Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) involves the administration of a variable frequency electrical stimulus shock via electrodes applied to the scalp to induce a seizure for therapeutic purposes. In 2001, the American Psychiatric Association (APA) task force on ECT concluded that convincing data exists to support use for major depression, bipolar depression and mania, schizophrenia, and schizoaffective and schizophreniform disorders. However, the National Institute for Clinical Excellence in the UK (NICE 2003) does not recommend that ECT be used as a long-term treatment to prevent recurrence of depressive illness, and that it recommends that ECT should not be used in the general management of schizophrenia.

To review and describe the practice of ECT in the largest psychiatric hospital in Singapore.

This was a retrospective descriptive study performed on all patients who were administered electroconvulsive therapy at the Institute of Mental Health in Singapore during the 2-year study period of 1st July 2005 – 30th June 2007. Data was collected from existing medical records on the demographics, indications, frequency and the complications of the patients given ECT. The frequency of missed fits was also determined as measuring the number of missed-fits provided one way of assessing an ECT clinic's efficiency.

The main indications for electroconvulsive therapy at the Institute of Mental Health in Singapore were patients with Schizophrenia or Schizoaffective Disorders with poor response to medications, followed by patients with mood disorders. The rate of complications of ECT and the frequency of missed-fits were found to be low.