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Results
By Mayo Clinic staffMany people begin to notice an improvement in their symptoms after two or three treatments with electroconvulsive therapy. Full improvement may take longer, though. Response to antidepressant medications, in comparison, can take several weeks or more.
No one knows for certain how ECT helps treat severe depression and other mental illnesses. What is known, though, is that many chemical aspects of brain function are altered during and after seizure activity. Researchers theorize that when ECT is administered on a regular basis, these chemical changes build upon one another, somehow reducing symptoms of severe depression or other mental illnesses.
That's why electroconvulsive therapy is most effective with multiple treatments. Most people who receive ECT have treatments three times a week, usually for two to four weeks. ECT is effective in about 80 percent of people who receive the full course.
Even after your symptoms improve, you likely will need ongoing treatment to prevent a recurrence. That ongoing treatment, known as maintenance therapy, doesn't have to be ECT, but it can be. More often, it includes antidepressants or other psychiatric medications or psychotherapy.
