Electroconvulsive Therapy

ECT generates powerful financial incentives through recurring maintenance sessions, institutional insurance coverage, and lack of accountability. Depression symptoms typically return after ECT treatment ends. Financial incentives from ECT's $280 million annual revenue are attributed to the limited public discussion of its risks. Benzodiazepines are less suitable before or during ECT because they raise the seizure threshold. Electroconvulsive therapy involves passing 150 volts of electricity through the brain to induce a grand mal seizure. Recovery after ECT combines emergence from anaesthesia with recovery from an induced seizure. ECT practitioners do not understand the mechanism by which the treatment produces any temporary improvement in depression. Avoiding bilateral electrode placement and reducing pretreatment anxiety are listed as preventive strategies for postictal agitation in ECT. Pretreatment anxiety about memory effects is common among ECT patients. Long-term adverse effects of ECT are routinely downplayed in patient communications. ECT has been administered to patients who did not consent, including individuals in hospice care. ECT is funded by Medicaid, Medicare, and…