The losses and ongoing struggles with memory are real. And it can be very painful to accept and a struggle to live with it, even if it is better than the alternative of having never had ECT. And I imagine there is a big difference in terms of side effects between going through 6-12 treatments and going through 31 over a short period...but so far I have found almost nothing that really looks at those differences. Also, I don't know why this happened but when I had the muscle relaxant given to me it always seemed to affect me before the anesthetic (or else they gave it to me that way?) so I felt like I couldn't breathe before they put me under. EVERY TIME. It was absolutely terrifying and went on for months and 8 years later can still pop up at random moments (like starting to get a panic attack at the dentists when I am laid down flat the way you are laid down with ECT). Again, not saying ECT shouldn't be used. I'm sure it saves a lot of us. But please, please don't minimize patients' experiences when it comes to memory loss. We gave up a lot for the chance to live.
ECT took my life from me I did ECT three times a week for a year and half then eventually down to once a week but I have no memory of anything till I quit ECT a few months ago. Plus I could not function or stay awake the two years I did ECT.
Yes! I can't remember how many sessions I did of ECT (ironic) but I had a lot of memory loss especially from around that time frame. It majorly effected my ability to get around and I have had to use gps even locally for years. Some memory came back but a lot is gone. It did help my depression but at a cost.
Thank you for sharing your experience. My sons doctor has said the same thing when we brought up ECT for his schizophrenia. It’s very effective for active psychosis, but there can be severe memory loss. He doesn’t want to use it for my son as long as medication provides some relief. It’s tempting as a mom to look for a miracle cure, a quick fix, but my sons doctor was very clear about the risks, and side effects.
@@melaniewilliams1749 So you are saying you had over 200 ECT sessions over 1.5 years? I've never even heard of that many sessions. I'm sorry but it makes me doubt your story.
@@SteveSmith-nw2xg Right, because psychiatrists always err on the side of caution (sarcasm, obviously). You doubt the truth of this story, I doubt the truth of anything in this video. I guess we are all just doubters!
I have had a set of 12 ECT treatments (in 6 weeks time, this is in the Netherlands) for a medication resistant depression/ptsd. I would not recommend ECT. There are too many unknowns and a lot of side effects/damage that isn't talked about. I had a temporary relief of symptoms. But within weeks all positive effects where gone. Left with headaches, memory loss from the last 2/3 years and still trouble retaining new information. Broken teeth from the ECT seizures, no period for months, hormone inbalance after ECT. And psychiatrist that where not willing to hear about the negative of ECT. I know several other patients who have had the same experience as me. It can be successful for some. But at what cost? And is it worth the risks? Are you informed about the risks and unknowns? Are there better alternatives? Can a patient in such despair ( all other treatments failed before ECT) give proper concent to such a risky treatment? If i knew then what i know now, i would have never done it. Just some food for thought.
@@steveborkowski4330I also agree. I had ECT and it was horrible. The psychiatrist gaslit me, saying I'm the first of his hundreds of ECT patients to have memory loss and telling me the ECT "didn't work because you have borderline personality disorder.". Never explained what that meant or why he couldn't have diagnosed that first and spared me the memory loss and other brain damage the ECT caused.
8:08 thank you. I was hospitalized for three weeks and had 3ECT treatments a week and three when I was discharged for a total off 17 treatments. I’m left with constant headaches, stomachaches, and poor memory. Never would I do this again!
Thank you for putting this video out. I went through a first course of ECT about 5 years ago and a second course 3 years ago as an inpatient. When I went through it I couldn't find much on here about it and was afraid. ECT really helped me. I still struggle with my mental health but at a good baseline and able to live and work properly.
I first started ECT in 2015, I was 100% convinced that my experience would be what it was like in One Flew Over the Cookoo’s Nest. I’m glad that my then psychiatrist talked me out of that mindset. For a long period of time all the doctors I saw were convinced that my depression was treatment resistant, all though it took years, I’m now a functioning human being! I completed my Diploma of Nursing, working as an Enrolled Nurse and am now halfway through my RN’s at QUT (which has been a goal of mine since high school). Honestly the combination of ECT and TMS have been lifesaving for me. I really, wholeheartedly believe that I would not be here right now without ECT. My next goal once I graduate as an RN will be to do further training to work in ECT. That’s honestly how much I believe in this treatment.
Did you have any side effects or memory loss? My brother is terrified to do it and I’m scared for him too but he’s dangerously depressed and suffering so much.
Im 43 years old. I had ECT. I've had 82 in total. 72 were to treat medication resistant deppression. The last 10 were because i was manic , and medication resistant again. I was diagnosed with schizo-effective disorder and Dissociatve Identity Disorder. It did take a long time for my brain to heal every time, and I personally never truly healed from them, but i never had a choice in any of it. It was all done against my will, and I feel it took my relationship with music and God away. It spiritually killed me every time and gave me terrible headaches. I also was incontinent every time I had ECT. I would wake up soaked even if I relieved myself before the treatment. Yes, it did help... But i think it did a lot of damage, too. That's my story. It's a sad one, but mine.
yeah, i read statements like this and think "82 treatments". Wow. If it was so effective, why did it not "work" after 50, or 30, or 20. Its like in some cases they keep going until "it works" and im suspicious that in many cases, symptoms would have abated anyway, or even more quickly without the treatment. Sounds like your story was rough, esp as this was without consent.
Same here, those headaches were awful, I used to be a good drawer now I'm shaking all the time people thinks I'm introvert or nervous but I do, since then. I never saw nothing's good comming out of them. I actually would like to suit my parents to do this for soo long and many times 😅
I had a series of inpatient ECT in 2017. I woke after with no memory of who I was or where I was which continued for most of the day. Eventually the memory of who I was trickled back in but I was still confused. My suicidal depression was better by the time I was released but my memories short and long term were cloudy and to this day I have trouble understanding people, concentrating, making new memories and many other things. And by the end of that year my depression was back.
My sister had six ECT treatments two years ago after being diagnosed as ‘treatment resistant’. She has never been the same since. I miss the person she was. ECT is brutal.
@@annamolly9446 I feel for you. Just like my sister, you didn’t sign up for the treatment thinking that it would have an adverse affect on you. You wanted to get better. I commend you for your post-ECT courage and bravery.
Saved my life several times . Currently going through 5th course now in uk bilateral and had no effect after 6 treatments which is frightening . Anxiety is severe in this episode of TRD so hoping just taking bit longer have 7th treatment on Monday can't come soon enough
For how safe and effective they are??? I lost 11 years of memory. Absolute retrograde amnesia. Nothing. No photos bring back memories. I suffer from fatigue, speech problems. And it wasn't effective.. I didn't recover from PTSD /major depression from it. Be so so careful with your facts Dr Syl!! Yes, it's helpful for some but there ARE risks!!!!!! Why are you not giving people the right info so they can make informed choice.
Potential long term effects are not talked about. Although it has helped me it has taken my ability to member everyday things, remembering conversation, the inability to concetrate for longer than a few minutes and everything after that is a blurr. These side affects are not talked about or admitted. So if you dont know the possible side affects i am 1 of millions of people who have theses side affects. My life is embarrassing living with this.
same. my last treatment was summer of 2022 and I am still struggling with short and long term memory loss, loss of working memory, trouble with emotional regulation that I didn't previously have, and I've completely lost entire memories of my actual life that I don't know if I'll ever get back. It completely ruined my life on every level.
I had ECT done in 2017 and I have been having all the problems you’ve listed ever since to the point my son keeps telling me I need to see a neurologist.
I lost fifteen years of memory, the memories of my son growing up. The brain damage happens on a cellular level. Do some research on that. Do research with people whose side effects never went away. Talk to them. The consent does not talk about the possibility of permanent side effects!
Thank you. I met with my Dr today and did my labs, EKG, X-rays etc and my first treatment is on Monday. I wanted to do research and you helped relax me a lot by explaining things.
I'm glad you mentioned it being different with inpatient vs. outpatient. I SO BADLY wish my providers had prepared me better for how debilitating it would be. They didn't tell me I'd have to basically stop working completely. I lost my job bc I'd used all my FMLA and they refused to accommodate a part time schedule while I received treatment. My spouse lost his job bc he missed too many days having to drive me to treatments. There was no advice to seek disability. Just sent me on my way. PLEASE help patients with the logistics in their life if recommending this as outpatient.
Very informative video. I start ECT treatments in about 2 weeks. I'm at that point where I just have to try something else. Really enjoyed this video and your voice is so incredibly soothing... you could do guided meditation videos. Thanks again for making such a comprehensive video. It answered a lot of my questions.
please consider it carefully and do your research. I hope the best for you, but for me I have long term brain damage and all my conditions are worse. It has completely ruined my life.
@@annamolly9446 Reading articles is not doing research, it is simply research. Stop misusing that term. Hopefuly, what you are doing is reading the results from real research and not reading garbage on Facebook written by third-grade dropouts.
I really appreciated watching this video Dr Syl before doing ect. It helped me feel more comfortable about starting ect. I definitely didn’t find the experience scary. I did have memory loss but it’s just been recent memories nothing too worrying.
I started ECT on the 10th of this month and it's been a lot more helpful than most of the medications I've ever taken. And I've seen more results from it too.
I had ECT many times before as I have Bipolar disorder and it was such a good treatment for me now for more than 5 years I'm just taking medicine and sure lithium and thank God didn't pass any setbacks. Just love to say I love a lot just hearing from you you give me a lot of mind calm and peace I hope once you were my doctor. Love you
I hate that it got so bad for you that you put yourself through that and have to deal with side effects. I think more research should be done into drugs like psilocybin since it can do a very similar thing in how it rewires your brain. However I fear that won’t happen because it’s harder for companies to profit over something as natural as mushrooms
I'm no doctor but one of my very close friends went through ECT and his condition got way worse!! And since he has not been the same, also there were an elderly women who died of ECT here in Denmark. Before you go down this road, do your research!!
same here, ECT ruined my life, in every way possible. It made all of my conditions worse, gave me short and long term brain damage, and RUINED my husband's and my life as it made me unable to work, and lost him his job bc I needed taken care of during and after gettng ECT. I was not properly warned of the risks and was given no after care or help as far as how to get back to my life, which will likely now involve applying for disability.
Reading articles is not doing research, it is simply reading. Stop misusing that term. You can read everything there is to read on it and you still won't know if it will work for you. It is no different than reading about medications, that won't tell you how you will do on it.
@@nobodyimportant7804 If you read my comment you would understand that I´m referring to my own friend who went through ECT and got MUCH worse. Im warning anyone who is thinking about getting ECT and yes therefore they should do their own research.
@@davidalexander_93 Just because your friend got much worse, that doesn't mean anything for anyone else. It really is like psych meds, one person's experience has no bearing on another person's. I am sorry it hurt him but that is an anecdote, not research. Spreading anecdotes like that can actually be harmful to others because you might scare them off from a solution that could work for them. You are causing harm. "Do your own research" is the battle cry of people who don't do and can't do actual research. Sure, read up on it and learn the potential benefits and pitfalls that might happen to you. That is not research, at all. That is reading research from hopefully qualified people although people who "do their own research" typically can't evaluate if the research is real or not and if real what problems exist in the study and what to make of it. Like all things psychiatry, you won't know how it will affect you until you try it. It sucks, but that is the reality and all a person can do is measure the potential benefits against the potential risks and cautiously make a decision with input from your doctor.
Had my seventh yesterday as volunteer inpatient after suffering suicidal depression. Apparently initial seizure didn’t “take” and had to re-do and duration was 26 seconds. My Doc please with this one though I had temporarily amnesia (didn’t know where I was. That sort of thing) but came back over next hour or so. That was no 7 (on a Wednesday) going for another on Friday then review after weekend. I’m out on 6 hour leave to lunch with Family Sunday. So will talk with Doc again Tuesday. I’m an alcoholic, though dry for many years, and been on pretty much every antidepressant known to man during last 34 years.
@ It stopped my suicidal thoughts and helped with my depression. Caused a bit of memory loss and I would not do it again. I think just the month confined to hospital with medications would have achieved the same result. Time will tell. I have a couple of Friends who both had ECT and found it extremely beneficial.
"People who have failed..." yeah, if the patient isn't getting better, they failed, right?!? Psychiatrists are so delusional, I don't know where to start... Neurotoxic drugs not working, ect not working, condition worse = patient's guilt, the patient failed. Disgusting. I don't know from which cave shrinks come, but taking accountability for mistakes is taught in kindergarden at latest... Maybe you all should repeat those important education steps. 😂
ECT destroyed me. I used to be able to drive and fly... now i have no idea what to do. I used to be able to do calculus, now i cannot count past 30. I used to be able to write, now i no longer have the hand motor skills to do that. I also have a constant headache (24/7) and motion sickness which means that I have to lay down for about 17 hours a day. I have no memories of my parents or my childhood. Cannot cook or wash my self very well. Life is over.
@Craven.Morehead69 yes, I spent the first 2.75 years having to lay down each day for the best part of 18 hours to be able to control the headache and motion sickness. The only thing that has improved over time is the titotus and the feeling of pressure behind my eyes.
I forgot to mention that it has left me with double vision, which gets worse when I rotate my head left or right, and much worse if I rotate it downwards at 45 degrees. I will eventually fall over if I do it. Also
Unfortunately, I've seen psychiatrists (in Germany and the UK) been way too conservative about prescribing depression treatments, not just about ECT (basically unheard of, idk where you'd have to be at with your illness to get that!) but also any medications other than SSRIs. Several of my friends have had their doctors prescribe yet another SSRI after the first, second, third or fourth try didn't work, which ofc always comes with another 8 weeks or more of new side effects and probably no improvement, scaling up the dosis and waiting some more and so forth. It's made me very jaded, IMO doctors can easily forget that a depressive episode is hell for a patient to go through, but for the doctor of course waiting some more comes at virtually no cost. If you don't aggressively doctor shop or advocate for other medication classes (hard to do when depressed) it's easy to end up in a place where your psychiatrist is not helpful at all.
ECT was incredibly traumatic for me and in my experience, it absolutely was a form of abuse. It absolutely did cause brain damage. I am concerned over the misinformation in this video, especially when a professional is providing information that contradicts the lived experience of survivors. The attitudes surrounding ECT can be summarized as follows: professionals who promote ECT because they benefit and profit off of their patients in the for-profit business of mental health, patients who benefit from ECT because they haven't found an alternative option, and people who's lives were destroyed by ECT. People deserve to be provided with fair and accurate information and this video is not it.
I’ve had 3 series of ECT. My first was a series of 7. Then, I had 2 series of 12. This was over a period of 10 years. I’ve had both bilateral and unilateral ECT. I can tell you it works. I had short term memory loss around the time of my treatments, but I recovered quickly. It’s the only thing that has helped my depression. I’ve also seen it work miracles for bipolar disorder with other patients. I’d suggest it to anyone.
Hi Dr.Syl, My sister has Down’s syndrome but she’s very high functioning. She has been resistant to different medications needed for psychosis, hearing voices that tell her to harm herself, she has paranoia and depression for the past 2 years. My question is, would ECT be a contra indication because of having Down’s Sundrome? She is 53 with no heart issues but she is obese due to the medications. Thanks for your help.
my psychiatrist (not the one that gave me ECT) told me the hospital makes $3k (my hospital in particular, idk about others; his daughter was in the psych dept there and was fired for bringing up concerns about their inappropriate use of ECT) PER TREATMENT. My first 6 weeks I was given 3 treatments per week. I received around 25 treatments total. The place was like a damn ECT assembly line. At $3k/treatment it kinda starts to make sense though doesn't it?
Is intellectual disability a contraindication for ECT? My daughter is 27 and was diagnosed with bipolar in her early teens, she has taken lithium, depakote, and other drugs like Seraquel and Tegretol, she has had catatonia (3 hospitalizations this past year) and her BPD shows up as mania, not depression, plus she has OCD behaviors...she is currently taking lithium, Ativan, and Seraquel. Thank you!
I really need desperate your help advice, do you think ect you help me after something terrible happend to me, Yes, this happened 7 years ago after smoking the poisoned joint and a spect scan was recently taken which showed this as a result. The perfusion at the level of the cerebellum is symmetrical, at the level of the frontal cortex there is a diffuse, slightly disturbed perfusion in both directions. , also at the level of the parietal cerebral cortex bilaterally, and more discretely at the level of the temporal lobe laterally. Normal tracer dislocation in the occupital cerebral cortex. Perfusion at the basal ganglia is decreased on the right side. There is preserved tracer uptake in the thalami. There is fairly diffuse, slightly disturbed cerebral perfusion bilaterally at the level of the frontoparietal cerebral cortex, as well as relative hypoperfusion at the level of the basal ganglia on the right side. What does this mean? could ect help please I am suffering
Just want to throw this out there. I'm not saying that this will be the same for everybody but it's a year since my last treatment which I had 26. I'm still struggling with short-term memory loss and I shouldn't be but I am it's pretty bad
It’s been since 2017 for me and I’m still struggling too. I can watch whole series and then 4 or 5 months down the road watch it again like I had never watched it before.
ok… i am a psychologist, tell me… how you will deal with the lost of a precocious memory?. what if as I have saw, someone that didn’t responded to ECT but got the memory issues?
I've done over 150 sessions of ect and it is the only reason i am alive today. I have had severe medication resistant depression for over 8 years since I was 13 and ive been in so many mental hospitals ive lost count. I will admit it screwed up my memory pretty bad but id rather not be suicidal all the time
I live about an hour away from a university hospital that offers this but, I can get in to try it. (Has to be in patient only). That's really hard to deal with, when nothing else has worked. TMS doesn't work and I don't have access to Ketamine unfortunately. So, I'm just stuck waiting for...idk what.
Excellent presentation, thanks Dr. Sly. I have suffered with Bi-Polar may years. At the time I was offered ECT to deal with depression but declined. More recently I was diagnosed with Parkinsons. I have had Deep Brain Stimulator implants. Would someone in this situation be an eligable candidate with these implants?
Sent a patient to the hospital for ECT. Patient was in catatonia, starving to death. Think he has had about 6 treatments and is able to talk and eat now.
I had 25 bitemporal session of ECT for treatment resistant bipolar. It would only work for a few weeks for me. It had an atypical reaction to my memory, causing pretty severe memory loss(doctors statment). I also did ketamine for around 5 of the treatments but then I had a reaction to the ketamine. I don't regret trying it. I know it's safe and effective and I try to destigmitize it when I talk to people.
@@adventureswithwool-johanne7755 ECT should be banned. There's no limit on the number of ECT treatments or the amount of electricity they can use. It's barbaric. Many patients get way more than 25 treatments. They have no protections!
ECT works by severing synaptic connections and causing synaptic genesis supposedly modifying behaviour but comes at a cost of memory loss and after 50 times mild Tbi and not enough long term study on effects on cognition. Tms seems a lot safer
I've heard that the brief euphoria that often follows ECT is comparable to the brief euphoria experienced by people after closed head injuries. ECT should be banned.
It does make you wonder that the synaptic genesis that happens under ECT also happens when a person has a mild tbi injury there's also supposedly evidence brain regions that were shocked years later have worse brain shrinkage then it was to begin with so the synaptic genesis may not be real in the first place. there's a interesting interview with Sarah price Hancock ECT repetitive brain injury with Dr Josef it's really worth a watch.
You don’t know what it does to people unless you get it done to yourself. I have heard that ECT is good, but doctor, you never had it done to yourself?
Your right. There’s a stigma against ECT. Never had one. I feel tired a lot. I am thinking of iron deficiency. I had heavy periods and never been pregnant. So I could be anemic. So anyone, before you get ECT, go to a physician and have your blood drawn to see if you have vitamin deficiencies. Or maybe diabetes like I have diabetes. I hope you feel better.
I am epileptic and my neurologist axed the idea of triggering seizures on purpose. I am pushing for Ketamine therapy, and if I can't or it doesn't work. I am done.
I have a friend who did this, she now has memory issues so anyone thinking about this please be aware. I really wish more research would be done into psychoactive drugs like mushrooms tho, it does a very similar thing in how it rewires your brain and you don’t have to go through a seizure to experience it
A lot of people have no idea how severe and serious depression can be, and why ECT would be needed for it and not schizophrenia (the one condition they’re sure to bang on about instead, not knowing that depression can be psychotic, catatonic and at least severe, too). It’s always fun watching ignorant people like that be educated and humbled, and young doctors not brainwashed against it. This is a treatment that literally does a Lazarus on people and brings them back from good-as dead.
I have no doubt that you actually believe you're helping people. But that doesn't change the fact that this is actually evil. Ethics matter. Honesty matters. Presuppositions matter.
Hey, great video. Really good, thorough and easily understood. I wonder if you could you tell us a little bit about TMS in a future video? In particular, your thoughts on the efficacy.
When my Dr did ECT on me he did something to my brain and now he's using a device to harass me and try to drive me crazy. He always was so nice to me I didn't realize he was a psychopath.
The original methodology of how ECT worked is that it wiped out negative memories and that people that had seizure disorders did not get depression so they assumed the negative memory wipeout and inducing seizures was beneficial for patients the new methodology of how ECT works is that it wipes out maladaptive synaptic connections in the brain modifying behaviour and promotes synaptic genesis and that having seizures improve mood though resetting brain circuits all this comes with side effects that should not be taken lighty and informed consent is a must do your research for a small majority of people that get ECT 50 to 100 times the memory and cognitive problems can get pretty bad and there is not enough long term study on effects.
I know you probably mean well, but you should not recommend this treatment to anyone. ECT involves applying electrodes to a person’s scalp and then passing electrical current through the skull and brain tissue to induce a seizure. This is what constitutes a so called “treatment”. At the push of a button psychiatrists shoot up to 460 volts of electricity through the skull to produce a grand mal seizure that can sometimes last up to 30 minutes. This is many times stronger than the voltage one would get even if they stuck their finger into a light socket. To put that into context, 450 volts is enough to power 5 stadium lights on a football field. ECT machines generate nearly 403 times the electrical current of a stun gun and 450 times that of a cattle prod. The brain trauma caused by one session of electroshock is equivalent to the force of dropping a 40 pound cinder block from 7 1/2 feet onto the head. That’s why patients often wake up from the procedure with a headache and severe memory loss. ECT literally fries the brain by heating up neurons to the point where they become damaged or get too hot and die. When an electric current flows through the brain, the electrical energy is converted into heat, raising the temperature of the brain. The larger the current, the more heat is produced. If the temperature gets too high the cells suffer temporary injury, permanent damage, or even death. ECT causes certain areas of the brain to literally waste away, just like someone with Alzheimer’s. The cognitive impairment, memory issues, amnesia, headaches and euphoria are all due to the side effects of head trauma and electrical injury. In an attempt to heal itself from catastrophic damage, the brain releases chemicals which can temporarily create a sense of euphoria, but this eventually wears off leaving people with permanent cognitive impairment. Rather than being a marker for improvement, the euphoria is a symptom of brain damage. Many people who get ECT end up on disability because they are unable to work or function in society anymore. Others require years of speech therapy. Quite frequently people will forget their names, their identity, their family and friends. They might come home and not know who their children are or remember getting married. ECT can erase precious memories and obliterate years of education. There are lawyers who can no longer practice law and doctors who are unable practice medicine. One woman needed a service dog after ECT because she would leave her house to get the mail and forget where she lived. Another man forgot how to tie his shoe laces. It’s terrible. Yes it’s true that you can electrically shock someone out of their so called ‘crazy’ mind… but you don’t shock them back to their ‘right’ mind, you shock them into a ‘shocked’ mind. The biggest mystery of all is why on earth people think that sending bolts of electricity through a persons head is a good idea. First of all, there is no such thing as a “therapeutic”seizure. When you’re in a hospital and someone comes in with a seizure, that is a bona fide emergency and doctors hop right in to try and stop the seizure immediately. Mainstream physicians go to great lengths to prevent seizures. The idea is to prevent them so it doesn’t cause brain damage, because it’s recognized that seizure activity promotes brain damage. The more seizures a person has, the more potential there is for cognitive decline and neurological dysfunctions. ECT comes with more dangers than just the electricity. The drug they use as a relaxant in the U.S during electroshock is the same drug used for lethal injections. This drug is called Succinylcholine. It paralyzes all the muscles of the body, except for the heart. Due to it’s effectiveness at stopping breathing, it’s regularly given in the execution of prisoners on death row. When a patient receives ECT, this drug also paralyzes their breathing, which is why the anesthesiologist has to ventilate the patient during the procedure. Electroshock is still every bit as brutal as it always has been, and the result remains the same- a grand mal seizure and brain damage. The only thing different about modern day electroshock is that anesthesia and paralyzing agents were added to suppress the patients convulsions. The anesthesia does nothing to protect a patient’s brain. The anaesthetics and paralysing agents are simply used to make ECT appear less barbaric for the benefit of the person observing the procedure. Psychiatrists are not electrical engineers so they don’t understand the effects that electro currents can have on human tissue. They are trained to set the knobs and press the buttons, they aren’t taught the ramifications of what it’s doing. It takes about $500- $1000 to make an ECT machine and around $20,000 to sell it. The more sessions you have, the more money a psychiatrist makes. ECT has nothing to do with medicine or helping the patients, it’s about making money at the expense of vulnerable people.
God did you even watch the video? I'm not even going to ask for the research references. Yes psychiatrists were sent by the same aliens that built the pyramids to destroy human race and sell ECT machines.
ECT has changed considerably from 40-50 years ago and is now done uni-laterally right sided for most ppl.. The 1st session sets or calibrates the personalized low dose electricity in columbs. Controlled seizures only last 20-30 seconds this turns on genes and increases BDNF (brain derived neurotrpic factor) which causes brain neuro genesis. It also causes more blood flow to the brain. It is successful approximately 85% of the time. Memory loss is usually the months right before ECT and a few months afterwards; usually not long term memory. Most people find benefit with a series of 12 sessions and occasional maintenance sessions as an outpatient. ECTs are not done bi-laterally very often as this was found to cause more memory loss than unilateral.
"Successful 85% of the time". How is success defined? Successful according to the recipients? Please provide a link to any study that gives evidence for an 85% "success rate".@@adventureswithwool-johanne7755
I'm addicted to bromazolam 50mg per day. The equivalent of about 250-300mg diazepam every day. During every ECT session they just gave me flumazenil and they said there were no problems inducing the seizures. I also probably have increased intracranial pressure because I have a central hypoventilation syndrome (I know, nice combo with the benzo's) but still got the ECT's.
Exactly. And you don't even know how much of the reviews here are ghost written. It's a trap. Braindamage and drugs for life, which cause further complications and more drugs to treat those, hormonal and metabolic issues, cancer, add nearly endless list here. Medical and pharmaceutical cash cows. Yay.
There's no evidence that it's even effective. They just make up numbers to say how successful it is when they are literally no studies showing ECT is effective.
My doc has put me on Prozak 20 mil for the last year, I just don't want to be dependant for the rest of my life on dangerous drrug like that, so is it better to ask to change treatement and go for ECT
Ketamine--subanesthetic .5 mg./kg. To 1.2 mg. /Kg. Is superior to ECT; seizures = concussion. Initially created for schizophrenia, smh. Thanks for listening..... 👍😀👍
Ketamine for depression works but treatment resistant mania/bipolar with panic disorder is contraindicated for ketamine. It’s liable to just bounce them between modalities
I really appreciated watching this video Dr Syl before doing ect. It helped me feel more comfortable about starting ect. I definitely didn’t find the experience scary. I did have memory loss but it’s just been recent memories nothing too worrying.
I really appreciated watching this video Dr Syl before doing ect. It helped me feel more comfortable about starting ect. I definitely didn’t find the experience scary. I did have memory loss but it’s just been recent memories nothing too worrying.
I really appreciated watching this video Dr Syl before doing ect. It helped me feel more comfortable about starting ect. I definitely didn’t find the experience scary. I did have memory loss but it’s just been recent memories nothing too worrying.
I really appreciated watching this video Dr Syl before doing ect. It helped me feel more comfortable about starting ect. I definitely didn’t find the experience scary. I did have memory loss but it’s just been recent memories nothing too worrying.
Hey Doc, I just wanted to say that I began ECT last week because of your video, and because of you I've started on the road to recovery. Thank you.
Any update ? Any side effects?
@@cadaankudhiigleh I am 6 treatments in and spouse says she can tell that I have more motivation. It's more difficult for me to tell. As far as side effects go, muscle-aches and headaches were common after treatments, but we were able to "pre-medicate" for those, and they're not as bad now. The only other side effects that I've really noticed are memory issues, especially on treatment days.
@Craven.Morehead69 well, the short answer is yes... For a while, then I started to backslide a few months ago. After talking with my therapist I started treatments again a couple weeks ago. Hopefully this round goes well, but I may just have to get maintenance treatments in the future.
You poor soul…
I did 6 treatments as an inpatient, now 1 treatment a week for the last 6 treatments. Took away the suffering of medication-resistant depression
Glad to hear your success ❤️❤️🙏🤗
"Medication resistant depression" -- what does that mean when the majority of people don't feel better of antidepressants.
Psychiatric drugs are not science based and are no better than placebo.
@@katherinelalli776Or the antidepressant medication is causing the depression itself. Many antidepressant drugs cause suicidal ideation.
@@katherinelalli776They are literally worse than placebos. people who get"better"from them would've gotten better in a few weeks anyways.
@@Seongbin-0 how can one fix long-standing depression then? genuinely curious. something ongoing, much longer than a few weeks.
I was on an over prescribed amount of antidepressants and I was still feeling so so depressed and crying all the time . I've had 6 rounds of ECT so far and I feel like a brand new version of me ! The lights really came on after the 4th session ! I can't recommend it enough !! It has been life changing for me !
Any memory loss?
@@fighterflight I had short term memory loss immediately after it but it did return . I also had a feeling of places I have been to before seeming completely brand new as if I hadn't been to them . I guess it is a bit hard to gauge memory loss as if you can't remember it then you don't know you have forgotten it .
Any updates?
@@arashafianian8834 I still have some memory issues but I don't know if it is from ECT or the Lithium they put me on .
Thank you for creating a video about ECT. It needs to be talked about more (both the pros and cons). One thing I would say as someone who has had ECT is that it makes me really sad that memory loss is not talked about more and does not seem to be studied in a more nuanced way (for example, studies really differentiating the number of times someone has had it and how that might change the intensity of side effects). It makes me very sad how dismissive doctors can be of patients' reporting of memory issues. Most things I've seen written by doctors and researchers about ECT say things like "well depression causes memory issues too", but I can tell you that is not what I'm talking about when I talk about memory loss. I had 31 treatments over about 5 months. According to my records at least some (maybe most?) were bitemporal. This was 8 years ago. I STILL can't encode short-term memory well. It is like living in a semi-perpetual present. And some autobiographical memories were just completely wiped. I only find out about them periodically. I've heard people say "well no one remembers what they did X number of years ago", but most people remember when they had a trip with a friend to an amazing national park even if they don't remember everything they did. I have lots of pictures from this apparently amazing trip I went on with my Mom in my thirties that I have no memory of. I look at the pictures and they spark nothing. Zero. It's strange to look at a picture of yourself (a recent picture, not a trip when you were a little kid) and not even remember having gone on a trip at all. When I was first told I went on this trip I literally was like "what are you talking about, we never went there" and when I was showed the pictures I was like "still don't remember doing this". I periodically find out about other experiences (usually experiences with friends or family on trips and things--memorable stuff) that are just lost to me and I only find out I did them when someone tells me (it's like hearing about someone else's life). I don't know if ECT saved me or not. I'd like to think it did. I'd like to think that losing parts of myself and having the struggle with short term memory encoding was a good trade off for the alternative of being dead or locked up. I have to believe that or I would be angry. I just wish our lost memories and our current memory struggles were not dismissed, especially when it seems like most of the studies that study memory loss with ECT have a lot of holes in them (irony intended). I appreciate you talking on this topic and I hope as you continue your work with patients you will keep this in mind. We're not making it up and not everyone's memory losses (and inability to encode new memories) are from depression (I haven't had depression in 8 years, thanks ECT!). The losses and ongoing struggles with memory are real. And it can be very painful to accept and a struggle to live with it, even if it is better than the alternative of having never had ECT. And I imagine there is a big difference in terms of side effects between going through 6-12 treatments and going through 31 over a short period...but so far I have found almost nothing that really looks at those differences. Also, I don't know why this happened but when I had the muscle relaxant given to me it always seemed to affect me before the anesthetic (or else they gave it to me that way?) so I felt like I couldn't breathe before they put me under. EVERY TIME. It was absolutely terrifying and went on for months and 8 years later can still pop up at random moments (like starting to get a panic attack at the dentists when I am laid down flat the way you are laid down with ECT). Again, not saying ECT shouldn't be used. I'm sure it saves a lot of us. But please, please don't minimize patients' experiences when it comes to memory loss. We gave up a lot for the chance to live.
ECT took my life from me I did ECT three times a week for a year and half then eventually down to once a week but I have no memory of anything till I quit ECT a few months ago. Plus I could not function or stay awake the two years I did ECT.
Yes! I can't remember how many sessions I did of ECT (ironic) but I had a lot of memory loss especially from around that time frame. It majorly effected my ability to get around and I have had to use gps even locally for years. Some memory came back but a lot is gone. It did help my depression but at a cost.
Thank you for sharing your experience. My sons doctor has said the same thing when we brought up ECT for his schizophrenia. It’s very effective for active psychosis, but there can be severe memory loss. He doesn’t want to use it for my son as long as medication provides some relief. It’s tempting as a mom to look for a miracle cure, a quick fix, but my sons doctor was very clear about the risks, and side effects.
@@melaniewilliams1749 So you are saying you had over 200 ECT sessions over 1.5 years? I've never even heard of that many sessions. I'm sorry but it makes me doubt your story.
@@SteveSmith-nw2xg Right, because psychiatrists always err on the side of caution (sarcasm, obviously).
You doubt the truth of this story, I doubt the truth of anything in this video. I guess we are all just doubters!
I have had a set of 12 ECT treatments (in 6 weeks time, this is in the Netherlands) for a medication resistant depression/ptsd. I would not recommend ECT. There are too many unknowns and a lot of side effects/damage that isn't talked about. I had a temporary relief of symptoms. But within weeks all positive effects where gone. Left with headaches, memory loss from the last 2/3 years and still trouble retaining new information. Broken teeth from the ECT seizures, no period for months, hormone inbalance after ECT. And psychiatrist that where not willing to hear about the negative of ECT. I know several other patients who have had the same experience as me.
It can be successful for some. But at what cost? And is it worth the risks? Are you informed about the risks and unknowns? Are there better alternatives? Can a patient in such despair ( all other treatments failed before ECT) give proper concent to such a risky treatment?
If i knew then what i know now, i would have never done it.
Just some food for thought.
I agree.
There is a Facebook group for people who suffered long term effects of ECT and we offer emotional support to one another
@@steveborkowski4330I also agree. I had ECT and it was horrible. The psychiatrist gaslit me, saying I'm the first of his hundreds of ECT patients to have memory loss and telling me the ECT "didn't work because you have borderline personality disorder.". Never explained what that meant or why he couldn't have diagnosed that first and spared me the memory loss and other brain damage the ECT caused.
8:08 thank you. I was hospitalized for three weeks and had 3ECT treatments a week and three when I was discharged for a total off 17 treatments. I’m left with constant headaches, stomachaches, and poor memory. Never would I do this again!
Yes! Me as well
Thank you for putting this video out. I went through a first course of ECT about 5 years ago and a second course 3 years ago as an inpatient. When I went through it I couldn't find much on here about it and was afraid. ECT really helped me. I still struggle with my mental health but at a good baseline and able to live and work properly.
I first started ECT in 2015, I was 100% convinced that my experience would be what it was like in One Flew Over the Cookoo’s Nest. I’m glad that my then psychiatrist talked me out of that mindset. For a long period of time all the doctors I saw were convinced that my depression was treatment resistant, all though it took years, I’m now a functioning human being!
I completed my Diploma of Nursing, working as an Enrolled Nurse and am now halfway through my RN’s at QUT (which has been a goal of mine since high school).
Honestly the combination of ECT and TMS have been lifesaving for me. I really, wholeheartedly believe that I would not be here right now without ECT.
My next goal once I graduate as an RN will be to do further training to work in ECT. That’s honestly how much I believe in this treatment.
Any side effects? Memory loss?
Thank you for sharing. My daughter is scheduled for this next week and she’s very scared. Praying really hard this helps her.
Did you have any side effects or memory loss? My brother is terrified to do it and I’m scared for him too but he’s dangerously depressed and suffering so much.
Did this really help you........as u said it took years? please reply ....in need of help badly?
How badly were you suffering before the ECT ?
Im 43 years old. I had ECT. I've had 82 in total. 72 were to treat medication resistant deppression. The last 10 were because i was manic , and medication resistant again. I was diagnosed with schizo-effective disorder and Dissociatve Identity Disorder.
It did take a long time for my brain to heal every time, and I personally never truly healed from them, but i never had a choice in any of it.
It was all done against my will, and I feel it took my relationship with music and God away. It spiritually killed me every time and gave me terrible headaches. I also was incontinent every time I had ECT. I would wake up soaked even if I relieved myself before the treatment.
Yes, it did help...
But i think it did a lot of damage, too.
That's my story. It's a sad one, but mine.
yeah, i read statements like this and think "82 treatments". Wow. If it was so effective, why did it not "work" after 50, or 30, or 20. Its like in some cases they keep going until "it works" and im suspicious that in many cases, symptoms would have abated anyway, or even more quickly without the treatment. Sounds like your story was rough, esp as this was without consent.
Same here, those headaches were awful, I used to be a good drawer now I'm shaking all the time people thinks I'm introvert or nervous but I do, since then. I never saw nothing's good comming out of them. I actually would like to suit my parents to do this for soo long and many times 😅
I had a series of inpatient ECT in 2017. I woke after with no memory of who I was or where I was which continued for most of the day. Eventually the memory of who I was trickled back in but I was still confused. My suicidal depression was better by the time I was released but my memories short and long term were cloudy and to this day I have trouble understanding people, concentrating, making new memories and many other things. And by the end of that year my depression was back.
My sister had six ECT treatments two years ago after being diagnosed as ‘treatment resistant’. She has never been the same since. I miss the person she was. ECT is brutal.
How is sh different
it's truly insulting to see people saying it's completely safe. It's not. It has ruined my life. I'm so sorry your sister went through this.
@@annamolly9446 I feel for you. Just like my sister, you didn’t sign up for the treatment thinking that it would have an adverse affect on you. You wanted to get better. I commend you for your post-ECT courage and bravery.
@@annamolly9446 how did it ?
Saved my life several times . Currently going through 5th course now in uk bilateral and had no effect after 6 treatments which is frightening . Anxiety is severe in this episode of TRD so hoping just taking bit longer have 7th treatment on Monday can't come soon enough
For how safe and effective they are??? I lost 11 years of memory. Absolute retrograde amnesia. Nothing. No photos bring back memories. I suffer from fatigue, speech problems. And it wasn't effective.. I didn't recover from PTSD /major depression from it. Be so so careful with your facts Dr Syl!! Yes, it's helpful for some but there ARE risks!!!!!! Why are you not giving people the right info so they can make informed choice.
Potential long term effects are not talked about. Although it has helped me it has taken my ability to member everyday things, remembering conversation, the inability to concetrate for longer than a few minutes and everything after that is a blurr. These side affects are not talked about or admitted. So if you dont know the possible side affects i am 1 of millions of people who have theses side affects. My life is embarrassing living with this.
My comment above..treatment was 4 years ago and seems to be getting worse.
Thank you for sharing your experiences. I have had poor experiences with medication, prescribed unwthically or ignorantly. I value your disclosures.
same. my last treatment was summer of 2022 and I am still struggling with short and long term memory loss, loss of working memory, trouble with emotional regulation that I didn't previously have, and I've completely lost entire memories of my actual life that I don't know if I'll ever get back. It completely ruined my life on every level.
I had ECT done in 2017 and I have been having all the problems you’ve listed ever since to the point my son keeps telling me I need to see a neurologist.
I lost fifteen years of memory, the memories of my son growing up. The brain damage happens on a cellular level. Do some research on that. Do research with people whose side effects never went away. Talk to them. The consent does not talk about the possibility of permanent side effects!
I'm one of those people. The constant headache, the shaking, the heart beat, the memory loss...
Thank you. I met with my Dr today and did my labs, EKG, X-rays etc and my first treatment is on Monday. I wanted to do research and you helped relax me a lot by explaining things.
hi hello. did you get bilateral? how are you feeling after your first treatment?
This is so interesting. Thanks for the video and cheers from Switzerland! 💜
I'm glad you mentioned it being different with inpatient vs. outpatient. I SO BADLY wish my providers had prepared me better for how debilitating it would be. They didn't tell me I'd have to basically stop working completely. I lost my job bc I'd used all my FMLA and they refused to accommodate a part time schedule while I received treatment. My spouse lost his job bc he missed too many days having to drive me to treatments. There was no advice to seek disability. Just sent me on my way. PLEASE help patients with the logistics in their life if recommending this as outpatient.
Very informative video. I start ECT treatments in about 2 weeks. I'm at that point where I just have to try something else. Really enjoyed this video and your voice is so incredibly soothing... you could do guided meditation videos. Thanks again for making such a comprehensive video. It answered a lot of my questions.
please consider it carefully and do your research. I hope the best for you, but for me I have long term brain damage and all my conditions are worse. It has completely ruined my life.
@@annamolly9446 Reading articles is not doing research, it is simply research. Stop misusing that term.
Hopefuly, what you are doing is reading the results from real research and not reading garbage on Facebook written by third-grade dropouts.
How did it go for you?
I really appreciated watching this video Dr Syl before doing ect.
It helped me feel more comfortable about starting ect.
I definitely didn’t find the experience scary.
I did have memory loss but it’s just been recent memories nothing too worrying.
Thank you for this excellent overview and informative video discussion. So very helpful. May God bless you.
I started ECT on the 10th of this month and it's been a lot more helpful than most of the medications I've ever taken. And I've seen more results from it too.
hello. how are you feeling after your ect treatment? dealing with memory loss?
One question pops up for me. If this is so good, why not treat everyone with ECT instead of taking medication?
or lobotomy maybe , lets keep using pseudo science to assault people
I had ECT many times before as I have Bipolar disorder and it was such a good treatment for me now for more than 5 years I'm just taking medicine and sure lithium and thank God didn't pass any setbacks. Just love to say I love a lot just hearing from you you give me a lot of mind calm and peace I hope once you were my doctor. Love you
Start talking to people whose side effects never got better PLEASE DONT IGNORE THIS GROUP. We need help and no one is listening to us
This is typical psychiatry. Ignoring the people who were permanently harmed. I'm also one of them, disabled for 15 years since ECT.
I hate that it got so bad for you that you put yourself through that and have to deal with side effects. I think more research should be done into drugs like psilocybin since it can do a very similar thing in how it rewires your brain. However I fear that won’t happen because it’s harder for companies to profit over something as natural as mushrooms
do you think ect would have any affect on a patient in a vegetative state?
Absolutely!! I was in a catatonic state exactly what ECT can fix ! I'm the best version of me ever now !
Vegetative ≠ catatonic
Did you mean brain dead or catatonic?
@@robynvercetti9476 more like someone with locked in syndrome
I'm no doctor but one of my very close friends went through ECT and his condition got way worse!! And since he has not been the same, also there were an elderly women who died of ECT here in Denmark. Before you go down this road, do your research!!
same here, ECT ruined my life, in every way possible. It made all of my conditions worse, gave me short and long term brain damage, and RUINED my husband's and my life as it made me unable to work, and lost him his job bc I needed taken care of during and after gettng ECT. I was not properly warned of the risks and was given no after care or help as far as how to get back to my life, which will likely now involve applying for disability.
Agreed! Do your research!
Reading articles is not doing research, it is simply reading. Stop misusing that term.
You can read everything there is to read on it and you still won't know if it will work for you. It is no different than reading about medications, that won't tell you how you will do on it.
@@nobodyimportant7804 If you read my comment you would understand that I´m referring to my own friend who went through ECT and got MUCH worse. Im warning anyone who is thinking about getting ECT and yes therefore they should do their own research.
@@davidalexander_93 Just because your friend got much worse, that doesn't mean anything for anyone else.
It really is like psych meds, one person's experience has no bearing on another person's.
I am sorry it hurt him but that is an anecdote, not research. Spreading anecdotes like that can actually be harmful to others because you might scare them off from a solution that could work for them.
You are causing harm.
"Do your own research" is the battle cry of people who don't do and can't do actual research.
Sure, read up on it and learn the potential benefits and pitfalls that might happen to you. That is not research, at all. That is reading research from hopefully qualified people although people who "do their own research" typically can't evaluate if the research is real or not and if real what problems exist in the study and what to make of it.
Like all things psychiatry, you won't know how it will affect you until you try it. It sucks, but that is the reality and all a person can do is measure the potential benefits against the potential risks and cautiously make a decision with input from your doctor.
Had my seventh yesterday as volunteer inpatient after suffering suicidal depression. Apparently initial seizure didn’t “take” and had to re-do and duration was 26 seconds. My Doc please with this one though I had temporarily amnesia (didn’t know where I was. That sort of thing) but came back over next hour or so. That was no 7 (on a Wednesday) going for another on Friday then review after weekend. I’m out on 6 hour leave to lunch with Family Sunday. So will talk with Doc again Tuesday. I’m an alcoholic, though dry for many years, and been on pretty much every antidepressant known to man during last 34 years.
hello is ect helping you?
@ It stopped my suicidal thoughts and helped with my depression. Caused a bit of memory loss and I would not do it again. I think just the month confined to hospital with medications would have achieved the same result. Time will tell. I have a couple of Friends who both had ECT and found it extremely beneficial.
"People who have failed..." yeah, if the patient isn't getting better, they failed, right?!?
Psychiatrists are so delusional, I don't know where to start...
Neurotoxic drugs not working, ect not working, condition worse = patient's guilt, the patient failed.
Disgusting.
I don't know from which cave shrinks come, but taking accountability for mistakes is taught in kindergarden at latest... Maybe you all should repeat those important education steps. 😂
ECT destroyed me. I used to be able to drive and fly... now i have no idea what to do. I used to be able to do calculus, now i cannot count past 30. I used to be able to write, now i no longer have the hand motor skills to do that. I also have a constant headache (24/7) and motion sickness which means that I have to lay down for about 17 hours a day. I have no memories of my parents or my childhood. Cannot cook or wash my self very well. Life is over.
@Craven.Morehead69 yes, I spent the first 2.75 years having to lay down each day for the best part of 18 hours to be able to control the headache and motion sickness. The only thing that has improved over time is the titotus and the feeling of pressure behind my eyes.
I forgot to mention that it has left me with double vision, which gets worse when I rotate my head left or right, and much worse if I rotate it downwards at 45 degrees. I will eventually fall over if I do it. Also
Also, after ect I developed the uncontrollable urge to shoplift and watch pornography. Both things I cannot ever remember doing before.
I am so sorry that you have to endure this.
This shit destroyed me and my life. Dont do it.
Should you be off all pysch meds before you get ect treatments
I answered this in an upcoming video! :)
Unfortunately, I've seen psychiatrists (in Germany and the UK) been way too conservative about prescribing depression treatments, not just about ECT (basically unheard of, idk where you'd have to be at with your illness to get that!) but also any medications other than SSRIs. Several of my friends have had their doctors prescribe yet another SSRI after the first, second, third or fourth try didn't work, which ofc always comes with another 8 weeks or more of new side effects and probably no improvement, scaling up the dosis and waiting some more and so forth. It's made me very jaded, IMO doctors can easily forget that a depressive episode is hell for a patient to go through, but for the doctor of course waiting some more comes at virtually no cost. If you don't aggressively doctor shop or advocate for other medication classes (hard to do when depressed) it's easy to end up in a place where your psychiatrist is not helpful at all.
It would be so interesting to hear you talk about ketamine therapy!
ECT was incredibly traumatic for me and in my experience, it absolutely was a form of abuse. It absolutely did cause brain damage. I am concerned over the misinformation in this video, especially when a professional is providing information that contradicts the lived experience of survivors. The attitudes surrounding ECT can be summarized as follows: professionals who promote ECT because they benefit and profit off of their patients in the for-profit business of mental health, patients who benefit from ECT because they haven't found an alternative option, and people who's lives were destroyed by ECT. People deserve to be provided with fair and accurate information and this video is not it.
I agree.
I’ve had 3 series of ECT. My first was a series of 7. Then, I had 2 series of 12. This was over a period of 10 years. I’ve had both bilateral and unilateral ECT. I can tell you it works. I had short term memory loss around the time of my treatments, but I recovered quickly. It’s the only thing that has helped my depression. I’ve also seen it work miracles for bipolar disorder with other patients. I’d suggest it to anyone.
Exceptional anything evidence based saves humanity
Hi Dr.Syl,
My sister has Down’s syndrome but she’s very high functioning. She has been resistant to different medications needed for psychosis, hearing voices that tell her to harm herself, she has paranoia and depression for the past 2 years. My question is, would ECT be a contra indication because of having Down’s Sundrome? She is 53 with no heart issues but she is obese due to the medications. Thanks for your help.
So, which of the sham ECT studies you cite showed a benefit over sham a month after the end of treatment? I hope you have at least one!
my psychiatrist (not the one that gave me ECT) told me the hospital makes $3k (my hospital in particular, idk about others; his daughter was in the psych dept there and was fired for bringing up concerns about their inappropriate use of ECT) PER TREATMENT. My first 6 weeks I was given 3 treatments per week. I received around 25 treatments total. The place was like a damn ECT assembly line. At $3k/treatment it kinda starts to make sense though doesn't it?
Lol of course he doesn’t
ECT saved my daughter’s life
@PEMDASbabyI don’t get what you meant
Is intellectual disability a contraindication for ECT? My daughter is 27 and was diagnosed with bipolar in her early teens, she has taken lithium, depakote, and other drugs like Seraquel and Tegretol, she has had catatonia (3 hospitalizations this past year) and her BPD shows up as mania, not depression, plus she has OCD behaviors...she is currently taking lithium, Ativan, and Seraquel. Thank you!
Thank you for this presentation
Saved me 4 times in life . Currebtky doing 5th course but no improvemrnt afyer 6 bilateral in uk so far . Hope it works again. Tried everything else
I really need desperate your help advice, do you think ect you help me after something terrible happend to me, Yes, this happened 7 years ago after smoking the poisoned joint and a spect scan was recently taken which showed this as a result. The perfusion at the level of the cerebellum is symmetrical, at the level of the frontal cortex there is a diffuse, slightly disturbed perfusion in both directions. , also at the level of the parietal cerebral cortex bilaterally, and more discretely at the level of the temporal lobe laterally. Normal tracer dislocation in the occupital cerebral cortex. Perfusion at the basal ganglia is decreased on the right side. There is preserved tracer uptake in the thalami. There is fairly diffuse, slightly disturbed cerebral perfusion bilaterally at the level of the frontoparietal cerebral cortex, as well as relative hypoperfusion at the level of the basal ganglia on the right side. What does this mean? could ect help please I am suffering
Just want to throw this out there. I'm not saying that this will be the same for everybody but it's a year since my last treatment which I had 26. I'm still struggling with short-term memory loss and I shouldn't be but I am it's pretty bad
It’s been since 2017 for me and I’m still struggling too. I can watch whole series and then 4 or 5 months down the road watch it again like I had never watched it before.
Exactly the type of video I was looking for as an ECT patient with a degree in psychology. Thank you so much for sharing this, doc!
Hi Jessica please contact me I need this I’m in usa
ok… i am a psychologist, tell me… how you will deal with the lost of a precocious memory?. what if as I have saw, someone that didn’t responded to ECT but got the memory issues?
@@tilly704 basically depatterning the brain like they did in MKULTRA and this fucking goon is passing it of as a safe and effective treatment.
If you have a uti infection will this be a problem will the treatments work ?
Safe and effective? Where are the empiracle studies and data?
that's what I want to know, as a person still recovering from the brain damage I got from ECT in 2022.
there are non, is it is pseudo science.
I didn't hear OCD mentioned. How effective is it for that.
Please check out TMS treatment for OCD.
Where is the research showing that ECT is safe and effective?
I've done over 150 sessions of ect and it is the only reason i am alive today. I have had severe medication resistant depression for over 8 years since I was 13 and ive been in so many mental hospitals ive lost count. I will admit it screwed up my memory pretty bad but id rather not be suicidal all the time
Can OCD be treated with ECT ??
I live about an hour away from a university hospital that offers this but, I can get in to try it. (Has to be in patient only). That's really hard to deal with, when nothing else has worked. TMS doesn't work and I don't have access to Ketamine unfortunately. So, I'm just stuck waiting for...idk what.
Buy the fucking ketamine online or from a dirty veterinarian.
Does it damage eye vision ? Or is it safe for Patient had cornia transplant(more than 2 years)?
It saved my life as well
Have they tried VNS?
The GA would concern me the most.
Excellent presentation, thanks Dr. Sly. I have suffered with Bi-Polar may years. At the time I was offered ECT to deal with depression but declined. More recently I was diagnosed with Parkinsons. I have had Deep Brain Stimulator implants. Would someone in this situation be an eligable candidate with these implants?
Loving the psych ASMR!!!
If peoples’ teeth get damaged during the procedure, who pays the dental bills? Thanks.
Does it help with parkinson desease?
Sent a patient to the hospital for ECT. Patient was in catatonia, starving to death. Think he has had about 6 treatments and is able to talk and eat now.
I may have missed this in the video. Will it help schizoaffective disorder depression type without bipolar or mania (no ups) ?
What if you have hbp or hypertension ?
Research does seem to support that it helps
Is ECT can rewire the brain neurons ? Like changing strong and old thoughts ?
This is not correct. If it doesn't cause brain damage why do people have so much memory loss?
Thank you.
I had 25 bitemporal session of ECT for treatment resistant bipolar. It would only work for a few weeks for me. It had an atypical reaction to my memory, causing pretty severe memory loss(doctors statment). I also did ketamine for around 5 of the treatments but then I had a reaction to the ketamine.
I don't regret trying it. I know it's safe and effective and I try to destigmitize it when I talk to people.
25 sessions...sounds like too many sessions and they should not be done bi-laterally. Studies suggest uni-lateral right side has less memory loss.
@@adventureswithwool-johanne7755 yes probably not. I have read bi temporal is the most damaging to memory.
@@berf9445how do you feel now??
@@adventureswithwool-johanne7755 ECT should be banned. There's no limit on the number of ECT treatments or the amount of electricity they can use. It's barbaric. Many patients get way more than 25 treatments. They have no protections!
ECT works by severing synaptic connections and causing synaptic genesis supposedly modifying behaviour but comes at a cost of memory loss and after 50 times mild Tbi and not enough long term study on effects on cognition. Tms seems a lot safer
I've heard that the brief euphoria that often follows ECT is comparable to the brief euphoria experienced by people after closed head injuries. ECT should be banned.
It does make you wonder that the synaptic genesis that happens under ECT also happens when a person has a mild tbi injury there's also supposedly evidence brain regions that were shocked years later have worse brain shrinkage then it was to begin with so the synaptic genesis may not be real in the first place. there's a interesting interview with Sarah price Hancock ECT repetitive brain injury with Dr Josef it's really worth a watch.
@@katherinelalli776luckily it's not up to you
You don’t know what it does to people unless you get it done to yourself. I have heard that ECT is good, but doctor, you never had it done to yourself?
Your right. There’s a stigma against ECT. Never had one. I feel tired a lot. I am thinking of iron deficiency. I had heavy periods and never been pregnant. So I could be anemic. So anyone, before you get ECT, go to a physician and have your blood drawn to see if you have vitamin deficiencies. Or maybe diabetes like I have diabetes. I hope you feel better.
I am epileptic and my neurologist axed the idea of triggering seizures on purpose. I am pushing for Ketamine therapy, and if I can't or it doesn't work. I am done.
How are u now?
Relaxing voice
Thank you for this video.
I have a friend who did this, she now has memory issues so anyone thinking about this please be aware. I really wish more research would be done into psychoactive drugs like mushrooms tho, it does a very similar thing in how it rewires your brain and you don’t have to go through a seizure to experience it
A lot of people have no idea how severe and serious depression can be, and why ECT would be needed for it and not schizophrenia (the one condition they’re sure to bang on about instead, not knowing that depression can be psychotic, catatonic and at least severe, too). It’s always fun watching ignorant people like that be educated and humbled, and young doctors not brainwashed against it. This is a treatment that literally does a Lazarus on people and brings them back from good-as dead.
Electrical treatments are also done to a heart that has repetitive life threatening rhythms.
You said that you would receive ETC if u were sick or otherwise. Be true to your words and do it, and than talk about it ok.
I have no doubt that you actually believe you're helping people. But that doesn't change the fact that this is actually evil. Ethics matter. Honesty matters. Presuppositions matter.
Sounds really scetchy
it is is it about ass safe and effective as a lobotomy
This is a barbaric and morbid practice that should not even exist anymore. This will save you at the cost of your memories.
Hey, great video. Really good, thorough and easily understood.
I wonder if you could you tell us a little bit about TMS in a future video? In particular, your thoughts on the efficacy.
When my Dr did ECT on me he did something to my brain and now he's using a device to harass me and try to drive me crazy. He always was so nice to me I didn't realize he was a psychopath.
I just watched American horror story. This shit scares me. lol
The original methodology of how ECT worked is that it wiped out negative memories and that people that had seizure disorders did not get depression so they assumed the negative memory wipeout and inducing seizures was beneficial for patients the new methodology of how ECT works is that it wipes out maladaptive synaptic connections in the brain modifying behaviour and promotes synaptic genesis and that having seizures improve mood though resetting brain circuits all this comes with side effects that should not be taken lighty and informed consent is a must do your research for a small majority of people that get ECT 50 to 100 times the memory and cognitive problems can get pretty bad and there is not enough long term study on effects.
Lithium can screw up your thyroid. ECT was given for many years without the informed consent of the patient.
I believe ECT is now banned in California.
I know you probably mean well, but you should not recommend this treatment to anyone. ECT involves applying electrodes to a person’s scalp and then passing electrical current through the skull and brain tissue to induce a seizure. This is what constitutes a so called “treatment”. At the push of a button psychiatrists shoot up to 460 volts of electricity through the skull to produce a grand mal seizure that can sometimes last up to 30 minutes. This is many times stronger than the voltage one would get even if they stuck their finger into a light socket. To put that into context, 450 volts is enough to power 5 stadium lights on a football field. ECT machines generate nearly 403 times the electrical current of a stun gun and 450 times that of a cattle prod. The brain trauma caused by one session of electroshock is equivalent to the force of dropping a 40 pound cinder block from 7 1/2 feet onto the head. That’s why patients often wake up from the procedure with a headache and severe memory loss. ECT literally fries the brain by heating up neurons to the point where they become damaged or get too hot and die. When an electric current flows through the brain, the electrical energy is converted into heat, raising the temperature of the brain. The larger the current, the more heat is produced. If the temperature gets too high the cells suffer temporary injury, permanent damage, or even death.
ECT causes certain areas of the brain to literally waste away, just like someone with Alzheimer’s. The cognitive impairment, memory issues, amnesia, headaches and euphoria are all due to the side effects of head trauma and electrical injury. In an attempt to heal itself from catastrophic damage, the brain releases chemicals which can temporarily create a sense of euphoria, but this eventually wears off leaving people with permanent cognitive impairment. Rather than being a marker for improvement, the euphoria is a symptom of brain damage.
Many people who get ECT end up on disability because they are unable to work or function in society anymore. Others require years of speech therapy. Quite frequently people will forget their names, their identity, their family and friends. They might come home and not know who their children are or remember getting married. ECT can erase precious memories and obliterate years of education. There are lawyers who can no longer practice law and doctors who are unable practice medicine. One woman needed a service dog after ECT because she would leave her house to get the mail and forget where she lived. Another man forgot how to tie his shoe laces. It’s terrible. Yes it’s true that you can electrically shock someone out of their so called ‘crazy’ mind… but you don’t shock them back to their ‘right’ mind, you shock them into a ‘shocked’ mind.
The biggest mystery of all is why on earth people think that sending bolts of electricity through a persons head is a good idea. First of all, there is no such thing as a “therapeutic”seizure. When you’re in a hospital and someone comes in with a seizure, that is a bona fide emergency and doctors hop right in to try and stop the seizure immediately. Mainstream physicians go to great lengths to prevent seizures. The idea is to prevent them so it doesn’t cause brain damage, because it’s recognized that seizure activity promotes brain damage. The more seizures a person has, the more potential there is for cognitive decline and neurological dysfunctions.
ECT comes with more dangers than just the electricity. The drug they use as a relaxant in the U.S during electroshock is the same drug used for lethal injections. This drug is called Succinylcholine. It paralyzes all the muscles of the body, except for the heart. Due to it’s effectiveness at stopping breathing, it’s regularly given in the execution of prisoners on death row. When a patient receives ECT, this drug also paralyzes their breathing, which is why the anesthesiologist has to ventilate the patient during the procedure. Electroshock is still every bit as brutal as it always has been, and the result remains the same- a grand mal seizure and brain damage. The only thing different about modern day electroshock is that anesthesia and paralyzing agents were added to suppress the patients convulsions. The anesthesia does nothing to protect a patient’s brain. The anaesthetics and paralysing agents are simply used to make ECT appear less barbaric for the benefit of the person observing the procedure.
Psychiatrists are not electrical engineers so they don’t understand the effects that electro currents can have on human tissue. They are trained to set the knobs and press the buttons, they aren’t taught the ramifications of what it’s doing. It takes about $500- $1000 to make an ECT machine and around $20,000 to sell it. The more sessions you have, the more money a psychiatrist makes. ECT has nothing to do with medicine or helping the patients, it’s about making money at the expense of vulnerable people.
God did you even watch the video? I'm not even going to ask for the research references. Yes psychiatrists were sent by the same aliens that built the pyramids to destroy human race and sell ECT machines.
Yes, I always found it barbaric.
ECT has changed considerably from 40-50 years ago and is now done uni-laterally right sided for most ppl.. The 1st session sets or calibrates the personalized low dose electricity in columbs. Controlled seizures only last 20-30 seconds this turns on genes and increases BDNF (brain derived neurotrpic factor) which causes brain neuro genesis. It also causes more blood flow to the brain. It is successful approximately 85% of the time. Memory loss is usually the months right before ECT and a few months afterwards; usually not long term memory. Most people find benefit with a series of 12 sessions and occasional maintenance sessions as an outpatient. ECTs are not done bi-laterally very often as this was found to cause more memory loss than unilateral.
"Successful 85% of the time".
How is success defined? Successful according to the recipients? Please provide a link to any study that gives evidence for an 85% "success rate".@@adventureswithwool-johanne7755
It can save lives where is the negativity coming from?
Quackery!
Handsome host! :-)
ECT saved my husbands life.
I'm addicted to bromazolam 50mg per day. The equivalent of about 250-300mg diazepam every day. During every ECT session they just gave me flumazenil and they said there were no problems inducing the seizures. I also probably have increased intracranial pressure because I have a central hypoventilation syndrome (I know, nice combo with the benzo's) but still got the ECT's.
This is all lies!! I’ve seen what happened to someone close to me. They are zombies afterwards!!
How long ago did they get it?
Exactly. And you don't even know how much of the reviews here are ghost written. It's a trap. Braindamage and drugs for life, which cause further complications and more drugs to treat those, hormonal and metabolic issues, cancer, add nearly endless list here. Medical and pharmaceutical cash cows. Yay.
I feel way more alive since ect
So there should
CBT
its linked to adhd can fix my fontal lobe as doing and think is gangster and all but one wrong move in a world like this jail
This is a scary thing that is casually promoted . Effective but is it humane?
There's no evidence that it's even effective. They just make up numbers to say how successful it is when they are literally no studies showing ECT is effective.
neither effective or humane
My doc has put me on Prozak 20 mil for the last year, I just don't want to be dependant for the rest of my life on dangerous drrug like that, so is it better to ask to change treatement and go for ECT
Unfortunately ECT can change the structure of your brain resulting in people, academics knowingly losing the ability to practice there educated path.
I was inpatient with a woman who had that happen. She was a uni prof and had to redo her studies.
Ketamine--subanesthetic .5 mg./kg. To 1.2 mg. /Kg. Is superior to ECT; seizures = concussion. Initially created for schizophrenia, smh. Thanks for listening..... 👍😀👍
What is it ?
@@phanikiranbodavula5523 a date r*pe drug. Also an anesthetic that is amnesia inducing.
Ketamine for depression works but treatment resistant mania/bipolar with panic disorder is contraindicated for ketamine. It’s liable to just bounce them between modalities
DON'T DO IT!
Handsome man
Who cares
@@katherinelalli776 I'm interested in handsome men, like myself
I really appreciated watching this video Dr Syl before doing ect.
It helped me feel more comfortable about starting ect.
I definitely didn’t find the experience scary.
I did have memory loss but it’s just been recent memories nothing too worrying.
I really appreciated watching this video Dr Syl before doing ect.
It helped me feel more comfortable about starting ect.
I definitely didn’t find the experience scary.
I did have memory loss but it’s just been recent memories nothing too worrying.
I really appreciated watching this video Dr Syl before doing ect.
It helped me feel more comfortable about starting ect.
I definitely didn’t find the experience scary.
I did have memory loss but it’s just been recent memories nothing too worrying.
I really appreciated watching this video Dr Syl before doing ect.
It helped me feel more comfortable about starting ect.
I definitely didn’t find the experience scary.
I did have memory loss but it’s just been recent memories nothing too worrying.