Psychology 203

Calgary, Alberta, Canada
We are the Peer Mentors of Psychology 203: Psychology for Everyday Living at the University of Calgary. We will be sharing our thoughts about popular myths in psychology as they relate to each class.

Tuesday 22 November 2011

Popular Myths in Psychology


Myths about Psychological Treatment

Myth – Electroconvulsive (“Shock”) Therapy is a Physically Dangerous and Brutal Treatment

by Amy Webber

Most of you have probably heard of Electroconvulsive Therapy, commonly referred to as Shock Therapy or ECT, and you may have even seen it depicted in films, such as in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.  Many people hold negative views of ECT, believing it to be cruel, painful, harmful, and unsafe, and films often depict ECT in this negative light, often showing it as being used by staff in psychiatric hospitals as a means to control or punish misbehaving patients.  These films show ECT being forced upon people, leading to violent convulsions and causing severe memory loss and zombie-like side effects.

It’s true that in the past, convulsive therapy was indeed unsafe and often caused harmful side effects, and in some non-western developing countries today, ECT may still be administered without the proper procedures.  However, current methods of ECT have come a long way since the treatment was first introduced, and over the past five decades in the United States and most other Western countries, ECT has been administered in a way that is much more humane and much safer.  It is only administered under informed consent of the patient, and the procedure includes giving patients and general anesthetic and a muscle relaxant, and then placing electrodes on the patient’s head, and delivering an electric shock to induce a seizure, while the patient’s movements during the seizure are inhibited by the anesthetic and the muscle relaxant.  This method has been effective in treating many individuals with severe depression, and it is typically recommended as a last resort for those whose severe depression has failed to respond to other treatments.

While ECT does carry risks, the death risk is no higher than anesthesia alone.  Of course, it can have unpleasant side effects such as headaches and nausea.  Memory loss is also a risk factor for ECT, although the loss is usually of events that happened right before the therapy.

In conclusion, as with any medical procedure, ECT does have the potential for negative side effects; however, it is not the “barbaric” procedure depicted in the media, and has actually helped many individuals with severe depression and other disorders that have no responded to other treatments.  In fact, patients who have undergone ECT actually hold less negative views of ECT than the general public, and most of them actually report it to be “less frightening than a trip to the dentist.”  (Lilienfeld, Lynn, Ruscio, & Beyerstein, 2010, p. 241).

References:
Lilienfeld, S. O., Lynn, S. J., Ruscio, J., & Beyerstein, B. L. (2010). 50 great myths of popular psychology: Shattering widespread misconceptions about human behavior. West Sussex, United Kingdom: John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

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