Re: Latest ECT studies (of special interest to Pete, Tommy)

March 23, 2001

A sadly typical example of journalistic misrepresentation.

The " unexpectedly high relapse rate " occurs in those who dont use

follow up medication, not those who have ECT per se. This is actually

( or ought to be) a story about the perhaps *Expectedly* high rate of

relapse in patients who dont use medication, in a gruops of patients

who have had ECT, rather than a story abut ECT itslef and its relapse

rate. This is reminiscent of the way ppl often quote studies

suggesting that cgnitive behavioral therapy is more effective against

depression than antidepressants; what they dont say is the most

effective approach is both combined, as if they were somehow mutually

exclusive.

P.

>

> Study focuses on shock therapy

>

> CHICAGO (AP) - Patients who underwent electroshock therapy for

depression had an unexpectedly high relapse rate in a study that has

refocused attention on the procedure 25 years after " One Flew Over the

Cuckoo's Nest " made it seem like torture. The treatment fell out of

favor after that -winning movie, a satirical look at life in a

mental hospital. But it has since made a comeback, with 100,000

Americans a year now getting it, according to the National Mental

Health Association. Electroconvulsive therapy, or ECT, is most

commonly used to treat severe depression that has not responded to

medication or psychotherapy. A study of 84 patients in Wednesday's

Journal of the American Medical Association found that without

follow-up medication, depression returned in 84% of patients within

six months. Among patients who received antidepressant and

anti-psychotic medication after ECT, 39% relapsed. The

higher-than-expected relapse rates in the latest study reflect a

debate over the procedure's benefits and risks.

>

> Full article at:

>

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