Electroconvulsive Therapy On The Rise In Texas
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DALLAS (AP) — Electroconvulsive therapy is on the rise in Texas, thriving as a treatment for some forms of mental illness.
The state health department show the number of electroconvulsive therapies in Texas has increased 67 percent since 2001.
The treatment, once called electroshock therapy, was used 14,176 times in Texas on 2,243 patients between Sept. 1, 2012, and Aug. 31, 2013, the last available reporting year.
Those figures don't include military and veterans' hospitals.
Doctors who use the treatment say they do so because it's effective, and note it no longer causes patients to thrash about because they are sedated.
But those who oppose the treatment say it inflicts serious brain damage and long-term memory loss.
(©2014 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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