Lithium Continuation Therapy Following Electroconvulsive Therapy

Abstract

SummaryThirty-eight depressed patients who were treated with ECT were randomly assigned to receive lithium therapy or identical-looking placebo tablets for one year after clinical recovery in a double-blind trial. The patients who received placebo tablets spent an average of 7.8 weeks with an episode of depression (either as in-patients or day-patients) during the year. In comparison, patients who received lithium spent on average 1.7 weeks with an episode (P <0.02). The trial confirms the high rate of relapses after ECT and suggests that lithium considerably reduces this morbidity. It is suggested that ECT without continuation therapy is not a satisfactory treatment of depressive illness.