TY - JOUR
T1 - Electroconvulsive therapy stimulus dosing
T2 - A survey of contemporary practices
AU - Farah, A.
AU - McCall, William Vaughn
N1 - Copyright:
Copyright 2004 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 1993
Y1 - 1993
N2 - There is debate in the psychiatric community regarding how to optimize electroconvulsive therapy (ECT). American Psychiatric Association recommendations suggest a moderately suprathreshhold stimulus intensity, yet little information is available regarding how practitioners select initial ECT stimulus doses. We report the results of a nationwide study of common ECT practices. Respondents provided their most commonly used electrode placement, method of determining stimulus intensity, and type of ECT device. Our results showed a high degree of variability in ECT methods, and those practitioners 'specializing' in ECT were no more likely than nonspecialists to titrate stimulus intensity at the first treatment. Indeed, a fixed high-dose stimulus, stimulus titration, and stimulus intensity calculated by formula were each widely used by both ECT specialists and nonspecialists.
AB - There is debate in the psychiatric community regarding how to optimize electroconvulsive therapy (ECT). American Psychiatric Association recommendations suggest a moderately suprathreshhold stimulus intensity, yet little information is available regarding how practitioners select initial ECT stimulus doses. We report the results of a nationwide study of common ECT practices. Respondents provided their most commonly used electrode placement, method of determining stimulus intensity, and type of ECT device. Our results showed a high degree of variability in ECT methods, and those practitioners 'specializing' in ECT were no more likely than nonspecialists to titrate stimulus intensity at the first treatment. Indeed, a fixed high-dose stimulus, stimulus titration, and stimulus intensity calculated by formula were each widely used by both ECT specialists and nonspecialists.
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M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:0027175818
SN - 0749-8055
VL - 9
SP - 90
EP - 94
JO - Convulsive Therapy
JF - Convulsive Therapy
IS - 2
ER -