Bright Nights Community Forum: Understanding Electroconvulsive Therapy

When

Tuesday September 20, 2016: 7:00pm to 8:30pm  Add to Calendar /   Add to Google Calendar

Where

Downtown Library: Multi-Purpose Room

Description

Depression is a brain disease that is pervasive in our population, affecting over 20 million American adults. When detected early, it can have high recovery rates.

However there remain a small percentage of patients with serious psychiatric illnesses for whom typical medication or psychotherapy treatments are not effective. One potential treatment option for patients with severe depression who fail to respond to medications or who are unable to tolerate the side effects associated with the medications is electroconvulsive therapy (ECT).

Developed over 75 years ago, use of ECT declined in the 1960s and 1970s due to misperceptions about the treatment and the advent of modern antidepressant medications. ECT, however, never went away because of the profound effect it has on the most severe mental illness syndromes. Due to significant improvements in the way the treatment is administered, it is safer and more tolerable for patients as modern strategies help cut down on memory side effects. Depression is the most common condition treated with ECT, but other syndromes such as bipolar mania, psychosis, or catatonia symptoms also respond well to ECT.

To learn more about ECT and how it may be used to treat severely ill patients, the University of Michigan Depression Center and the Ann Arbor District Library present this Bright Nights forum. Daniel Maixner, MD, Associate Professor and ECT Program Director at the University of Michigan, will give a brief overview presentation outlining the current research, advancements, and the benefits and side effects of the procedure. This will be followed by questions and discussion with a panel of experts including Tricia Suttmann, a retired attorney who had successful ECT treatment at U-M over the course of almost a year; Wael Shamseddeen, MD, MPH, Assistant Clinical Professor, U-M Department of Psychiatry; and David Belmonte, MD, MS, Clinical Assistant Professor, U-M Department of Psychiatry.

For more information about the Depression Center, visit their website at www.depressioncenter.org , or contact Stephanie Salazar, 232-0330, or sawaters@umich.edu.