title: Outpatient Electroconvulsive Therapy: Efficacy and Safety.
abstract: Thirty-two outpatients with a mean age of 68 years were observed in a naturalistic study of outpatient electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) for the management of recurrent mood disorder. Sixty-nine percent of the patients responded favorably to ECT and were either discharged well from therapy or continue in treatment. A rehospitalization rate of 9% supports the efficacy of this treatment. We find outpatient ECT safe for the long-term management of recurrent depressive illness in elderly patients. The low dropout rate demonstrates that patient acceptance is equal to that of other outpatient treatments.
authors.affiliation: Philadelphia Psychiatric Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Jaffe
authors.forename: William
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Dubin
authors.forename: Beth
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Shoyer
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Roemer
authors.forename: Denise
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Sharon
authors.forename: Louis
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Lipschutz