What is electro convulsive therapy for schizophrenia?

What is electro convulsive therapy? When do doctors administer this for schizophrenic patients? what are the benifits from it and what is bad about it? I have schizophrenia, and im worried i might have to do it cuz my medicine isnt working that much anymore. i see my psychiatrist tuesday and then my fave psychiatrist soon after. ive already been hospitalized and given different medications once. will they want me to be hospitalized again? im starting to have horrible delusions/hallucinations. i dont want them to continue if im in the hospital cuz im scared i will have to be held in restraints and givin the electro therapy, but then again i might comply with it if its shown to work. any help would be great please, and thanks for reading

i had 10 session of ECT for my depression, BPD and schizo. it helped me heaps. before the thearpy.... i was in and outta hospital every 2 weeks for 2 yrs... after the therapy, it was another yr before my next visit to the psych ward.

it does have an affect on your memory, but nothing major for me.

and yeah,.... there is alot of bad reports about it, but yeah.... is something to consider. research it some more... get more opinions on it, talk to others that have had it done and how it worked for them.

oh yeah... what is it... it shocks yer brain into its right cycle or something.. i aint real sure.

but for me... when i had it done. they take x-rays first, head and chest. then they make ya a mouth guard... so when ya have the fit, it doesnt damage yer teeth,
when ya got to have it, they put the needle in, and take ya in put the thing on ya head and strap it in, then they put ya mouth guard in and then put ya off to sleep... and thats it. might have a headache afterwards... i never did though. and didnt have any side effects. i was an impatient at the time, but came in the night before, and then went home straight after, and then came back the night before for each on.

if ya got more questions, i am happy to try and answer... or talk to yer doctors...

IF you have an open mind about healing modalities, get some hands-on or reiki done to help balance your energy. ECT, no matter how it is dressed up, is still frying the brain on some level.

To my knowledge, ECT is normally used as a last resort to treat severe depression. That is, it is used when medications fail. It is a procedure whereby you are anesthetized briefly so that an electrical current can be passed through your brain from electrodes (2 I think) that are placed on your head.

There is a lot of controversy about the use of ECT. Some say it is so effective and the side effects so minimal and short lived that it should be used and others say that it causes short term memory loss and should not be used. It actually elicits a small seizure of the brain. I suggest you talk it over with your psychiatrist who will be much more informed than lay people and can describe the pros and cons of such a procedure. Unless of course there is someone who has experienced ECT that can answer your questions. And I see that there is...lol. Great, perhaps there are more that can help.

I hope the doctors are able to help you with symptom remission. Best of luck.