Am J Psychiatry 1980; 137:1032-1041
Copyright © 1980 by American Psychiatric Association
The use of ECT in the treatment of schizophrenia
C Salzman
ECT has been replaced by neuroleptics for the treatment of schizophrenia.
The production of serious drug-related side effects, particularly tardive
dyskinesia, raises the question of the efficacy and toxicity of ECT versus
neuroleptics. Most of the studies in the English literature on the use of
ECT in the treatment of schizophrenia are unacceptable according to
contemporary criteria: the question of ECT versus neuroleptic drugs thus
remains unanswered. In the few acceptable published studies, clinical
response to ECT was inversely proportional to duration of schizophrenic
symptoms. Schizophrenic patients with affective and catatonic symptoms
responded best: those with chronic symptoms rarely responded. ECT does not
alter the fundamental psychopathology of schizophrenia.
