Waves in the brain
January 31st, 2007 by mette
It has been known for centuries that use of convulsions in the brain, causing epileptic seizure - like rebooting the batteries - can if not cure then at least make life easier for people with deep depressions. And that people are more likely to live life and not commit suicide with this treatment than with just medicin and/or therapy.
Waves in the brain. ECT, elctroconvulsive therapy, electroshock. It sounds oldschool, like an old torture machine, electrodes to your head. And it smells way too much of lobotomi. One sees Jack Nicholson in the wheelchair, a white cloth around his head, the total zombie. Nurse Ratchett’s evil eyes…. And actually, despite the good results with ECT, America almost stopped using it after One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Hollywood has increcible power…
As early as the 16th Centur convulsions were known to cure madness, as it was said. They used camphor to bring about the convulsions. Although effective, it was an extremely painful and anxiety evoking treatment, as the patients were conscious right up until the seizure. In 1938 the first electro convulsions were used.
The treatment has been refined through the century, with less and less side effects. One side effect that is still thought to be is memory loss. Several scientists, though, believe that if (which is rare) a patient believes to have memory loss it might as well be the long term depression. Some doctors even believe that ECT can cause formation of new brain cells (quite an uplifting thought…). Anyhow, most patients getting ECT show big improvement. Just recently Michael Dukakis’ wife Kitty has written a book praising ECT, saying that the treatments has released her from her deep depressions, resulting in alcohol abuse, that she has suffered from most of her life.
It always takes a Hollywood movie or a famous person…
3 Responses to “Waves in the brain”
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Wauw - this is literally a post on brainwaves :-)
It is interesting how the idea of health and cures change over time - and what it takes to make it change. And you’re right, it’s incredibly often that it takes a star or a Hollywood-block-buster to change the trends (waves) of even the most scientific matters.
Amazing how powerful a movie can be. I remember the electroshock treatments being depicted more like an execution than a treatment. More like a trip to the electric chair than any sort of precise medical tool (even though they can be scary too). Back in the early days electroshock was probably a really unpleasent experience because it was done without the anasthesia …
There’s still some controversy about the side effects:
http://www.berlingske.dk/indland/artikel:aid=852050
Great input!
Talking of Hollywood and its both benevolent and malevolent “treatment” of illness, Michael J. Fox getting Parkinson’s Disease at a young age, and later talking openly about it, really changed the attitude of many people. My mom had PD and was embarrassed by the tremour but it helped her to see a public person talk about it.
When a PD patient is beyond medical treatment (or if the side effects of the meds are too hard to live with), a “brain pacemaker” (DBS=Deep Brain Stimulation) device can be implanted in the brain in order to send electrical impulses to designated places in the brain.