The study and history of Electroconvulsive therapy and how it has Essay

The study and history of Electroconvulsive therapy and how it has changed over the years (its present,past and future) and it sh - Essay Example ECT is a highly technical procedure requiring a team that consists of an anaesthetist, a psychiatrist, psychiatric nurses and recovery nurses. Doing a study on how ECT has changed over the years has given me an insight of how the use of ECT in the treatment of mental health illness has changed over the years. Undergoing this study has also enabled me to implement an important role in caring for patient who receive ECT, especially in the areas of pre- and post-treatment care. Mental health nursing care for the ECT patient has evolved from a traditional supportive and adjunctive practice to the current practice of independent and collaborative nursing actions. The nurse’s multifaceted role in ECT is enacted by providing education and support, performing pre-treatment assessments, monitoring the procedure, observing and interpreting post-treatment patient responses, and this study has helped me understand how I fit into that role. Electroconvulsive therapy is considered one of th e more effective methods for the treatment of persistent depression that has proven resistant to treatment with medication or psychotherapy. The method even has an extremely high rate of success, reportedly between fifty up to ninety percent, when ECT is used as an initial treatment for severe cases of index depression, a major depressive episode that presents with a specific start date and normal mood before that date. If used for schizophrenia, ECT is usually combined with pharmaceutical treatments as well. When used together in this manner, the treatment is shown to reduce the risks of future relapse, more so than treatment with the medication alone (Taylor 2007). Mechanism of Treatment and Treatment Activities Electroconvulsive therapy treats psychiatric disorders through the induction of generalized seizure activity in the brain, and some have suggested that the seizure activity alone is the mechanism of treatment (Bolwig 2011). However, despite the years of experience with the treatment in the medical community and just as many years of research, the exact reasons for its success are still unclear (Madsen et al 1999). Many possible reasons for it have been suggested. One possible suggestion for the mechanism of the treatment has been that it may induce neurogenesis (Madsen et al 1999). Neurogenesis is the growth of new neural cells, but only recently has it been discovered that such new neurons can grow in the adult human brain throughout life. Adult neurogenesis has been suggested as a method to treat neurological and psychological disorders, as part of or separate from ECT (Eisch & Nestler 2002). ECT has also been found to increase synaptic activity in the brain as well as forming these new neurons and neural connections, another possibility for its mechanism (Bolwig 2011). Another suggestion for mechanism is based on its efficacy in the treatment of major depressive disorder. Patients who are treated for major depressive disorder with ECT are found to have elevated levels of pancreatic polypeptide after successful treatment, which is known to be secreted after activation of the vagal nerve complex. Researchers have used these findings to conclude that vagal nerve stimulation may be the responsible mechanism for electroconvulsive therapy, at least for those patients being treated for depressive disorders (Bar et al. 2010). During electroconvulsive therapy, the patient is put under general anaesthesia and pharmacologically