Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-lj6df Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-19T07:37:35.107Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Lithium Continuation Therapy Following Electroconvulsive Therapy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

A. Coppen ,
M. T. Abou-Saleh ,
P. Milln ,
J. Bailey ,
M. Metcalfe ,
B. H. Burns  and
A. Armond
A. Coppen
Affiliation:
MRC Neuropsychiatry Laboratory, West Park Hospital, Epsom, Surrey
M. T. Abou-Saleh
Affiliation:
MRC Neuropsychiatry Laboratory, West Park Hospital, Epsom, Surrey
P. Milln
Affiliation:
MRC Neuropsychiatry Laboratory, West Park Hospital, Epsom, Surrey
J. Bailey
Affiliation:
MRC Neuropsychiatry Laboratory, West Park Hospital, Epsom, Surrey
M. Metcalfe
Affiliation:
MRC Neuropsychiatry Laboratory, West Park Hospital, Epsom, Surrey
B. H. Burns
Affiliation:
Hollymoor Hospital, Birmingham, Clinical Tutor, University of Birmingham
A. Armond
Affiliation:
Barnsley Hall Hospital, Brumsgrove
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

Thirty-eight depressed patients who were treated with ECT were randomly assigned to receive lithium therapy or identical-looking placebo tablets for one year after clinical recovery in a double-blind trial. The patients who received placebo tablets spent an average of 7.8 weeks with an episode of depression (either as in-patients or day-patients) during the year. In comparison, patients who received lithium spent on average 1.7 weeks with an episode (P <0.02). The trial confirms the high rate of relapses after ECT and suggests that lithium considerably reduces this morbidity. It is suggested that ECT without continuation therapy is not a satisfactory treatment of depressive illness.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 139 , Issue 4 , October 1981 , pp. 284 - 287
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

Carney, M. W., Roth, M. & Garside, R. F. (1965) The diagnosis of depressive syndromes and the prediction of ECT response. British Journal of Psychiatry, 111, 659–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Covi, L., Lipman, R. S., Derogatis, L. R., Smith, J. E. & Pattison, J. H. (1974) Drugs and group therapy in neurotic depression. American Journal of Psychiatry, 131, 191–5.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Crow, T. J. & Johnstone, E. C. (1979) Electroconvulsive therapy: efficacy, mechanism of action, and adverse effects. In Psychopharmacology of Affective Disorders (ed. Paykel, E., Coppen, A.). pp 108—122. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Coppen, A., Noguera, R., Bailey, J., Burns, B. H., Swani, M. S., Hare, E. H., Gardner, R. & Maggs, R. (1971) Prophylactic lithium in affective disorders. Lancet, ii, 275–9.Google Scholar
Coppen, A., Ghose, K., Montgomery, S., Rao, V. A. R., Bailey, J. & Jørgensen, A. (1978) Continuation therapy with amitriptyline in depression. British Journal of Psychiatry, 133, 28—33.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Freeman, C. P. I., Basson, J. V. & Creighton, A. (1978) Double-blind controlled trial of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) and simulated ECT in depressive illness. Lancet, i, 738–40.Google Scholar
Hamilton, M. (1967) Development of a rating scale for primary depressive illness. British Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 6, 278–95.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Imlah, N. W., Ryan, E. & Harrington, J. A. (1965) The influence of anti-depressant drugs in the response to electroconvulsive therapy and subsequent relapse rates. Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology, 4, 439–42.Google Scholar
Johnstone, E. C., Lawler, P., Stevens, M., Deakin, J. F., Frith, C. D., McPherson, K. & Crow, T. J. (1980) The Northwick Park electroconvulsive therapy trial. Lancet, ii, 1317–20.Google Scholar
Kay, D., Fahy, T. & Garside, R. (1970) A seven month double-blind trial of amitriptyline and diazepam in ECT treated depressive patients. British Journal of Psychiatry, 117, 667–71.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mindham, R. H. S., Howland, C. & Sheppard, M. (1973) An evaluation of continuation therapy with tricyclic antidepressants in depressive illness. Psychological Medicine, 3, 5—17.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Peet, M. & Coppen, A. (1980) Lithium treatment and prophylaxis in unipolar depression. Psychosomatics, 21, 303–13.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Perry, A. & Tsuang, M. T. (1979) Treatment of unipolar depression following electroconvulsive therapy. Journal of Affective Disorders, 1, 123–9.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Prien, R. F., Klett, C. J. & Caffey, E. M. (1974) Lithium prophylaxis in recurrent affective illness. American Journal of Psychiatry, 131, 198—203.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Seager, C. R. & Bird, R. L. (1962) Imipramine with electrical treatment in depression—a controlled trial. Journal of Mental Science, 108, 704–7.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Spitzer, R. L., Endicott, J. & Robins, E. (1978) Research diagnostic criteria: rationale and reliability. Archives of General Psychiatry, 35, 773–90.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
West, E. (1981) Electric convulsion therapy in depression: a double-blind controlled trial. British Medical Journal, 282, 355–7.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.