title: Attitudes towards electroconvulsive therapy among Hungarian psychiatrists.
abstract: Participants of a postgraduate biologic psychiatric course were surveyed about their attitudes toward electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) with a self-administered questionnaire. Among the respondents, 65 persons were specialists in psychiatry, 32% of whom would not consider using ECT even if they were in a psychotic depressive state. According to the bias factor, which has been calculated based on the answers to the 11 questions regarding attitudes, those psychiatrists who worked in inpatient care showed a less negative attitude. Among the items concerning knowledge of ECT, incorrect answers were most frequent to questions about myocardial infarction as a contraindication, and about the identity of the person who had pioneered this treatment. The negative attitude of Hungarian psychiatrists, especially of those who work in outpatient care, may have an important role in the decrease of the application of ECT in the past decade in Hungary.
authors.affiliation: Szt. László Hospital, Clinic for Addictology and Psychiatry, Budapest, Hungary. gazdag@lamb.hu
authors.forename: Gábor
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Gazdag
authors.forename: Nárcisz
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kocsis
authors.forename: Judit
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Tolna
authors.forename: Attila
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lipcsey
mesh_terms: D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D004565:Electroconvulsive Therapy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006814:Hungary; D008297:Male; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians' / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011570:Psychiatry; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires