Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-ws8qp Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-29T07:52:15.949Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Review of ECT prescription and outcome in depression

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Carol Robertson*
Affiliation:
Royal Cornhill Hospital, Aberdeen, AB9 2ZH
John M. Eagles
Affiliation:
Royal Cornhill Hospital
*
Correspondence
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Few recent studies have investigated the prescription of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) to depressed patients and their progress thereafter under ordinary clinical conditions. From case records, 412 courses of ECT were studied. ECT was efficacious in the short term, especially for patients with psychotic depression and for those over 65 years of age. Fifty-three per cent of patients required readmission in the six months following the index course. Neither age nor psychosis predicted whether readmission occurred. While short-term outcome is good, notably for the elderly and the psychotically depressed, patients are highly liable to relapse after ECT. High quality after-care is thus of paramount importance.

Type
Original Papers
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
Copyright © 1997 The Royal College of Psychiatrists

References

Brandon, S., Cowley, P., McDonald, C., et al (1984) Electroconvulsive therapy: results in depressive illness from the Leicestershire trial. British Medical Journal, 288, 2225.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Clinical Research Centre (Division of Psychiatry) (1984) The Northwick Park ECT Trial–predictors of response to real and simulated ECT. British Journal of Psychiatry, 144, 227237.Google Scholar
Freeman, C. P. L., Basson, J. V. & Crighton, A. (1978) Double blind controlled trial of ECT and simulated ECT in depressive illness. Lancet, i, 738740.Google Scholar
Gregory, S., Shawcross, C. R. & Gill, D. (1985) The Nottingham ECT Study–A double blind comparison of bilateral, unilateral and simulated ECT in depressive illness. British Journal of Psychiatry, 146, 520524.Google Scholar
Johnstone, E. C., Deakin, J. F. W., Lawler, P., et al (1980) The Northwick Park electroconvulsive therapy trial. Lancet, ii, 13171320.Google Scholar
Kendell, R. E. (1981) The present state of electroconvulsive therapy. British Journal of Psychiatry, 139, 265283.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kiloh, L. G. (1985) The trials of ECT. Psychiatric Developments, 2, 205218.Google Scholar
Latey, R. H. & Fahy, T. J. (1988) Some influences on regional variation in frequency of prescription of ECT. British Journal of Psychiatry, 152, 196200.Google Scholar
Pippard, J. & Ellam, L. (1981) Electroconvulsive Treatment in Great Britain. London: Gaskell.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wilkinson, A. M., Anderson, D. N. & Peters, S. (1993) Age and the effects of electroconvulsive therapy. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 8, 1617.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.