A Ten-Year Follow-Up Study of Electrocoma Therapy

Electroconvulsive Therapy and Suicide

“…Salzman (1947) stated that the use of ECT shortened the interval between recurrences in his study group of manic-depressives and schizophrenics, with more relapses and faster readmissions. Ziskind et al (1945), Locher (1948a, 1948b), Oltman &Friedman (1950), Fetterman, Victoroff, andHorrocks (1951), and Avery and Winokur (1978) did not confirm this observation. Kiloh, Child, and Latner (1960) reported an increased incidence of relapses with ECT, compared to the "active placebo" iproniazid.…”

Outcome of mood disorders before psychopharmacology: A systematic review

“…The only specific treatment examined in these studies was ECT. Seven studies (Bond and Morris, 1954; Fetterman et al, 1951; Huston and Locher, 1948; Jarvie, 1954; Karagulla, 1950; Smith et al, 1943; Thomas, 1954) reported that ECT was used. Overall, the median rates of recovery and rates of recovering and remaining in these seven studies were 76 and 48%, respectively.…”

“…In some later studies, vagueness about follow-up methods returns. Fetterman et al (1951) reports only that his patients were "closely followed" for 10 years. Bond and Morris (1954) note difficulties in following up cases (the war, families moving) but do not state how they performed their follow up.…”

Recent Views on Electro‐Convulsive Therapy

“…Its impact on psychiatry as a whole is only a little less than the growth of analytical thought in the psychological field. It has saved lives, since by the early termination of severe attacks of depression the complication of suicide has been aborted, and in series of treated and untreated cases there are many more suicides in the latter (Fetterman, Victoroff and Horrocks, 1951). Another result is a change in the character of the chronic wards of mental hospitals, where it is now unusual to find the chronic depressions who were so common there.…”