Electroconvulsive therapy

Typically, an adult who has sought treatment for depression and has tried at least two medications without success, may be a candidate for ECT.

Patients with many different health conditions and symptoms, from pregnant women to those with pacemakers, have benefitted from ECT treatments. Of course, treatment options are decided on a case-by-case basis, but ECT is a commonly used and well-tolerated procedure for adults who are 18 years old and older.

Some of the conditions that respond well to ECT include:

• Catatonia
• Dementia with behavioral disturbance
• Depression, including refractory depression
• Mania
• Neuroleptic malignancy syndrome
• Psychosis
• Refractory bipolar disorders
• Schizophrenia

Physician offices making appointments for patients: please call intake services at (801) 479-2610

Before ECT begins, your physician will fully explain the benefits and risks associated with treatment, and you will provide your consent. (This consent for treatment can be withdrawn at any time, and we will stop treatment.) After this, you will receive a complete physical examination, which may include certain imaging exams or diagnostic laboratory tests.

We encourage you to ask questions any time before, during and after ECT. It's important you feel comfortable with the treatment and understand the process.

Many patients who undergo ECT see improvement in their symptoms within two to three weeks. A series of ECT treatments is usually required and consists of 12 treatments that can be administered on an inpatient or outpatient basis.

To begin treatment, IV medications are used to induce sleep and relax your muscles. Once this happens, an electrical stimulus will be administered through electrodes (small pads) placed on your head. The stimulus produces changes in the brain waves that are similar to what is produced during a generalized seizure. It is believed that this activity is what leads to the clinical improvement in mental health symptoms. Even though the scientific community doesn't quite know for sure why it works, they do know that it does, in fact, work.

You will wake up roughly 30 minutes after the completion of treatment. Shortly after, you will become re-oriented enough to eat and return home or back to the inpatient behavioral health unit.

An ECT treatment is intended to be followed by additional ECT sessions or medication therapy. If follow-up ECT or medications are not administered, there is a higher probability of symptom relapse within six months.

ECT is a safe procedure and often has fewer side effects than medications, however, common side effects of ECT may include:

• Difficulty with short-term memory during the time of treatment
• Headache
• Muscle soreness
• Nausea
• Short-term difficulty learning and/or remembering new information during the time of treatment

We provide complete ECT services and care as part of Lakeview Hospital and Ogden Regional Medical Center's behavioral health program. This program includes both inpatient and outpatient ECT, as well as access to a variety of other mental health care services and resources.

For more information about the ECT program at Lakeview Hospital, please call (801) 299-2290. For more information about the ECT program at Ogden Regional Medical Center, please call (801) 479-2610