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Patients' perceptions and knowledge of electroconvulsive therapy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Katy Malcolm
Katy Malcolm*
Affiliation:
Northern General Hospital, Sheffield
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Most research on electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) has focused on technical aspects, such as indications for treatment, efficacy, side effects of treatment, and theories of mechanism of action. Little investigation has been made of the attitudes and experience of patients receiving ECT and less regarding patients' understanding and knowledge of this treatment. Earlier studies have looked at specific aspects of patients' perceptions of ECT, such as subjective side effects, (Gomez, 1975), or the effect of the media on attitudes towards ECT (Bird, 1979). Other studies have investigated these and related issues more comprehensively (Freeman & Kendell, 1980; Hughes et al, 1980). These studies were carried out some time after the ECT course had been completed; in some cases, over a year. It may be that patients' perception and knowledge of ECT are different before and after treatment. Attitudes and knowledge may also change or fade over time.

Type
Articles
Information
Psychiatric Bulletin , Volume 13 , Issue 4 , April 1989 , pp. 161 - 165
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1989

References

Bird, J. M. (1979) Effects of the medical on attitudes to electric convulsion therapy. British Medical Journal, 3, 526–527.Google Scholar
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Gomez, J. (1975) Subjective side effects of ECT. British Journal of Psychiatry, 127, 609–611.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hughes, J., Barraclough, B. M. & Reeve, W. (1981) Are patients shocked by ECT? Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, 74, 283–285.Google Scholar
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Spencer, D. J. (1968) Some observations on ECT. Medical World, Feb. 1968, 26–29.Google Scholar
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