Shock therapy reintroduced at mental hospital

Jan 17, 2015 News

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By Leon Suseran

The re-introduction of Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT) at the National Psychiatric Hospital (NPH) at Fort Canje, Berbice, is expected to boost the capacity of the mental hospital in dealing with very serious mentally ill patients. It is the first time in over two decades that this treatment is being used once more.
A team of Canadian Psychiatrists delivered the machine and trained medical personnel for its use, last October. Now it is being used on numerous patients, said Psychiatrist in charge of the institution, Dr. Mayda Grajales.
Dr. Grajales, a Cuban- born specialist, working at the NPH for over 20 years, said that mental healthcare delivery is sure to improve with the use of the machine, popularly referred to as ‘Shock Treatment.’
The doctor said that many persons become very afraid whenever they hear that term, but modern day medicine has made using such equipment much, much safer and more effective for patients. ECT is a procedure in which electric currents are passed through the brain, intentionally triggering a brief seizure. ECT seems to cause changes in brain chemistry that can quickly reverse symptoms of certain mental illnesses. It often works when other treatments are unsuccessful.
She added that the treatment is utilized for cases of bi-polar disorder; extreme depression; delusional symptoms, “like when people imagine things—when people are after you or police are after you—also patients with severe intent to suicide.”
Dr. Grajales also said that machine changes the way the patient is thinking and improves the condition of the patient.” She noted that it is no new treatment, since it was used as early as 1913 around the world. The treatment is very popular, she said, in countries such as USA, Canada, and England.
“People get afraid because they watch movies that show they have to shock the patients, it looks very cruel,” she added.
Describing what actually happens during an ECT session, the Psychiatrist said that the patient (if in a good mental state) signs a consent form. If the patient cannot, then a family member would do so.
The patient is then put under anesthesia and strapped on to the machine, after which electric current at specified volts would be sent through the patient’s body. Gender and age are also determining factors with regards to how many volts are used.
“It’s only for a few seconds you apply that (the current)—first you do a general check-up, lab tests, but it’s very safe and we use the anesthetic.”
After the convulsion, the patient is moved to the recovery room where he spends approximately 10-15 minutes and can leave whenever he awakens.

She noted that since the arrival of the machine, it has been used a lot on patients; not only residential patients, but also on members of the public who attend the out- patient clinic at the NPH.
Dr. Grajales noted that ECT is no one- shot process. There can be up to 15 sessions, as the need arises.
While the machine is being housed in the N/A Hospital Operating Theatre, Dr. Grajales is hoping that it would be housed at the NPH. “But for now, we have to transfer the patients from here to the N/A Hospital.”
“We have a few patients on board and we have good results,” she said. She noted that many patients and their families would very soon come out to the public to testify to the benefits of the machine, so that persons out there would not be scared and apprehensive.
“We had a patient here and the family was really, really scared—the first thing they mentioned was this movie where they saw this horrifying experience…”
Dr. Grajales is very optimistic about the long-term benefits of ECT treatment, “because we have patients who come with very terrible conditions— very violent that they don’t cooperate—very psychotic; we get positive results.”
Much of the stigma attached to ECT is based on early treatments in which high doses of electricity were administered without anesthesia, leading to memory loss, fractured bones and other serious side effects.
According to the Mayo Clinic, ECT is much safer today and is given to people while they’re under general anesthesia. Although ECT still causes some side effects, it now uses electrical currents given in a controlled setting to achieve the most benefit with the fewest possible risks.
Presently, the professionals who are trained to use and administer the ECT treatment to mentally- ill patients are, Dr. Grajales; Dr. Farah Ferreira; Psychiatrist Dr. Leon Marmol ; Medex attached to the NPH, Ms. Hameda Alli; and Psychiatric nurses, Nurses Skeete, Sarwan and Semple. She added that she receives full cooperation, too, from the anesthetic technicians, Lennox Sampson and Ram Gobin, and from doctors attached to the N/A Hospital.

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