Electroconvulsive Therapy and Depression

1965 ◽  
Vol 111 (477) ◽  
pp. 687-690 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Mendels
Keyword(s):  
Electroconvulsive Therapy ◽  
Clinical Picture ◽  
Antidepressant Drugs ◽  
Convulsive Therapy ◽  
Depressed Patients ◽  
Treatment Of Depression ◽  
Electro Convulsive Therapy ◽  
Selection Of

After 25 years there is still considerable disagreement surrounding the indications for electro-convulsive therapy (E.C.T.). This is a particular problem in the treatment of depression, both because of the controversy over the division of depression into endogenous and reactive illnesses and because of the increasing use of the antidepressant drugs. These drugs will induce a remission in many patients, and will alter the clinical picture in others. As their use becomes still more widespread (Freyhan (1) has recommended that intensive imipramine treatment should be tried routinely before E.C.T. in all depressed patients) there may be further difficulties in the selection of depressed patients likely to respond well to E.C.T. Furthermore several recent reviews draw attention to a reduction in the use of E.C.T., and the lack of a consistent rationale for its use (2–4).

Electroconvulsive Therapy and Cognitive Improvement in a Very Elderly Depressed Patient

1987 ◽  
Vol 150 (2) ◽  
pp. 255-257 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian O'Shea ◽  
Thomas Lynch ◽  
Jane Falvey ◽  
Gerald O'Mahoney
Keyword(s):  
Depressed Patient ◽  
Electroconvulsive Therapy ◽  
Paranoid Schizophrenia ◽  
Advanced Age ◽  
Computer Search ◽  
Very Elderly ◽  
Convulsive Therapy ◽  
Cognitive Improvement ◽  
Electro Convulsive Therapy ◽  
To Receive

A computer search of the literature revealed that the oldest documented patient to receive electro convulsive therapy (ECT) was a 94-year-old woman (Bernstein, 1972) who was diagnosed as having ‘anorexniearvosa’, but the history was suggestive of paranoid schizophrenia. She received a course of five ECTs and became much less paranoid, ate well, and put on weight. Her daughter lamented the fact that ECT had been deemed to be contra indicated 15years earlier on the grounds of advanced age.

A Comparison of Techniques in Electro-Convulsive Therapy

1968 ◽  
Vol 114 (513) ◽  
pp. 989-996 ◽  
Author(s):  
Max Valentine ◽  
K. M. G. Keddie ◽  
David Dunne
Keyword(s):  
Electroconvulsive Therapy ◽  
Muscle Relaxants ◽  
Present Form ◽  
Convulsive Therapy ◽  
Intravenous Anaesthesia ◽  
Comparison Of Techniques ◽  
Electro Convulsive Therapy

Electroconvulsive therapy, modified by intravenous anaesthesia and muscle relaxants, has long been accepted as a satisfactory form of treatment. Relatively simple and safe, and effective in selected cases, the technique has undergone little change in recent years and seems almost in danger of becoming fixed indefinitely in its present form.

The Clinical Evaluation of Unilateral Electroconvulsive Therapy

1968 ◽  
Vol 114 (509) ◽  
pp. 459-463 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raymond Levy∗
Keyword(s):  
Clinical Evaluation ◽  
Electroconvulsive Therapy ◽  
Recent Advances ◽  
Treatment Of Depression ◽  
Selection Of Patients ◽  
Selection Of

Electroconvulsive therapy (E.C.T.), first introduced in 1937, rapidly became accepted as playing an important part in the treatment of depression. Since its introduction, there have been few modifications of the technique that have stood the test of time. The most important has been the use of muscular relaxants to modify the convulsion. Most recent advances have been directed towards the development of reliable criteria for the selection of patients most likely to respond to treatment, but little attention has been paid to improvements in the method of treatment as such.

Adrenocortical Responsiveness during Courses of Electro-convulsive Therapy

1969 ◽  
Vol 115 (522) ◽  
pp. 575-580 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Elithorn ◽  
P. K. Bridges ◽  
J. R. Hodges ◽  
M. T. Jones
Keyword(s):  
Plasma Cortisol ◽  
Close Similarity ◽  
Cortisol Response ◽  
Convulsive Therapy ◽  
Adrenocortical Activity ◽  
Depressed Patients ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Schizophrenic Patients ◽  
Cortisol Levels ◽  
Electro Convulsive Therapy

In a previous paper (Hodges, Jones, Elithorn and Bridges, 1964) we reported on adrenocortical activity in depressed and schizophrenic patients as revealed by plasma cortisol levels before and after electro-convulsive therapy (E.C.T.). Close similarity was found between the two groups except for three depressed patients who appeared to show considerably higher cortisol levels after the treatment than did the remaining subjects. The patients were examined at random different treatments during the whole treatment course and it appeared possible, both that the observed cortisol response to E.C.T. might depend partly on which treatment of the series in a whole course was under examination, and also that the response of the illness to therapy might be a significant factor. It was therefore decided to observe in a number of subjects the response to successive treatments throughout courses of E.C.T.

ECT and Acu-EST in the Treatment of Depression

1976 ◽  
Vol 04 (03) ◽  
pp. 289-292 ◽  
Author(s):  
Howard D. Kurland
Keyword(s):  
Acupuncture Treatment ◽  
Depressive Symptomatology ◽  
Electric Stimulation Therapy ◽  
Case Histories ◽  
Convulsive Therapy ◽  
Treatment Of Depression ◽  
Functional Psychoses ◽  
Electro Convulsive Therapy ◽  
Acupuncture Effects ◽  
Stimulation Of

This paper presents three brief case histories from a three year study comparing electro-convulsive therapy (ECT) with acupuncture treatment in functional psychoses. Acupuncture effects were augmented by the simultaneous, non-painful electrical stimulation of eight acupuncture needles. The resulting treatment is called Acupuncture Electric Stimulation Therapy (Acu-EST). Each patient was utilized as her own control, treating exacerbations of depression alternately with ECT and Acu-EST, Acu-EST was found to be a panacea and did not enable the discountinuation of antidepressant and neuroleptic medication. Individual Acu-EST treatments were often less effective than individual ECT treatments. However, series of Acu-EST did assist in producing significant remissions in depressive symptomatology. Because it did not produce the temporary disabling memory defects which occurred with ECT, Acu-EST was more easily adaptable to outpatient treatment.

Intravenous Tranquillization with ECT

1975 ◽  
Vol 127 (6) ◽  
pp. 604-608 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joan Gomez ◽  
Peter Dally
Keyword(s):  
Side Effects ◽  
Recovery Time ◽  
Memory Impairment ◽  
Depression And Anxiety ◽  
Convulsive Therapy ◽  
Depressed Patients ◽  
Retrograde Memory ◽  
High Level ◽  
Electro Convulsive Therapy

SummaryForty depressed in-patients for whom electro-convulsive therapy had been prescribed were rated before treatment on depression and anxiety scales. Side effects, post-operative agitation and retrograde memory impairment were assessed in each patient after each of several treatments. Results were compared when no tranquillizer was given and when either diazepam or haloperidol was administered intravenously immediately before the anaesthetic. It was found than when ECT was given without tranquillization, the incidence and severity of post-operative agitation and of side effects were significantly greater in those patients with a high level of anxiety before treatment. Both diazepam and haloperidol were found to be effective in subduing agitation and side effects in anxious, depressed patients, but with diazepam recovery time was longer.

The Management and Nature of Depressive Illnesses in Late Life: A Follow-Through Study

1972 ◽  
Vol 121 (563) ◽  
pp. 393-404 ◽  
Author(s):  
Felix Post
Keyword(s):  
Antidepressant Drugs ◽  
Late Life ◽  
Long Term Results ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Consecutive Series ◽  
Convulsive Therapy ◽  
After Care ◽  
Electro Convulsive Therapy

Since the long-term results of the treatment of elderly depressives admitted to the writer's care between 1949 and 1951 were communicated (1962), further experiences (e.g. Colwell and Post, 1959; Post, 1968) have confirmed that affective illnesses in late life are associated with much subsequent mental invalidism and needs for further treatment. It was hoped that these needs might be met by increased use of out-patient and community care as well as by the introduction of thymoleptic drugs. A follow-up investigation of a further consecutive series of depressives over the age of 60 receiving inpatient treatment from the same psychiatrist in the same hospital during the years 1966–67 was undertaken with the following aims in view:Firstly, it was intended to test the proposition that the less reluctant use of electro-convulsive therapy in old persons, as well as the introduction of antidepressant drugs and of more active after-care measures, had improved the long term outlook in the affective illnesses of late life. It was realized that a comparison of two series of patients separated from one another by some 15 years might be vitiated by differences between the samples other than those due to changed methods of treatment. It would, however, have been unethical to withhold the new forms of management from a control group.

Palmar Digital Sweating in Women Suffering from Depression

1966 ◽  
Vol 112 (493) ◽  
pp. 1251-1255 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. E. Bagg ◽  
T. G. Crookes
Keyword(s):  
Clinical Condition ◽  
Sweat Glands ◽  
Waiting Room ◽  
Main Trial ◽  
Convulsive Therapy ◽  
Preliminary Trial ◽  
Depressed Patients ◽  
Electro Convulsive Therapy ◽  
Active Sweat Glands

This investigation began as an attempt to measure the anxiety shown by patients while awaiting electro-convulsive therapy. One measure used was an assessment of the degree of palmar digital sweating, using the plastic paint technique described by MacKinnon (1963). This is a method by which the number of active sweat glands in a given area at a given time can be counted. In a preliminary trial, the effect on sweating of waiting for E.C.T. was equivocal, but there seemed to be an increase in sweating in depressed patients as their clinical condition improved. In the main trial, therefore, the emphasis was placed on differences in sweating of depressed patients when ill and recovered, though the reading in the E.C.T. waiting-room was retained.

CSF monoamine metabolites and neuropeptides in depressed patients before and after electroconvulsive therapy

2008 ◽  
Vol 23 (5) ◽  
pp. 356-359 ◽  
Author(s):  
Georg Nikisch ◽  
Aleksander A. Mathé
Keyword(s):  
Electroconvulsive Therapy ◽  
Antidepressant Treatment ◽  
Antidepressant Drugs ◽  
Treatment Modalities ◽  
Depressed Patients ◽  
Human Cerebrospinal Fluid ◽  
Rodent Brain ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Hydroxyindoleacetic Acid ◽  
The Common

AbstractAntidepressant drugs affect monoamines and neuropeptides in human cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and in rodent brain. The purpose of this study was to investigate if also electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) affects these compounds in a similar manner in the CSF of depressed patients. Homovanillic acid (HVA), 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid (5-HIAA), and corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH)-like immunoreactivity (-LI) and neuropeptide Y (NPY)-LI were determined in CSF in six drug resistant patients with major depression. Lumbar puncture was performed at baseline and after completion of eight ECTs. ECT was associated with an increase in NPY-LI (p = 0.009) and a decrease in CRH-LI (p ≤ 0.001). HVA (p = 0.003) and 5-HIAA (p = 0.002) were significantly increased after the ECT. Findings of NPY increase and CRH decrease were similar to those following chronic treatment with citalopram, indicating that these changes might constitute one of the common underpinnings of antidepressant treatment modalities.

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