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Intensive E.C.T.

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 February 2018

E. Stengel*
Affiliation:
University of London
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In trying to contribute to this symposium one can either comment, in the light of one's own experience, on what the principal speakers say about indications in general, or one can pick out a special problem which requires clarification. I have chosen the latter course. I propose to report on some observations on the effect of “intensive E.C.T.” By this I mean the administration of two to four shocks on successive days over a period of a week or two, which aims at producing a confusional state with deep clouding of consciousness. It is the method that has been advocated in this country by Milligan. Cerletti devotes a section of his report to this method. According to him, it was Bini who first employed it. He noted that it resulted in a temporary and almost complete annihilation of mental life. Cerletti calls it annihilation therapy, l'anéantissement. Nobody who has carried out or witnessed this treatment will deny the aptness of the term. American writers have called it regressive E.C.T. Bini and Milligan have reported very satisfactory and lasting results in chronic neurotics who had failed to respond to other therapies.

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Part I.—Original Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1951 
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