ECT Full Form in Medical | What is the Full form of ECT



ECT Full Form - Electroconvulsive Therapy

  • ECT stands for Electroconvulsive Therapy. It's a therapy in which mental disorders are treated using electric current.
  • In this therapy, Electric current is used to supply brief convulsions in patients. Due to the involvement of electrical current, it's also mentioned as shock therapy.
 Electro Shock

Electro Shock

  • ECT was first used in 1938. It's mainly used to treat severe depression, manic depression and schizophrenia.
  • It's also recommended for the people that have symptoms like delusions, hallucinations or when other treatments and medicines aren't working.
  • In this therapy, before applying the electrical current, the patient is put during a sleepy state through anesthesia and medicines are given to relax the muscles.
  • Then electrodes are placed on the skull to use the therapy which can last up to eight seconds.
  • It produces a brief seizure within the brain. Immediately following the therapy, the patient may temporarily experience nausea, headache, jaw pain and Short term memory loss, etc.
  • The frequency of this treatment may vary from person to person, counting on the character of illness and an improvement after each session. On the average, patients undergo 6-12 sessions of ECT.

Types of ECT

 Types of ECT

Types of ECT

  • ECT is essentially of two types : Unilateral and Bilateral.
  • In unilateral ECT, one electrode is placed on top (vertex) of the head and another is placed on the right side of the skull.
  • In bilateral ECT, electrodes are placed on each side of the head.


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