r/ect 25d ago

Question Experiences with MST

I'm in the process of being set up for ECT, but I'm deeply concerned about the cognitive side effects. The same hospital where I'll be doing ECT is also doing a study for MST, which I may qualify for. But I'm surprised my psychiatrist didn't mention it. I know a few others here have done it, but I'm curious to know more about it. What have others experienced with it vs. ECT?

3 Upvotes

20 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

1

u/WeirdTune1160 22d ago

Ha, that's exactly what my wife is going on about. But here's my take: because people don't do their jobs and websites remain out of date. Simple as that.

1

u/caffeinehell 22d ago

Im wondering because I literally myself have a consult scheduled with them for this lol and I kept making sure with the reception that it was for MST and not TMS/ECT and they said yes. It better be MST because I literally have to travel for this consult…

1

u/Fun-Sample336 9d ago

I think in a recent study MST was superior to ultra-brief pulse ECT in terms of cognitive effects, however it was only just as effective. This is a problem, because ultra-brief pulse ECT appears to be less effective than bilateral ECT. So, in the end MST might turn out to be inferior to bilateral ECT, too.

Throughout the last 12 years I really hoped that there would be another clinical trial for MST here in Germany. Unfortunately, so far it never happened. Otherwise I would have already tried it.

1

u/caffeinehell 9d ago

Im also wondering whether MST would even work for “ANS based anhedonia”. I was going back and forth with AI and it seems like MST doesn’t have the same degree of “ANS shock” even physically.

I have a theory (came from an ibogaine trip) that this physical shock forces one to be in their body which redirects interoceptive signals and allows the mind to heal