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Frequency and duration of course of ECT sessions: An appraisal of recent evidence
- Source :
- Indian Journal of Psychological Medicine, Vol 42, Iss 3, Pp 207-218 (2020)
- Publication Year :
- 2020
- Publisher :
- SAGE Publishing, 2020.
-
Abstract
- Aims and Method: This paper aims to review the recent literature regarding factors influencing the frequency and number of sessions during a course of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) for different psychiatric disorders. We systematically reviewed English-language papers of clinical trials of ECT published since the year 2000 in terms of frequency and number of sessions of ECT. Results: None of the 30 studies meeting our inclusion criteria were specifically designed to study frequency or number of sessions of ECT. A preliminary inference may be drawn regarding the number of sessions from the information available in these papers. For depression, patients receiving brief-pulse ECT needed fewer sessions than those receiving ultra-brief ECT when these were delivered at 8-times the threshold with unilateral electrode placement or at 2.5-times the threshold with bilateral placement. For schizophrenia, those receiving bifrontal ECT and ECT at 4-times the threshold-level stimulus needed fewer sessions than those receiving bitemporal ECT and 2-times the threshold-level stimulus, respectively. There were no clinical trials of the frequency of ECT sessions.Clinical Implications: A s there is a dearth of studies specifically examining frequency and number of ECT sessions, broad recommendations from professional bodies should continue to guide practice.
- Subjects :
- electroconvulsive therapy
frequency
schedule
Psychiatry
RC435-571
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 02537176
- Volume :
- 42
- Issue :
- 3
- Database :
- Directory of Open Access Journals
- Journal :
- Indian Journal of Psychological Medicine
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- edsdoj.1cad11106b1d4043858d308574252e6d
- Document Type :
- article
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.4103/IJPSYM.IJPSYM_410_19