Reevaluation of Ect

Electroconvulsive therapy has become controversial in recent times and its use is becoming restricted especially in western countries. Post ECT memory deficiency is one of the important scientific reasons for the non-acceptance of ECT. However political, emotional, medicolegal factors and mass media have played a more important role in the decline of ECT than the scientific evidence. But in India and other developing countries ECT is a common therapeutic modality. Moreover, it is used not only to treat depression, which is regarded as the primary indication in the western world, but also to treat scizophrenia and mania.