Using electroconvulsive therapy for psychiatric treatment

Electroconvulsive therapy, or ECT, an FDA-cleared psychiatric treatment, has been used in the United States for decades. It’s considered appropriate for patients with severe mental health conditions — including treatment-resistant depression, schizophrenia, mania and other psychotic disorders — that have not improved with medications or other therapies.

The treatment involves carefully applying brief electrical stimulation to the scalp to induce a safe, painless seizure in the brain that typically lasts 30 to 60 seconds. Offered at Sharp Mesa Vista Hospital and Sharp Grossmont Hospital for Behavioral Health, ECT causes changes in brain chemistry that can rapidly reverse symptoms of severe mental health conditions.

Important research out of Sharp

Earlier this year, a clinical team from Sharp Grossmont Hospital for Behavioral Health presented a collection of ECT data at the American Psychiatric Association Convention. The team reviewed and compared datasets of patients who received ECT at Sharp Grossmont Hospital in 2024 and 2004.

“We conducted this study to better understand trends in ECT use at Sharp Grossmont,” says Travis Brown, the ECT coordinator at Sharp Grossmont Hospital for Behavioral Health.

In 2004, 40 patients were treated with an average of 7.2 ECT treatments per patient. In 2024, 42 patients were treated, with each patient receiving an average of 18 ECT treatments.

“The rise in the average number of treatments at Sharp Grossmont over a 20-year time span mirrors the current trend in the overall ECT landscape,” says Dr. Brian Miller, medical director of Sharp Grossmont Hospital for Behavioral Health. “It indicates that patients are getting longer courses of treatment, including continuation and maintenance sessions.”

Benefits of ‘maintenance ECT’

Along with applying ECT in an acute series to treat active symptoms, doctors are now continuing ECT over a longer period with more time between treatments, Brown says. This tapering method allows the patient to ease in and out of treatment better, reducing the likelihood of relapse.

Clinicians are also doing more “maintenance ECT,” Brown notes, where they are treating symptoms before they worsen and to prevent relapse. “This approach typically looks like a patient receiving one treatment a week all the way down to one treatment every 6 to 8 weeks to keep symptoms away,” he says.

Additionally, the study revealed an interesting trend in how ECT is perceived by patients — and perhaps the general community — overall. When comparing the data from 2004 and 2024, Dr. Miller and Brown observed that the proportion of patients capable of providing their own consent to receive treatment increased from 65% to 98%.

“ECT has often been portrayed in the movies as scary, distressing and done against someone’s will,” says Dr. Miller. “But the data tells us that the majority of patients getting ECT were able to provide their own consent and are doing so voluntarily. This indicates more engagement and acceptance of ECT.”

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