ELECTROCONVULSIVE THERAPY LOWERS THE RISK OF SUICIDE IN ELDERLY PEOPLE WHO ARE DEPRESSED

Edited by, SNEHA MAVIS

In the months immediately following hospitalization, electroconvulsive therapy reduces suicide deaths among older persons with depressions.

Electroconvulsive therapy includes electrical stimulation of the brain. It usually causes a seizure that lasts a minute or two. Although it may appear brutal, it is performed under anaesthesia, and extensive research since the 1940s has shown it to treat life-threatening severe depression. ECT is currently reserved in the United States for persons suffering from severe depression or other psychotic illnesses (such as schizophrenia) who have not responded to previous therapies. ECT has been shown to increase the amount of grey matter in the brain. This indicates that new brain cells are forming.

The researchers identified 10,460 patients who got inpatient ECT therapy between 2011 and 2015 and compared them with 31,160 persons of similar age, gender, psychiatric diagnosis, and other medical problems who had not received ECT. The researchers then compared the outcomes of the two groups over 90 days, six months, and a year, including suicide and death from any cause.

The statistics clearly revealed that people who were hospitalized for significant depression or other medical problems and had ECT were less likely to die by suicide in the first 90 days after leaving the hospital than those who were otherwise similar but had not received ECT. The effect faded over the course of a year, and by the end of the year, the number of suicides between the two groups was the same. However, all-cause mortality, or death for any reason, was still lower in the ECT group.