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WEDNESDAY, Sept. 30, 2020 (HealthDay News) — Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) may help treat features of bipolar depression, including suicidality, according to study results partially published earlier this year in the The World Journal of Biological Psychiatry<\/i> and presented at the annual congress of the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology, held virtually from Sept. 12 to 15.<\/p>\n
Giulio E. Brancati, Ph.D., from the University of Pisa in Italy, and colleagues examined the differential impact of ECT on single depressive and mixed symptoms in a cohort of 670 bipolar adult patients admitted between January 2006 and July 2019.<\/p>\n
The researchers found that response rates were higher than 80 percent for all the psychopathological constructs investigated; the highest rates of response were seen for motor hyperactivity, grandiosity, excitement, tension, suicidality, bizarre behavior, and guilt. The highest remission rate was seen for suicidality: 77 patients (84.4 percent) were at high risk before treatment compared with two patients after treatment. Severe mannerisms and posturing, uncooperativeness, hostility, excitement, motor hyperactivity, and suspiciousness were highly remitting (>60 percent); slightly remitting features included depression, blunted affect, unusual thought, somatic concern, anxiety, and self-neglect (<40 percent). After ECT, all clinical feature scores were significantly decreased; the largest effects were seen for depression, anxiety, self-neglect, guilt, suicidality, tension, blunted affect, and motor retardation.<\/p>\n
“ECT is used for major depression, but much less so for the other phases of bipolar disorder, especially for so-called mixed states, which have a lower visibility,” Brancati said in a statement. “These patients need to be given a chance via receiving the right treatment.”<\/p>\n
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