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Mental Health (Expert Forum)
Is there a maintenance period for ECT following initial treatments?
Questions posted in the Mental Health forum are being answered by Dr. Roger L. Gould, author of the Mastering Stress and Depression program and affiliated with the UCLA. Department of Psychiatry. Topics covered include anger, attention deficit disorder (ADD) , bipolar disorder , dementia , electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) , learning disabilities, memory, obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) , panic , personality disorders, phobias , post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) , schizophrenia , stress , transitions, and work problems.
Is there a maintenance period for ECT following initial treatments?
by Jamie, May 17, 2000 12:00AM
I suffer from Bipolar Disorder and after exhausting all alternatives in the realm of medication, I turned to ECT. Thankfully, it has worked. I am currenly going once a month, following my initial 6 treatments. What concerns me is that I begin to see a resurgence of symptoms if I wait more than a month between maintenance treatments. My question has two parts:
A.) Is there a limit to how long I can remain on maintenance?
B.) What is the usual spacing between maintenance treatments (1 month, 3 months, 6 months, etc..)?
I am very pleased with this course of treatment and would like to continue but am concerned that this may not be an option.
Thank you for your assistance.
A.) Is there a limit to how long I can remain on maintenance?
B.) What is the usual spacing between maintenance treatments (1 month, 3 months, 6 months, etc..)?
I am very pleased with this course of treatment and would like to continue but am concerned that this may not be an option.
Thank you for your assistance.
Doctor's Answer
by HFHS MD-JM, May 18, 2000 12:00AM
Jamie,
ECT is a very effective treatment for depression and bipolar disorder. Moodstabilizers are generally the mainstay of treatment for bipolar disorder but must be discontinued during ECT as they are also anti-convulsant agents and may interfere with ECT's effectiveness. Maintenance ECT can be indefinate and needs to be individualized; there is no protocol for spacing of treatments but a month is about the longest interim between treatments I have encountered. Please discuss these issues further with your psychiatrist who is administering the ECT. I hope this was helpful. It does sound like your current treatment is effective. Good luck.
Sincerely,
HFHS MD-JM
ECT is a very effective treatment for depression and bipolar disorder. Moodstabilizers are generally the mainstay of treatment for bipolar disorder but must be discontinued during ECT as they are also anti-convulsant agents and may interfere with ECT's effectiveness. Maintenance ECT can be indefinate and needs to be individualized; there is no protocol for spacing of treatments but a month is about the longest interim between treatments I have encountered. Please discuss these issues further with your psychiatrist who is administering the ECT. I hope this was helpful. It does sound like your current treatment is effective. Good luck.
Sincerely,
HFHS MD-JM
