According to the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP), electric shock treatment, or electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), is used to treat some patients who suffer from severe depression that manifests with either insomnia, weight change, feelings of hopelessness, or suicidal or homicidal thoughts. This procedure is also used to treat severe depression, mania or schizophrenia that does not respond to medication. ECT may produce side effects, and patients who are planning to undergo the therapy should be aware of the risks.
Death
ECT used to be a very dangerous procedure. HealthyPlace.com reports that in the first few decades it was used, the death rate approached 0.1 percent, or one patient in 1,000. However, safer procedures and better techniques have brought the mortality rate to between 2.9 and 4.5 per 10,000. Currently, the risk of death from electric shock treatment is no different then the risk of death caused by antidepressants.
Death can be caused by the ECT procedure itself or, in a small percentage of patients, by the side effects of anesthesia. In order to minimize risk factors, patients' overall health must be properly evaluated before ECT is considered.
Seizure
ECT can induce a mild seizure, according to the Surviving Depression website. The seizure starts off mild, but there is a chance that it can become more severe and a very rare possibility that a more long-term seizure disorder will develop. The seizure is caused by the electric stimulus being sent to the brain as part of the ECT procedure. Various systemic changes occur just after the ECT. These changes include bradycardia (slow heart beat) and hypotension (low blood pressure). These changes are followed by a nervous system response that leads to an increase in blood pressure.
Acute Confusional State
Immediate CNS side effects of ECT have been specified by HealthyPlace. Immediately after the patient wakes up after the therapy, he experiences confusion, headache and temporary memory loss. This acute confused state can last minutes to several hours, and the duration depends on the method of ECT administrations, the timing and number of treatments performed, and the patient's age.
Memory Deficits
Many patients who have undergone ECT report that they have experienced memory loss, either short term or long term, according to the AAFP. This memory loss has been seen to last even after the end of the ECT treatments. The memory loss is linked to the type of ECT used (ECT can affect either one side or both sides of the brain), electrode placement, and whether the electric current was continuous or sent in pulses. ECT that affects both sides of the brain and has current that is continuous has a greater chance of causing memory loss, according to HealthyPlace. Both memory prior to the procedure (retrograde amnesia) and after the procedure (anterograde amnesia) is affected.
Learning Difficulties
ECT has been noted to cause adverse effects in the ability to learn and retain new knowledge, according to HealthyPlace. Within weeks after termination the patient's learning ability usually returns to normal. Reports vary as to the degree and duration of the learning problems, but the presence of the symptom has been established.
