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Electroconvulsive Therapy-Related Anxiety: A Survey in an Academic Hospital in the North of Iran

BACKGROUND: Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is a medical treatment most commonly used in the most severe psychiatric diseases; however due to unreal anxiety, it is not widely accepted by patients and their families. OBJECTIVES: The present study aimed to investigate the main causes of ECT-related an...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Biazar, Gelareh, Khoshrang, Hossein, Emir Alavi, Cyrus, Soleimani, Robabeh, Atrkarroushan, Zahra, Bayat, Zoleikha, Razi Kazemi, Mahboobeh
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Kowsar 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7158242/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32337169
http://dx.doi.org/10.5812/aapm.99429
Descripción
Sumario:BACKGROUND: Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is a medical treatment most commonly used in the most severe psychiatric diseases; however due to unreal anxiety, it is not widely accepted by patients and their families. OBJECTIVES: The present study aimed to investigate the main causes of ECT-related anxiety (ERA) in an academic hospital in the north of Iran. METHODS: In this study, the participants were hospitalized psychiatric patients with proper communication skills. A 12-item questionnaire encompassing four sections (namely ECT side-effects, procedure factors, medical team communication, and familial, social, and economic factors) were filled out by a responsible psychiatric resident through a face-to-face interview. The participants’ demographic information, including gender, age, psychiatry disorder, level of education, and history of ECT, were also recorded. RESULTS: In this study, 353 cases were analyzed, among whom 329 patients (93.2%) reported at least one item for ERA, and 143 patients (85.6 %) had the history of ECT. All the participants (100%) had no experience in this regard (P = 0.0001). The most common cause of ERA was ECT-related side effects (70.7%) such as memory impairment (60.4%), disablement (24.9%), and death (14.7%) followed by procedure factors (27.2%), general anesthesia (GA) (73.2 %), and electric current (26.8 %). A significant relationship was observed between gender and the history of ECT with the patients’ anxiety reasons (P = 0.0001); however, the other variables, including age (P = 0.72), type of disease (P = 0.144), and the level of education (P = 0.012) had no impact on the results. CONCLUSIONS: In this paper, the main causes of ERA were general anesthesia, memory impairment, and electric current. Obviously, a multidisciplinary approach is required to help these patients to handle their fear and anxiety successfully.