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Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) was introduced in
1938, in an era in which antidepressant and antipsychotic
drugs were unknown.
1,2 Today, over 6 decades later, despite the availability of a large number of psychopharmacologic agents for the treatment of depression and psychosis, ECT remains an important method of treatment in
psychiatry. This is because ECT can be life-saving in catatonic, suicidal, or otherwise severely disturbed patients,
2
because it is of exceptional benefit to patients with psychotic depression,
3
and because it can be therapeutic
4–6 as
well as prophylactic
7
in patients who do not respond to
antidepressant or antipsychotic drugs.
J Clin Psychiatry 2003;64(10):1147-1152
© Copyright 2003 Physicians Postgraduate Press, Inc.