The Effect of Electro-Convulsive Therapy on Spinal Fluid Constituents

Abstract

During the course of an investigation of the effectiveness of various components of electric convulsive therapy in the treatment of hospitalized psychiatric patients (Brill et al., 1957, 1959) observations were made on the spinal fluid concentrations of cations and total protein before and after treatment. The possibility existed that alterations in brain function and structure (which are believed by many to occur during a course of electro-convulsive treatment, and to be responsible for improvement in patients receiving such treatment) might be associated with, or reflected by measurable changes in the cerebral spinal fluid.