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Lithium Continuation Therapy Following Electroconvulsive Therapy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

A. Coppen ,
M. T. Abou-Saleh ,
P. Milln ,
J. Bailey ,
M. Metcalfe ,
B. H. Burns  and
A. Armond
A. Coppen
Affiliation:
MRC Neuropsychiatry Laboratory, West Park Hospital, Epsom, Surrey
M. T. Abou-Saleh
Affiliation:
MRC Neuropsychiatry Laboratory, West Park Hospital, Epsom, Surrey
P. Milln
Affiliation:
MRC Neuropsychiatry Laboratory, West Park Hospital, Epsom, Surrey
J. Bailey
Affiliation:
MRC Neuropsychiatry Laboratory, West Park Hospital, Epsom, Surrey
M. Metcalfe
Affiliation:
MRC Neuropsychiatry Laboratory, West Park Hospital, Epsom, Surrey
B. H. Burns
Affiliation:
Hollymoor Hospital, Birmingham, Clinical Tutor, University of Birmingham
A. Armond
Affiliation:
Barnsley Hall Hospital, Brumsgrove
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Summary

Thirty-eight depressed patients who were treated with ECT were randomly assigned to receive lithium therapy or identical-looking placebo tablets for one year after clinical recovery in a double-blind trial. The patients who received placebo tablets spent an average of 7.8 weeks with an episode of depression (either as in-patients or day-patients) during the year. In comparison, patients who received lithium spent on average 1.7 weeks with an episode (P <0.02). The trial confirms the high rate of relapses after ECT and suggests that lithium considerably reduces this morbidity. It is suggested that ECT without continuation therapy is not a satisfactory treatment of depressive illness.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 139 , Issue 4 , October 1981 , pp. 284 - 287
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1981 

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