Classics in ECT: Very Early Use of Anesthesia (1946)


The pdf is here.

This is a fascinating report of the early use of barbiturate anesthesia for ECT. It has both archaic and modern features, and is very well written. Note the reference to trying to use the initial phase of barbiturate hypnosis to obtain "psychogenic material" through "narcoanalysis," as in an amytal interview. Also, the discussion of maintenance ECT is surprisingly au courant.

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