Abstract
The authors present a review of their seven years experience with electro-shock treatment in a general hospital.
At first they briefly recall their ecletic approach toward the diagnosis. For instance they insist on the difficulty of differentiating a neurotic depression with anxiety from an endogenous depression and stress the usefulness of the Funkenstein and the sodium amytal tests.
Since 1950, 1,974 patients were treated in their service, of this number, 25% only with E.C.T. The average number of treatments by patient was 5.1.
The percentage of improved cases is 82.3%, and of relapses is 8.3%.
They do not segregate their patients in a special section of the hospital, instead they try to treat them, as far as possible like ordinary general hospital cases. Their treatment room is a quiet and seclusive place, and every treatment is given very discreetly, so in the hospital this place has not the reputation of the “shock room”.
They concluded in emphasizing the multidimensional approach in psychiatric treatments.