Depression: Use "electric shocks" in the past

Christiane Fux studied journalism and psychology in Hamburg. The experienced medical editor has been writing magazine articles, news and factual texts on all conceivable health topics since 2001. In addition to her work for, Christiane Fux is also active in prose. Her first crime novel was published in 2012, and she also writes, designs and publishes her own crime plays.

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If medication or psychotherapy doesn't help, electroconvulsive therapy can relieve depression. But it is rarely used.

Electric shocks for depression? That sounds brutal at first. In fact, in the case of depression that is difficult to treat, electroconvulsive therapy is used today to treat the brain under anesthesia and with gentle electrical impulses.

New start in the brain

The therapy can act like a new start: In every second patient who had previously taken an antidepressant without success and for whom psychotherapy did not provide any relief, the electrotherapy was able to completely dispel the symptoms.

This means that therapy for difficult-to-treat depression is much more promising than trying out other drugs. This is what researchers working with Eric Ross from the University of Michigan determined when they evaluated the data from the so-called STAR * D study. More than 4,000 patients with major depression took part.

When one drug fails, the second usually doesn't help either

The researchers are encouraging treating physicians and patients to rely much more on electricity therapy than has been the case up to now. If a drug therapy fails, the likelihood that another drug will help decreases considerably: if the first drug still works for every third patient, the second only helps every fourth patient. If two drugs have not achieved the improvement hoped for, only 15 percent of patients benefit from a third drug.

"Electroconvulsive therapy is considered the last option," says study author Daniel Maxiner. Medication and psychotherapy are the first choice for depression. In therapy-resistant patients, however, the chances of a cure with electroconvulsive therapy are significantly better. The researchers were able to show that if the therapy is used in good time, the patient can potentially save years of suffering.

Weak electrical surges under general anesthesia

In electroconvulsive therapy, also known as electroconvulsive therapy, the brain is exposed to weak electric shocks for five to six seconds via electrodes. The patient is under general anesthesia. He is also given a muscle relaxant that prevents him from cramping.

How exactly the therapy unfolds its beneficial effect has not yet been clarified. Experts assume that the weak electrical surges normalize the dysfunctional interaction of different brain regions in patients with depression. The electrical impulses stimulate, among other things, the hippocampus, which also regulates feelings. A total of eight to ten sessions are usually necessary. Then the patient is stabilized with medication.

Chronic depression is a common problem: a third to a half of patients do not respond to antidepressants, at least on the first attempt.

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