MEASURING stress hormones could reveal which patients are likely to suffer longer-lasting side effects after electroconvulsive therapy, say doctors in California.
Shock therapy is still widely used to treat depression in the US, Canada and Britain. Many people associate it with the infamous scene in
Nowadays, however, patients are always given anaesthetics and muscle relaxants to prevent pain and the violent convulsions that can cause injuries. Most psychiatrists agree that the evidence shows that electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is safe and can help patients with certain forms of severe depression, at least in the short term. It is also usually tried only when other treatments fail, and patients are asked for consent in the vast majority of cases.
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