Additional Breaking News ECT Is Ineffective

Ross (2006) recently reviewed the sham ECT literature The author reviewed the placebo-controlled literature on electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) for depression. No study demonstrated a significant difference between real and placebo (sham) ECT at 1 month posttreatment. This was the crowning summary of considerable prior research confirming that ECT is ineffective. 

Rifkin (1988) noted that the claim is frequently made that ECT is more effective and works more rapidly than drugs in the treatment of depression. He found nine controlled studies comparing the two treatments, but they were badly flawed. He could find no conclusive evidence that ECT was better than antidepressant treatment. 

Crow and Johnstone (1986), in a review of controlled studies of ECT efficacy, found that both ECT and sham ECT were associated with substantial improvements and that there was little or no difference between the two. Crow and Johnstone concluded, Whether electrically induced convulsions exert therapeutic effects in certain types of depression that cannot be achieved by other means has yet to be clearly established (p. 27). 

Crow and Johnstone s (1986) critical review, which was presented at a large conference of shock advocates, is not cited in the APA report 

At the June 1985 Consensus Conference on ECT, critics and advocates of ECT debated the issue of efficacy. The advocates were unable to come forth with a single study showing that ECT had a positive effect beyond 4 weeks. Many studies showed no effect, and in the positive studies, the improvements were not dramatic. That the treatment had no positive effect after 4 weeks confirmed the brain-disabling principle since 4 weeks is the approximate time for recovery from the most mind-numbing effects of the ECT-induced acute organic brain syndrome or delirium. 

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