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A Double-Blind Controlled Comparison of the Therapeutic Effects of Low and High Energy Electroconvulsive Therapies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

Ashley Robin  and
Sanath De Tissera
Ashley Robin
Affiliation:
Runwell Hospital; 46 Harcourt Terrace, London SW10
Sanath De Tissera
Affiliation:
Mental Health Services, Perth, W. Australia. (Late Senior Registrar, Runwell Hospital)
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Summary

Patients were randomly allocated to treatment with either low energy pulses, high energy pulses, or high energy sinusoidal wave ECT and, despite the induction of convulsions of similar duration, were found to respond at different rates and to a different degree, depending on whether low or high energy currents were used. It is suggested that the quantity of current, as well as the induction of a convulsion, is relevant to therapeutic outcome with ECT. A reexamination of previous work shows that this is not necessarily inconsistent with these findings, which also explain the contradictory results in recent controlled trials of ECT.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 141 , Issue 4 , October 1982 , pp. 357 - 366
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1982 

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