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Module
51
Biomedical Therapy: Biological Approaches to Treatment
567
dose of lithium to prevent a recurrence of their symptoms. Most other drugs are
useful only when symptoms of psychological disturbance occur.
ANTIANXIETY DRUGS
As the name implies, antianxiety drugs reduce the level of anxiety a person experi-
ences and increase feelings of well-being. They are prescribed not only to reduce
general tension in people who are experiencing temporary diffi culties, but also to aid
in the treatment of more serious anxiety disorders (Zito, 1993).
Antianxiety drugs such as Xanax and Valium are among the medications physi-
cians most frequently prescribe. In fact, more than half of all U.S. families have
someone who has taken such a drug at one time or another.
Although the popularity of antianxiety drugs suggests that they hold few risks,
they can produce a number of potentially serious side effects. For instance, they can
cause fatigue, and long-term use can lead to dependence. Moreover, when taken in
combination with alcohol, some antianxiety drugs can be lethal. But a more impor-
tant issue concerns their use to suppress anxiety. Almost every therapeutic approach
to psychological disturbance views continuing anxiety as a signal of some other sort
of problem. Thus, drugs that mask anxiety may simply be hiding other diffi culties.
Consequently, rather than confronting their underlying problems, people may be
hiding from them through the use of antianxiety drugs.
Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT)
First introduced in the 1930s, electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is a procedure used
in the treatment of severe depression. In the procedure, an electric current of 70–150
volts is briefl y administered to a patient’s head, which causes a loss of consciousness
and often causes seizures. Typically, health-care professionals sedate patients and
give them muscle relaxants before administering the current; such preparations help
reduce the intensity of muscle contractions produced during ECT. The typical patient
receives about 10 ECT treatments in the course of a month, but some patients con-
tinue with maintenance treatments for months afterward (Greenberg & Kellner, 2005;
Stevens & Harper, 2007).
ECT is a controversial technique. Apart from the obvious distastefulness of a treat-
ment that evokes images of electrocution, side effects occur frequently. For instance,
after treatment patients often experience disorientation, confusion, and sometimes
memory loss that may remain for months. Furthermore, ECT often does not produce
long-term improvement; one study found that without follow-up medication, depres-
sion returned in most patients who had undergone ECT treatments. Finally, even when
ECT does work, we do not know why, and some critics believe it may cause permanent
brain damage (Sackeim et al., 2001; Gardner & O’Connor, 2008; Kato, 2009).
In light of the drawbacks to ECT, why do therapists use it at all? Basically, they
use it because in many severe cases of depression, it offers the only quickly effective
treatment. For instance, it may prevent depressed, suicidal individuals from commit-
ting suicide, and it can act more quickly than antidepressive medications.
The use of ECT has risen in the last decade with more than 100,000 people
undergoing it each year. Still, ECT tends to be used only when other treatments have
proved ineffective, and researchers continue to search for alternative treatments
(Fink, 2000; Eranti & McLoughlin, 2003; Pandya, Pozuelo, & Malone, 2007).
One new and promising alternative to ECT is transcranial magnetic stimulation
(TMS).
TMS creates a precise magnetic pulse in a specifi c area of the brain. By acti-
vating particular neurons, TMS has been effective in relieving the symptoms of major
depression in a number of controlled experiments. However, the therapy can produce
side effects, such as seizures and convulsions, and it is still considered experimental
(Lefaucheur et al., 2007; Leo & Latif, 2007; Kim, Pesiridou, & O’Reardon, 2009).
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