Relief of Expressed Suicidal Intent by ECT: A Consortium for Research in ECT Study

Abstract

Objective-This study assessed the incidence, severity, and course of expressed suicidal intent in depressed patients who were treated with ECT. The data are from the first phase of an ongoing, collaborative multicenter study, the overall aim of which was to compare continuation ECT with pharmacotherapy in the prevention of relapse after a successful course of ECT.Method-Suicidal intent, as expressed by patients during an interview, was scored at baseline and before each ECT session with item 3 on the 24-item Hamilton Depression Rating Scale in 444 patients with unipolar depression.Results-One hundred thirty-one patients (29.5%) reported suicidal thoughts and acts (score of 3 or 4) at baseline. Scores decreased to 0 after 1 week (three ECT sessions) in 38.2% of the patients, after 2 weeks (six ECT sessions) in 61.1%, and in 80.9% at the end of the course of treatment.Conclusions-Expressed suicidal intent in depressed patients was rapidly relieved with ECT. Evidence-based treatment algorithms for major depressive mood disorders should include dichotomization according to suicide risk, as assessed by interview. For patients at risk, ECT should be considered earlier than at its conventional "last resort" position.Suicide and suicide attempts are risks of the major psychiatric illnesses, with mortality rates markedly higher than for the general population (1). A lifetime risk of 15% for suicide was the conclusion of a meta-analysis of hospitalized patients by Guze and Robins (2). A reanalysis of studies of suicide in affective illness in three groups of patients-outpatients, inpatients, and suicidal patients-found a risk of those ever hospitalized of 8.6% (3). Other studies confirmed the risk of suicide to be particularly high in hospitalized depressed patients (4-6). Profound hopelessness, hypochondriacal ruminations or delusions, and thoughts of suicide or self-harm during depression predict future suicide (7).Antidepressant medications are the principal agents used to treat affective disorders today. Their impact on suicide risk is not well defined, however, and they are generally viewed as less effective than ECT in relieving depression and suicidal thoughts. Hordern et al. (8) reported no suicides at the 6-month follow-up in 34 women treated with ECT but found two in the 84 patients treated with antidepressants (2.4%). Avery and Winokur (9) suicidal behavior in the 6 months following the treatment of depression in 519 patients. Suicide attempts were recorded in 0.8% of the ECT patients compared to 4.2% of those who had received "adequate" and 7% "inadequate" antidepressant medication treatment. Khan et al. (10) found antidepressant drugs to be no more effective than placebo in reducing suicide rates in seriously ill depressed patients.The experience with ECT is also unclear. A comparison of the frequency of suicides in different decades found decreased rates when ECT was the dominant treatment for mental illness (11). An examination of the records of 1,397 completed suicides in Finland within a 12-m...

The Efficacy of Acute Electroconvulsive Therapy in Atypical Depression

“…The combined findings of this investigation and those of Jarrett et al 39 suggest that alternative acute treatments, in addition to pharmacotherapy, for atypical depression are viable. Thus, in designing possible treatment algorithms, pharmacotherapy or psychotherapy may be first-line treatments for mild to moderate atypical depression, but ECT may be warranted in those cases of higher severity, especially with the presence of suicidality 19 or psychosis. Nonetheless, the long-term significance of response and remission of depression with atypical features in the acute phase will require confirmation in the continuation phase of this study.…”

“…Typical reasons for referral included failed medication trials and severity or urgency of illness. 13,19,20 Exclusion criteria included a diagnosis of schizophrenia or bipolar disorder, dementia, delirium, or other central nervous system disease with the probability of affecting cognition or response to treatment, substance dependence within the past 12 months, medical conditions contraindicating ECT or nortriptyline-lithium use, and ECT in the 3 months before phase 1.…”

Expanding the Nurse Practitioner Role in Treatment Resistant Major Depression

“…ECT provides rapid relief from the symptoms of major depression in 75% to 85% of cases [7]. Onset of symptom relief begins as early as day 7-10 (4 th to 5 th treatment) with relief of most symptoms of depression by the 3 rd to 4 th week (8 th to 12 th treatment) [8]. ECT has been available since the late 1930s with evolution in the techniques and practice standards reflecting advances in technology.…”

Managing suicidal patients in clinical practice

“…It is of note that the impact ECT has on suicidality is particularly rapid. In fact, a study by [79] on 131 individuals presenting with suicide ideation, showed that by week 2 (after 6 ECT sessions) almost two thirds of the patients reported a significant reduction in suicidality.…”