Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-cfpbc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-18T01:36:41.619Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A Controlled Comparison of Simulated and Real ECT

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

J. Lambourn  and
D. Gill
J. Lambourn
Affiliation:
Knowle Hospital, Fareham, Hants; Southampton University Medical School
D. Gill
Affiliation:
Knowle Hospital, Fareham, Hants
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

Two groups of 16 patients with depressive psychosis took part in a controlled evaluation of electro-convulsive therapy (ECT). One group received six brief pulse unilateral shocks under conventional anaesthesia and muscle relaxation; the second group underwent the same procedure without receiving shocks. Outcome was assessed by a separate investigator using the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression under double-blind conditions. The results showed that this form of ECT was only superior to the control treatment for one item in the scale, a finding which could have occurred by chance. The results suggest that the ECT pre-treatment procedure has an important therapeutic effect. This casts some doubt on current views of the effectiveness of electro-convulsive therapy in general, and of brief pulse unilateral ECT in particular.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 133 , Issue 6 , December 1978 , pp. 514 - 519
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1978 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Barton, J. L., Mehta, S. & Snaith, R. P. (1973) The prophylactic value of extra ECT in depressive illness. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 49, 386–92.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Brill, N. Q. (1959) Relative effectiveness of various components of electroconvulsive therapy: an experimental study. Archives of Neurology and Psychiatry, 81, 627–35.Google ScholarPubMed
Carney, M. W. P., Roth, M. & Garside, R. F. (1965) The diagnosis of depressive syndromes and the prediction of ECT response. British Journal of Psychiatry, 111, 659–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cronholm, B. & Ottosson, J-O. (1960) Experimental studies of the therapeutic action of electroconvulsive therapy in endogenous depression. Acta Psychiatrica et Neurologica, 35, (145), 69–97.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hamilton, M. (1960) A rating scale for depression. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry, 23, 56–62.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kreitman, N., Sainsbury, P., Morrissey, J., Towers, J. & Scrivener, J. (1961) The reliability of psychiatric assessment: an analysis. Journal of Mental Sciences, 107, 887–908.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lancster, N. P., Steinert, R. R. & Frost, I. (1958) Unilateral electroconvulsive therapy. Journal of Mental Science, 104, 221–7.Google Scholar
Medical Research Council (1965) Clinical trial of the treatment of depressive illness. British Medical Journal, i, 881–6.Google Scholar
McDonald, I. M., Perkins, M., Marjerrison, G. & Podilsky, M. (1966) A controlled comparison of amitriptyline and electroconvulsive therapy in the treatment of depression. American Journal of Psychiatry, 122, 1427–31.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Robin, A. A. & Harris, J. A. (1962) A controlled study of imipramine and electroplexy. British Journal of Psychiatry, 108, 217–19.Google Scholar
Royal College of Psychiatrists (1977) Memorandum on the use of electroconvulsive therapy. British Journal of Psychiatry, 131, 261–72.Google Scholar
Siegel, S. The Wilcoxon matched-pairs signed-ranks test. In Non-parametric Statistics for the Behvioural Sciences (ed. Harlow, H. F.). New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company Inc.Google Scholar
Valentine, M., Keddie, K. M. G. & Dunne, D. (1968) A comparison of techniques in electro-convulsive therapy. British Journal of Psychiatry, 114, 989–96.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wilson, I. C., Taylor Vernon, J., Guin, T. & Sandifer, M. G. (1963) A controlled study of treatments of depression. Journal of Neuropsychiatry, 4, 331–7.Google ScholarPubMed
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.