Abstract

LAMAS AGUILAR, Reyna Minerva; COLIN PIANA, Ricardo  and  GONZALEZ AGUILAR, Alberto. Electroconvulsive Therapy Overview: Indications and How it Works. Rev. Fac. Med. (Méx.) [online]. 2020, vol.63, n.6, pp.20-30.  Epub Mar 05, 2021. ISSN 2448-4865.  https://doi.org/10.22201/fm.24484865e.2020.63.6.03.

The electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) constitutes one of the many treatment modalities available for management of psychiatric illnesses like depression, mania, schizophrenia, and catatonic states. It is even considered the single most effective and fastest treatment modality for patients with conditions like antidepressant-resistant depression, recurring suicidal ideations, acute psychoses, and potentially fatal conditions like malignant neuroleptic syndrome. ECT is a brain-stimulation therapy in which the therapeutic goal can be achieved through generating an electrical stimulus with enough intensity to produce a controlled seizure, achieving a positive and favorable neurobiological and neurochemical response.

This article focuses on the use of ECT in treating the various neuropsychiatric conditions, its pathophysiological principles, the employed technique, its main complications and overall a description of its use, its efficiency and safety, as to the experience of its employment in our institution. This comprises one of the few articles in Mexico with this kind of content that we deem fundamental as part of the general knowledge for healthcare professionals.

Keywords : Electroconvulsive therapy; neuropsychiatry; mental health.

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