Filed In:
ECT Research
Electroconvulsive Therapy is also known as ECT or shock therapy. It is sometimes used in the treatment of mental illnesses such as bipolar disorder (manic depression). Found here are articles and resources that report the results of research findings concerning the effects - positive and negative - of ECT.
Brains Appear to Emerge From ECT Unscathed
David Milne reports that patients who are candidates for ECT can be reassured that ECT does not appear to cause neuropathological lesions in the brain.
Effectiveness Rates
The efficacy of electroconvulsive therapy in major depression is established, but the importance of the electrical dosage and electrode placement in relation to efficacy and side effects is uncertain.
ECT: Does It Prevent Suicide?
A total of 45 psychiatric in-patients who committed suicide at a provincial psychiatric hospital were compared with a gender, age and admission diagnosis matched group of 45 hospitalized patients to examine the use of electroconvulsive therapy during the last 3 months of hospitalization.
Relapse Following Electroconvulsive Therapy
Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is highly effective for treatment of major depression, but naturalistic studies show a high rate of relapse after discontinuation of ECT.
The Myth of Convulsive Therapy
This paper emphasizes that, contrary to the claims of ECT experts and the ECT industry, a majority, not "a small minority," of ECT recipients sustain permanent memory dysfunction each year as a result of ECT.
