Electroconvulsive Therapy ECT & Anger

[EveHarrington]

I am wondering if anyone who has done ECT has experienced anger as a side effect. I know someone who has undergone a series of ECT treatments and is displaying uncharacteristic anger. I am worried that this could be a side effect. I have known 2 other people who had serious, permanent side effects from ECT (memory loss), hence my worry.

Thank you.

 

[somerandomguy]

I've known two people who did ECT and both had permanent effects to their memories. Not sure about anger, but I absolutely would not.

 

[Sideways]

both had permanent effects to their memories.

Yes - this is likely from the repeated general anaesthetic. My sister had a shiteload of ECT (multiple full courses, then went on to have maintenance ECT). She went on to ‘forget’ a whole lot of the period she was unwell, but actually, that was more likely to be from the profound depression, rather than the ECT. Which is one of the problems ascertaining the cause of memory loss. Because the reasons people ultimately decide to have ECT very typically f*ck fairly profoundly with memory. Add in the effects of the anaesthetic, and yeah, you often end up with impaired memory.

For me, none of the courses of ECT I tried screw with my memory.

I know someone who has undergone a series of ECT treatments and is displaying uncharacteristic anger.

Again, this is probably a cause and effect question. At times of profound poor mental health, uncharacteristic anger can often come up. Then there’s anger because of having ECT/Being unwell enough to need ECT.

Then there’s the additional frustration of the necessary hospitalisation. A lot of people will get hospitalised for the entire course of ECT - for cost/admission purposes, that’s usually the easiest way to deal with someone who needs a general anaesthetic 3 times a week. And, irrespective of whether they start feeling a whole lot better (which can be as early as the first week), they will usually have to stay as a patient in the mental health ward till the end of the course, which can be over a month.

For a person who is suddenly thinking a lot clearer, and feeling a lot better, that can be infuriating!

On the flip side, a person who is trying ECT out of desperation and it isn’t working, there’s a whole lot to be pissed off about (speaking from experience!).

Typed all that out because it’s very easy to just blame the ECT. When actually, there’s a lot of potential causes of this stuff when someone is having ECT (needing that degree of treatment, and having multiple general anaesthetics in quick succession and being hospitalised and being profoundly unwell) that can contribute to, and cause, a lot of the things that the ECT is blamed for. Which is to say, it’s all pretty shit, and very complicated.

 

[EveHarrington]

Then there’s the additional frustration of the necessary hospitalisation.

This person has been hospitalized 6 times in the last year. ECT wasn’t considered until the last hospitalization, and that one lasted about a month. I don’t think this person was angry over the hospitalization itself but could be angry over other related circumstances. Thank you.

 

[Sideways]

This person has been hospitalized 6 times in the last year.

Yeah, that’s really tough. If EFT doesn’t work for them, I hope they find something that does.