HEALTH COACH - Treatment of children with electroconvulsive therapy

HEALTH COACH -

 Treatment of children with electroconvulsive therapy  

 

 Electroconvulsive therapy - in which a small electrical current flows through the brain causing a crisis - is now used much less often than at the beginning of last century. But, controversially, it is now used in the US and other countries as a treatment for children who exhibit severe and autonomous behavior. 
 
 Jonah Lutz, aged seventeen, is severely autistic. He is also prone to explosions of violent behavior, in which he strikes himself several times. 
 
 His mother, Amy, is convinced that if he was not an electroconvulsive therapy - ECT - he should now be permanently institutionalized for his own safety and security 
 
 
 The use of ECT has been remarkable in the Hollywood film of 1975, One Flew Over the Cuckoo # 39; s Nest, with Jack Nicholson. In a psychiatric facility, the Oscar-winning film cemented the view of most people on ECT as barbarism. 
 
 But Amy describes the modern version of therapy as little less miraculous. 
 
 "ECT has Transformed for the life of Jonah and for our life," she said. "We went for a period of time - for years and years - where Jonas was raging, often several times a day, fiercely. The only reason he is able to be at home with us is to Cause of ECT. " 
 
 It is estimated that a severely autistic child out of 10 as Jonah attacks violently, often causing serious injuries ranging from broken noses to detached retinas. Nobody really knows why. Some theories link self-injurious behavior to anxiety caused by an overload of sensory signals, others to the frustration that the autistic child struggles to communicate. 
 
 Amy and her husband, Andy have tried countless traditional treatments using medications or behavioral therapy before finally turning to ECT - a treatment that began to be used in Children like Jonah a decade ago, in parts of the United States. Each session alleviates its symptoms up to 10 days at a time - but this is not a cure. 
 
 Dr. Jonah, Charles Kellner, director of ECT at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York, is so convinced that it is effective and safe that it allows him To attend the proceedings and to the BBC to film it. 
 
 Professor Kellner says that the best way to overcome the negative image of ECT depicted in popular culture is "to show people what ECT Modern looks really like and show them the results with patients like Jonah ". 
 
 Jonah is one of a few hundred children in the United States to receive the controversial treatment. It has had about 260 ECT sessions since the age of 11 years 
 
 







 
 "There is a lot of exciting new neural imaging research showing that ECT actually reverses some of the brain problems in the major psychiatric illnesses," says Kellner, 39 and he finally checks the wiring around the Jonah temples. 
 
 "We do not know exactly why it works in people with autism and superimposed mood disorders, but we think this probably delivers circuits in the brain that are deregulated Because of autism. " 
 
 Modern The treatment is performed under general anesthesia, with muscle relaxants to prevent violent convulsions. At the pace of a switch, Kellner administers just under an amp of electric current in a series of very short impulses. 
 
 Jonah's body begins to shake as the current induces a seizure - ECT specialists believe that this can "reset" the brain that malfunctions. Convulsions last about 30 seconds. 
 
 Amy is not disturbed by what she sees. 
 
 "If a doctor says you need to cut your child 's chest to carry out a rescue operation, you would allow it. It' s even more barbaric We accept it, she says. 
 
 In an hour, Jonah is completely alert. He and his mother get out of the hospital and go to New York Street to find an ice cream parlor. 
 
 







  
 
 
 Viewers in the UK can watch Chris Rogers' world documentary  My Child, ECT and I  on the BBC News Channel on Saturday May 20 or Sunday May 21 - click here for transmission times or to watch online

 Viewers outside the UK can watch it on BBC World News in the coming week - click here for transmission schedules

 
 
 Given that the long-term effects of ECT on children with self-injurious behavior are unknown in some countries - and in a handful of states American - treatment is not allowed. The UK National Institute for Health and Care Excellence does not recommend ECT for those under 18 years of age. 
 
 But ECT is a well established treatment in adults for severe depression, often fatal. Its use is controversial, however, with memory loss, the main side effect recognized. What is disputed, is the magnitude of memory loss. Studies conducted by ECT doctors suggest that shortcomings are mostly short-term and that the memory function is returning to normal. But opponents to ECT cite surveys claiming that more than half of the patients suffer severe memory loss in the long term. 
 
 "This is a traumatic brain injury," says Dr. Peter Breggin, a psychiatrist who has long fought the psychiatric facility and which has led to a total ban on ECT . "Electricity travels not only through the frontal lobes - it is the seat of intelligence, thought, creativity and judgment - it also crosses the temporal lobes - the seat of You damage the very expression of personality, character, individuality, and even, if you believe in it, the expression of the soul ". 
 
 For the former US Army Intelligence Officer, Chad Calvaresi and his wife Kaci, the potential benefits of ECT outweigh the risks to Her violent 11-year-old autistic daughter, Sofija. 
 
 







 
 "When she was acting towards me, my instinct as a mom was to catch and hold her, hugging her and waiting for her," says Kaci. "But she was so big and strong that I could not do that." 
 
 Sofija spent a good deal of his early life suffering from neglect and abuse in a Serbian orphanage, before Chad and Kaci did not adopt him in 2009. They were Determined to him Give a better life in America, but by 2016 they have been shocked to institutionalize it again - this time for its own safety. 
 
 "She fought so badly that her nose was broke and bleeding, her lips were open and bleeding," says Chad. "She made a black eye. I was afraid of my own daughter." 
 
 







 
 For six months, Sofija received medication and therapy as a patient hospitalized at the famous Kennedy Krieger Institute in Baltimore, but there was little improvement. During its frequent violent episodes, it often took three highly skilled care workers - all wearing protective clothing and soft Sofija with padded rugs - to prevent injury or other people . 
 
 After exhausting all the other options, Sofija doctors finally accepted the request from Chad and Kaci to give him his ECT. A month later, her behavior was sufficiently improved for her to go home. 
 
 







 
 We caught up with the family after six months and over 30 treatments, and the transformation was remarkable. Sofija was swimming in the family pool and playing with her brothers and sisters, and while her violent episodes had not completely disappeared, her parents thought that they were less intense and easier to manage. Sofija also received a home school in mathematics and English. "She's picky," Kaci said. "The only memory loss that Sofija has had from ECT is that it forgets that the procedure has actually occurred." 
 
 ECT for severely self-harmed children with autism as Sofija is still very limited and without long term scientific study, it remains very controversial. But even if Sofija is likely to need ECT every week in the foreseeable future, her parents do not regret - they have their daughter at home. 
 
 "It's overwhelming if I think about it," says Kaci, "but What future did she have without it? I hope she doesn? I do not need it for the rest of her life, but at this point, I see it as a diabetic who needs insulin.This keeps her alive.Literally, she keeps it alive and she makes it Possible for We can have it in our house live life with our family and enjoy Sofija. "
 
 







  Caption of the picture 

Sofija appreciates a math lesson at home