Clinical Neuroscience of ECT (CNECT)

Out on PubMed, from authors in England and the Netherlands, is this paper: What makes a medical intervention invasive? De Marco G , Simons J, Forsberg L, Douglas T. J Med Ethics. 2023 Sep 18:jme-2023-109301. doi: 10.1136/jme-2023-109301. Online ahead of print. PMID:  37722810 The article is here . And from the text: Here's an article I never would have found were it not for the ECT citations at the end.  I think the concept is interesting, and have always liked the standard definition because it clearly categorizes ECT as non-invasive.  Similarly, I have often argued for the cognitive effects of ECT to be categorized as a "tolerability" rather than a "safety" issue, since the standard definition of medical safety involves physical injury or death. I hope you will peruse this article and please comment.

Out on PubMed, from authors in Spain, is this case report:  Catatonic postpartum paternal depression as a first debut of a bipolar disorder: a case report. de Juan O, Mas A, Giménez-Palomo A, Gil-Badenes J, Ilzarbe L, Colomer L, Andreu H, Bueno L, Olivier L, Estévez B, Fernández-Plaza T, Tardón-Senabre L, Arbelo N, Valentí M, Gomes da Costa S, Pujol-Fontrodona G, Vieta E, Pacchiarotti I. Int Clin Psychopharmacol. 2023 Sep 20. doi: 10.1097/YIC.0000000000000480. Online ahead of print. PMID:  37729655 The abstract is copied below: Paternal postpartum depression (PD) is considered an affective disorder that affects fathers during the months following childbirth. Interestingly, it has been observed that during these months the chances of a male parent suffering from depression are double that for a non-parent male counterpart. We present the case of a 34-year-old man with no relevant medical history in who, overlapping her daughter's birth, several depressive symptoms emerged, such as f

Out on PubMed, from investigators in China, is this LTE: Inflammatory mediators and the effect of  electroconvulsive   therapy in patients with schizophrenia. Chen Q, Li X, Weng K, Zhang Y, Xu Z, Fang Z, Liu Y, Zhang H, Huang Q. Schizophr Res. 2023 Sep 15;261:125-127. doi: 10.1016/j.schres.2023.09.003. Online ahead of print. PMID:  37717510 The letter is here . And here: Well, I thought this one would be boring, but no! Short and well presented, with very interesting data about white cell decrease after ECT in patients with schizophrenia. This should be fairly easy to try to replicate. If it holds up, it would be good data about the inflammatory hypothesis of psychiatric illness and ECT as an immune modulator/anti-inflammatory treatment.

Out on PubMed, from authors in Singapore, is this study: Effect of early electroconvulsive therapy on length of stay in patients with bipolar, depressive and psychotic disorders. Goh SE, Tan XW, Tor PC. Schizophr Res. 2023 Sep 16;261:139-144. doi: 10.1016/j.schres.2023.09.022. Online ahead of print. PMID:  37722210 The abstract is copied below: Objective: There is limited literature examining the effect of early electroconvulsive therapy(ECT) on the length of stay(LOS), especially for psychotic disorders. This study aimed to evaluate the association between early ECT and LOS in three main groups of patients with bipolar, depressive and primary psychotic disorders. Method: A retrospective descriptive analysis of 464 patients who received inpatient ECT from May 2017 to March 2021 in a large tertiary psychiatric institution was conducted. Early ECT was defined as ECT done before the mean number of days from admission to initiation of ECT by diagnosis . The main outcome measure was LOS, wh

Out on PubMed, from a star-studded cast of international experts, is this review: Treatment-resistant depression: definition, prevalence, detection, management, and investigational interventions. McIntyre RS, Alsuwaidan M, Baune BT, Berk M, Demyttenaere K, Goldberg JF, Gorwood P, Ho R, Kasper S, Kennedy SH, Ly-Uson J, Mansur RB, McAllister-Williams RH, Murrough JW, Nemeroff CB, Nierenberg AA, Rosenblat JD, Sanacora G, Schatzberg AF, Shelton R, Stahl SM, Trivedi MH, Vieta E, Vinberg M, Williams N, Young AH, Maj M. World Psychiatry. 2023 Oct;22(3):394-412. doi: 10.1002/wps.21120. PMID:  37713549   The abstract is copied below: Treatment-resistant depression (TRD) is common and associated with multiple serious public health implications. A consensus definition of TRD with demonstrated predictive utility in terms of clinical decision-making and health outcomes does not currently exist. Instead, a plethora of definitions have been proposed, which vary significantly in their conceptual frame

Out on PubMed, from authors in Pennsylvania, is this case report: A Case of Cannabis-Induced Catatonia and Management With Electroconvulsive Therapy. Sharma A, Sharma V. Cureus. 2023 Aug 14;15(8):e43478. doi: 10.7759/cureus.43478. eCollection 2023 Aug.  PMID:  37711932   The abstract is copied below: This is a case of cannabis-induced catatonia in an 18-year-old Hispanic male with no prior psychiatric history. Shortly after consuming marijuana, the patient experienced catatonic symptoms and demonstrated resistance to several medicinal therapies. Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) proved to be a useful treatment choice, resulting in significant improvement in symptoms. This example emphasizes the potential dangers of cannabis usage, particularly in susceptible individuals, and underscores the importance of recognizing and treating catatonia as a possible side effect of cannabis use. Keywords:  cannabis induced catatonia; cannabis legalization; cannabis use; electroconvulsive therapy (ect);