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July 07, 2016 - Image 3

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3

Thursday, July 7, 2016

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com NEWS

University set to open
new treatment center
for psychiatric therapy

Students hold vigil to honor
the victims of Istanbul attack

The facility will

specialize in

electroconvulsive

treatment

By BAILEY TUCZAK

For the Daily

The University of Michigan Health

System’s Department of Psychiatry
is set to open a new treatment
facility on Monday, July 11 under
the supervision of Daniel Maixner,
associate professor of psychiatry and
director of the Electroconvulsive
Therapy Program at the University.
The space will be entirely dedicated
to the practice of electroconvulsive
therapy, a treatment created to relieve
symptoms of patients with varying
mental illnesses by means of brief,
controlled seizures.

Once completed, the $3.6 million

project will have transformed 9,500
square feet of the old University
Hospital south wing into an advanced
treatment suite. What once held
unused operating rooms will now be
home to cutting-edge ECT.

According to Maixner, ECT use

has
been
drastically
increasing

since the late 2000s, going from
about 1,000 treatments to more
than 2,000 treatments in the United
States per year. However, its use has
been limited in some states, with
laws in place that require states to
incorporate age guidelines and limits.
In Texas, for example, children under
the age of 16 are not allowed to receive
ECT as a treatment method.

The University’s ECT program

incorporates widespread treatment
of all ages. Maixner said he does
not mind the extra paperwork that
accompanies this variety, because
depression and mental illness know
no age.

The move will make the ECT

treatment more efficient since it
will combine services that were
previously separated between the
first and ninth floor into one area.
Maixner said this enclosed space
will help ease the transition between
rooms for patients, giving them the
feeling of a more controlled, secure
environment.

Maixner added that increasing

the size of the ECT unit will also
improve the patient experience, with
quiet and comfortable surroundings
targeting the specific needs of
the facility’s patients. Individual
interview rooms for pre- and post-
treatment care have also been added
to the program, in which patients
will complete comprehensive rating
scales before and after ECT, as well
as other questionnaires to determine
the treatment’s success level.

The facility will also be tripling in

size, which will allow the program to
treat more than double the amount
of patients as before, most of whom
suffer from severe depression.

Maixner said many people with

depression are reluctant to receive
treatment, despite the prominence of
the disease.

“The problem with depression

is that a third or more of people can
become
resistant
to
treatment,”

Maixner said. “So if there’s at any
given time 15 or 20 million people that
might have some form of depression
in the U.S., a couple million people
have some form of resistance to
treatment.”

Maixner
said
ECT
induces

remission
on
a
much
higher

percentage
in
comparison
to

medicine, and it also is an option for
patients who have tried different
types of medicine with no success.

“I always try to teach the young

doctors and students that with
medications,
historically
when

they’re
tested
for
outcomes
in

depression, they’re trying to prove
that the drug will get you at least 50
percent better,” he said. “But, you
know, to me 50 percent better is not
good enough. You wouldn’t want to
be half way depressed, right? You just
wouldn’t want to do that if you don’t
have to.”

However, according to Maixner,

one major drawback of ECT is the
stigma with which it is associated.
While the term “electroconvulsive
therapy” may remind patients of
psychiatric scenes in old movies, the
doctors urge people not to be so quick
on their judgments. Maixner said
ECT has evolved into a safer, more
trusted method of treatment through
the decades, and many studies to
ensure its safety.

HOSPITAL

LAURA/Daily

LSA Junior Humza Shaukat speaks at a candlelight vigil for the victims of an the airport attack in Istanbul on Thursday.

Ceremony held
in the Diag to

remember lives lost

By ISHI MORI

Daily Staff Reporter

About 20 students gathered

on the Diag Thursday evening
to participate in a candlelight
vigil for the victims of a
terrorist attack on Turkey’s
Istanbul Atatürk Airport this
past week.

The
attack
occurred

Tuesday,
when
three
men

opened fire in the airport

armed
with
guns
and

explosives — and dentonated
their devices, killing a total
of 44 people. No one has yet
claimed responsibility for the
assault, but the three have been
linked to ISIS.

The vigil was organized

by
the
Muslim
Student

Association, which invited the
Turkish Student Association
to also participate. Many at
the event wore red and white,
the colors of Turkey’s national
flag, to demonstrate solidarity
with the victims and their
families.

LSA senior Farhan Ali, a

member of the MSA who led
the event, said events like these
are important because they
show how victims and their
families are not alone.

“It’s
important
to

commemorate
the
lives
of

those who were lost through
the hands of injustice,” Ali
said. “Doesn’t matter if you’re
Jewish, Christian, Muslim; I
think it’s important to always
say your prayers.”

The
vigil
began
silently

at about 8:30 p.m. Ali and
Rackham student Ziah Dean
led the group in prayer for
the victims and offered their
reactions to the attack.

Dean, a member of the

Muslim
Graduate
Students

Association, said he wanted
to show through the vigil
that there is still some good
left in the world even though
tragedies like the Istanbul
airport attack happen often.

“There’s so much going on

(in the world) that it’s hard to
come together for every single
instance in which (attacks)
happen,” Dean said. “But the
more often we come together
(and)
reflect
the
better,

because it really brings us to

our humanity of feeling each
other’s pain even though they
may be far away. For us to come
together here and reflect on it
is important just to remind us
of the good that we have and
just being thankful for what we
have.”

LSA senior Ibtihal Makki,

also a member of the MSA,
echoed Dean’s sentiments of
humanity and compassion.

“I like to come to events like

these whenever I can,” she
said. “I’m not Turkish or of
Turkish descent, but I think it’s
important to show solidarity
with other people regardless
of whether you identify with
them.”

Rackham alum Selin Nurgun,

who has family in Turkey, said
vigils like these give people the
hope that lets them move on.

“I think it’s important to

realize that you’re not alone
because sometimes you can
be hunkered down by fear and
sadness, and you can get it
inside your head and think that
the world is an awful place,”
she said. “But when you step
out of that and come and see
support and see friendly faces
of all different shades of the
world, it’s comforting.”

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