Classics in ECT: Beginnings of Continuation/Maintenance ECT, 1947

"Classics in ECT" brings you this Canadian article from 1947:

The shock therapies at the Ontario Hospital, London.

GEOGHEGAN JJ.Can Med Assoc J. 1947 Jan;56(1):15-24.PMID: 20277515
The pdf is here.
The last page (of 10) is copied below:

This is a remarkable early paper, detailing the experience of ECT and insulin treatment at a Canadian hospital in the late 1940s. Many aspects of it are archaic, but many seem quite au courant. Just when you think it is all about unmodified ECT, you learn that some of the treatments were modified with curare and sodium amytal. The author's amazement at the dramatic cures is apparent in the manuscript, illustrated with 18 case vignettes. The foretelling of continuation/maintenance ECT is noteworthy.
For history of ECT buffs, this is worth a full read (~30 minutes).


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