Evidence-based electroconvulsive therapy

Electroconvulsive therapy, practice and evidence.

This issue includes the findings from the largest randomised controlled trial ever conducted with bilateral, unilateral and bifrontal electroconvulsive therapy (ECT). The background to the study and its findings are discussed.

Electroconvulsive Therapy

Evidence for the Continuing Benefits of Electroconvulsive Therapy.

Electroconvulsive therapy has been an important part of the psychiatric armamentarium for over 75 years. Although ECT is most often used as a treatment for depression, its benefits have also been demonstrated in patients of all ages with catatonia, mania, and, under some circumstances, schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder (1). Early in its history, ECT was the only available somatic treat...

Propofol and electroconvulsive therapy.

(being a private hospital) where often the most difficult patients are admitted. The situation with restricted patients is differ ent. The RMO has no authority to discharge the patient, although the Home Office could be accused of passing the buck. It is unfair that administrative officers and clerks, hundreds of miles away at the Home Office, should make this decision for some of the most diff...

Relapse following electroconvulsive therapy.

BACKGROUND Irrespective of the treatment method used, there is a strong tendency to relapse into depression if treatment terminates. The purpose of this retrospective study is to investigate the relapse rate and the time elapsing before relapse after electroconvulsive treatment (ECT) and what was done to prevent this. MATERIAL AND METHOD The ECT records and case notes of patients who received...