Electroconvulsive therapy
Page last updated on:
About the service
The service provides electroconvulsive therapy to people suffering from severe mental health conditions such as depression which has not responded well to other treatment.
Electroconvulsive therapy consists of stimulating the brain with a safe dose of electricity. The electricity produces a controlled seizure, which is thought to rectify a chemical imbalance in the brain, thus reducing the length and severity of the depressive illness. The improvements produced by ECT will usually need to be maintained with anti-depressant medication
Why would someone choose the service?
Rapid recovery from the symptoms of depressive illness when advised by a consultant psychiatrist.
Staff you may meet
- There are more than 60 different specialities that doctors work within the NHS. Each is unique but there are many characteristics which are common. Roles range from working in a hospital to being based in the community as a GP.
- Nurses who choose to specialise in the mental health branch of nursing work with GPs, psychiatrists, psychologists, and others, to help care for patients. Increasingly, care is given in the community, with mental health nurses visiting patients and their families at home, in residential centres, in prisons or in specialist clinics or units.
- Nursing or healthcare assistants work in hospital or community settings under the guidance of a qualified healthcare professional. They help doctors, nurses and therapists give people the care and treatment they need.
- Porters work within the Trust facilities team moving and delivering post, equipment and medication to locations across the organisation. They also help to move frail and often very ill patients between different departments and wards in safety and comfort.