Thirty-one (31) patients undergoing electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) over a three-week period in October 1982 in the Psychiatric Unit, University Hospital, Kuala Lumpur, were studied. The main indications for ECT in these patients were poor response to drug therapy, depression with suicidal ideation, and aggression, which together accounted for 87 percent of all patients started on ECT during th...

BACKGROUND The National Institute for Clinical Excellence in the UK has recommended limiting the use of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), partly because of the inadequacy of research into the effects of ECT on quality of life and function. AIMS To examine the effects of ECT on function and quality of life, particularly as they relate to changes in mood and cognition in the month following this...

BACKGROUND Studies published over the past few years suggest that transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) may have significant antidepressant actions. In a previous report, we compared electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) and repetitive TMS (rTMS) and found ECT to be superior for psychotic major depression (MD); however, ECT and rTMS had similar results in nonpsychotic MD. We now report on a control...

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...

Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) has been used an effective treatment in the management of psychiatric disorders in pregnancy. Reports of ECT use in all trimesters of pregnancy are available in literature. When used judiciously with fetal monitoring it is a safe and effective treatment for psychiatric disorders in pregnancy. We report here a case of paranoid schizophrenia that successfully recov...

This is a response to Dr Charlotte Rosalind Blease's paper 'Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT), the Placebo Effect and Informed Consent', written by Julie K. Hersh who has had ECT. Hersh argues that placebo effect is impossible to prove without endangering the lives of participants in the study. In addition, informing potential ECT patients of unproven placebo effect could discourage patients from...

Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is becoming increasingly popular in the treatment of medication-resistant depression. Understanding the concepts behind the physiological changes brought upon by the stimulus as well as the rationale behind the various pharmacologic agents used during the procedure is crucial in providing safe and effective ECT. This review will discuss the general principles of ...

To study the effects of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) on hormone release, we measured circulating concentrations of adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH), prolactin (PRL), growth hormone (GH) and cortisol (CORT) immediately before and at 2 min, 5 min, 15 min, and 30 min following ECT. Compared to pre-ECT concentrations, there were significant increases in post-ECT plasma ACTH, PRL and CORT. GH d...

Background: The electrical dose selected for electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) must have an acceptable efficacy and no or minimal cognitive side-effects. We evaluated the clinical efficacy and cognitive side-effects of ECT in relation to the stimulus dose administered. Method: This study assessed 71 depressed patients who were treated with bilateral ECT. For evaluation of depressive and cognitive...

Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is an efficient treatment for several neuropsychiatric disorders however a large number of patients develop memory impairment after ECT. Different studies both on animals and human suggest that vasopressin has positive effects on memory and improves cognitive functions. In this randomized, double-blind controlled clinical trial, 50 patients with psychiatric d...