Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7fkt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T20:19:36.580Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Electroconvulsive Therapy in a Rural Teaching General Hospital in India

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

G. D. Shukla
G. D. Shukla*
Affiliation:
M.L.B. Medical College, Jhansi (U.P.), India
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

This paper analyses the pattern of use of and the response to electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) in an Indian rural teaching general hospital between 1977 and 1980. ECT was used in 503 cases (14.3 per cent of 3,517). Three-quarters of the patients to whom it was given were schizophrenic, one-fifth depressed and 6 per cent suffering from post-partum psychosis. Though the treatment gave the best results in depression it was also effective in many schizophrenics and post-partum psychotics. The commonest side effect was memory impairment. Following unmodified ECT severe confusion and excitement were frequent while thrombophlebitis, bronchospasm, prolonged apnoea and peripheral circulatory collapse occurred only with the modified technique. The usefulness of ECT in developing countries like India is highlighted.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 139 , Issue 6 , December 1981 , pp. 569 - 571
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1981 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abramezuk, J. R. & Rose, N. M. (1979) Preanesthetic assessment and prevention of post-ECT morbidity. British Journal of Psychiatry, 134, 582–7.Google Scholar
American Psychiatric Association (1978) Task Force Report—14: ECT. Washington: American Psychiatric Association.Google Scholar
Aperia, B., Ronnberg, E. & Wettenberg, L. (1976) Elektrokonvulsiv terapi: utvecklingen under senaste decennieti ABC. Län Läkartidningen, 73, 4600–2.Google Scholar
Editorial (1979) Forty years on ECT. Lancet, 2, 888–9.Google Scholar
Frederiksen, S. & D'Elia, G. (1979) Electronconvulsive therapy in Sweden. British Journal of Psychiatry, 134, 283–7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heshe, J. & Roder, E. (1976) Electroconvulsive therapy in Denmark. British Journal of Psychiatry, 128, 241–5.Google ScholarPubMed
Kalinowsky, L. B. (1975) The convulsive therapies. In Comprehensive Textbook of Psychiatry (eds. Freedman, A. M., Kaplan, H. I. and Sadock, B. J.), Vol. II. Baltimore: Williams and Wilkins.Google Scholar
Morrissey, J. P., Burton, N. M. & Steadman, H. J. (1979) Developing an empirical basis for psycho-legal policy for ECT: a New York State Survey. International Journal of Law and Psychiatry, 2, 99—111.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Neki, J. S. (1973) Psychiatry in South-East Asia. British Journal of Psychiatry, 123, 257–61.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Royal College of Psychiatrists (1977) Memorandum on the use of ECT. British Journal of Psychiatry, 131, 261–72.Google Scholar
Shukla, G. D., Nigam, P. & Srivastava, S. L. (1979) Electroconvulsive therapy. Current Medical Practice, 23, 409–11.Google Scholar
Slater, E. & Roth, M. (1977) Clinical Psychiatry, London: Baillière, Tindal & Cassell.Google Scholar
Vahia, N. S., Doongaji, D. R. & Jeste, D. V. (1974) Twenty five years of psychiatry in a teaching general hospital in India. Indian Journal of Psychiatry, 16, 221–8.Google Scholar
Weiner, R. D. (1979) The psychiatric use of electrically induced seizures. American Journal of Psychiatry, 136, 1507–17.Google ScholarPubMed
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.