ECT in Italy- A Regrettable State of Affairs
Out on PubMed, from clinicians and researchers in Italy, is this editorial: The shocking attitude towards ECT in Italy. Cattaneo CI, Ressico F, Fornaro M, Fazzari G, Perugi G. CNS Spectr. 2020 Dec 4:1-12. doi: 10.1017/S1092852920002059. Online ahead of print. PMID: 33280623 From the text: The editorial begins: The recent factious and misleading opinion paper by Read and colleagues , corroborated by a handful of commentaries such as the one by Bental deserves some considerations, emphasizing the Italian scenario. Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) was introduced and successfully delivered by two Italian scientists and clinicians, Lucio Bini and Ugo Cerletti (1938). The amazing efficacy on serious life threatening cases of melancholia, psychotic and delirious mixed states and catatonia was so evident that it spread within a couple of years to all of Italy and the rest of the world. Since then, hundred thousands of lives have been saved despite the quality of clinical studies is “not