These studies have been separated into categories to make it easier to find what you're looking for.

Efficacy
Medical Issues
Patient Views
Informed Consent
Other Issues
Side Effects of ECT

Efficacy

Death of ECT
In Italy, where it began more than 62 years ago, ECT has almost been abolished. In some countries, however, ECT is still used inappropriately, particularly in elderly patients. There is no medical, moral, or legal justification for ECT, and the new requirements of modern psychiatric practice can all be achieved without it. Like prefrontal lobotomy and all previous shock treatments, ECT is non-viable. The death of ECT will help promote mental health and put the treatment where it belongs - in the archaeology of science.

Retrospective controlled study of inpatient ECT: does it prevent suicide?
Background: This study examined the use of ECT among inpatients who committed suicide at a provincial psychiatric hospital. Methods: A total of 45 psychiatric in-patients who committed suicide at a provincial psychiatric hospital were compared with a gender, age and admission diagnosis matched group of 45 hospitalized patients to examine the use of electroconvulsive therapy during the last 3 months of hospitalization. Results: No difference in the utilization of ECT was found in the two groups. Limitations: Retrospective design and small sample size. Conclusions: We failed to demonstrate that ECT had prevented suicide in hospitalized patients. Future prospective studies with large sample size are needed to further examine this question.

New study in JAMA highlights high relapse rate
Although his intention was to show that using lithium with a TCA can lower relapse rates in ECT patients, Harold Sackeim's study instead brought great attention to the fact that ECT DOES have such a high relapse rate.

Sham Statistics, the Myth of Convulsive Therapy
A major article from Journal of Mind and Behavior by Doug Cameron. This hard-hitting study exposes the myths, misinformation, and the truth about this controversial treatment. Find out why today's kinder and gentler ECT is nothing more than a public relations campaign from the ECT industry.

Does Electroconvulsive Therapy Prevent Suicide?
From Convulsive Therapy. This article examines whether or not ECT protects against suicide. The authors conclude, with some disappointment, that ECT does NOT offer any long-term protection against suicide.

Electroshock: Scientific, ethical and political issues
From Dr. Peter Breggin, this comprehensive article explains how ECT works as head trauma, and goes into the scientific, ethical and political ramifications of the controversial treatment. A Must Read!

Efficacy of ECT
Two studies on the efficacy of ECT. The first shows the need for high-dose (2.5 times the electricity needed to produce a convulsion, also known as suprathreshold) bilateral ECT; the second, the correlation between being medication resistant and the likelihood of poor results from ECT.

The effects of ECT on suicide
Do modern psychiatric treatments help prevent suicide? These provocative questions have been asked repeatedly since effective treatments for the major psychiatric illnesses were developed beginning with electroconvulsive therapy (ECT). This study concludes: "mortality did not differ between patients having a lifetime history of ECT and patients never having had ECT. We conclude from a short-term follow-up of depressives that mode of therapy received in the hospital has minimal influence on subsequent mortality, including suicide."

Here are three abstracts on the subject of stimulus dosing. This is an important concept to understand when considering ECT. Today's ECT uses a much higher stimulus dose and longer stimulus length than ECT of the past, which is why I maintain that today's ECT is neither kinder nor gentler. It just looks better on film because the patient is anesthetized and paralyzed.

It's well established in the literature that the more benign unilateral ECT that is talked about by practitioners is not effective in treating depression. In a recent APA study, 75 percent of practicing doctors admitted they use bilateral exclusively. Yet when discussing the treatment in public, doctors continually talk about how unilateral causes less side effects. That is very true, but it also doesn't work, unless the stimulus is given for a longer period of time, and the electricity amount is very high.

The first study concludes that it isn't the total electrical dosage, but the degree that it exceeds seizure threshold, that determines effectiveness.

This study shows the following efficacy rates:

• Right unilateral, low dose: 17 percent
  Right unilateral, high dose: 43 percent
  Bilateral, low dose: 65 percent
  Bilateral, high dose: 63 percent

It also discusses that it took the bilateral high dose group much longer to recover from the post-ECT disorientation than the others. And it mentions that among those who benefited, the relapse rate was 59 percent! (This means that more than half were depressed again) The study concludes: "High electrical dosage is associated with a more rapid response, and unilateral treatment is associated with less severe cognitive side effects after treatment."

The final study contradicts most of the literature, including the studies above, saying that "The depression-relieving effect of ECT is bound to seizure activity and not, or only slightly, to other effects of electrical stimulation."

This study examines the use of ECT in schizophrenia, concluding that any impact is very temporary.