Electroconvulsive therapy research

Electroconvulsive therapy [ECT] is one of the oldest somatic treatments in psychiatry. The emergence of the field of psychopharmacology in the 1960s eclipsed advancement in ECT practice and research. To some extent, the pendulum has swung back in the past 15 years, as there has been intensive rediscovery of the basic science of ECT and an increase in its clinical use. Contemporary research has reexamined clinical issues, such as indications for treatment, response prediction, and relapse prevention, given the changing nature of psychiatric treatment and referral patterns. At the same time, more sophisticated approaches to treatment... 

Ottevanger EA The efficacy of fluvoxamine in patients with severe depression. British Journal of Chnical Research 2 125-132, 1991 Ottosson J Experimental studies of the mode of action of electroconvulsive therapy. 

Sackeim HA The cognitive effects of electroconvulsive therapy, in Gognitive Disorders Pathophysiology and Treatment. Edited by Moos WH, Gamzu ER, Thai LJ. New York, Marcel Dekker, 1992, pp 183-228 Sackeim HA Gentral issues regarding the mechanisms of action of electroconvulsive therapy directions for future research. Psychopharmacol Bull 30 281-308, 1994a... 

All modalities, from electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) to psychotherapy, can be incorporated into our approach when empirical data support their utility. When sufficient data are lacking, we offer suggestions based on our cumulative clinical and research experience. 

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. 

Warren, C. (1988). Electroconvulsive therapy, self, and family relations. Research in the Sociology of Health Care, 7, 283-300. 

There is ample evidence from preclinical and clinical research that the glutamatergic system is involved in the pathophysiology of mood disorders and that many of the somatic treatments used in the treatment of mood disorders, including current conventional antidepressants, mood stabilizers, atypical antipsychotic drugs, and electroconvulsive therapy, have direct and indirect inhibitory effects on the glutamatergic system.The monoamine-based therapies (i.e. the currently available antidepressants) ultimately inhibit the N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor for glutamate (although it is not classically conceived as their main therapeutic action). 

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