title: An Interventional Study on the Clinical Usefulness and Outcomes of Electroconvulsive Therapy in Medication-Resistant Mental Disorders.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Resistance to recommended medications has been an issue in dealing with a number of psychiatric ailments, and it is showing up as an ongoing challenge for contemporary mental health experts. Resistant psychiatric disorders not only increase the morbidity of patients suffering from such severe conditions but also intensify the problems of their caretakers. This has vigorously started to cause the costs to increase for healthcare services. Thanks to electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), we now have an effective method that is proving to be a fruitful final course of action in this micro-epidemic of resistant psychiatric diseases. However, the medical literature of case reports or studies in this niche is scarce. Also, no such comprehensive study has been carried out in the Southeast Asian region to date for the assessment of the effectiveness of electroconvulsive therapy in patients with medication-resistant psychiatric disorders.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To assess the effectiveness of ECT in medication-resistant psychiatric patients at the post-ECT course, three-month follow-up, and six-month follow-up.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study was a prospective and interventional study (without controls) conducted in the Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (IMHANS), Srinagar, India. Fifty-six patients with pharmacotherapy-resistant psychiatric disorders were included in the study. The patients were assessed at the end of the ECT course, at the three-month follow-up, and at the six-month follow-up by the Clinical Global Impression (CGI), Montgomery Asberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS), Young Manic Rating Scale (YMRS) and the Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale (YBOCS). Improvement was defined with the help of the CGI subscale by comparing the position of the patient at admission to the projected condition with ECT.
  
  
  METHODS
  Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was used for analysis of the quantitative data. For the pair-wise comparison of the groups, the post hoc tests were used. Pearson's chi-square test was used for analysis of qualitative data. A p-value of < 0.05 was considered to be statistically significant, and all the data analysis was done using SPSS Version 20.0.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The CGI scale revealed that statistically significant improvement occurred in patients at the end of ECT course, at the three-month follow-up as well as at the six-month follow-up.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  ECT should be used for the treatment of pharmacotherapy-resistant psychiatric patients and the benefits can be seen even six months after an ECT course completion. Further work in this field should focus on educating the general public about the usefulness of ECT in the treatment of resistant mental illnesses. The myths related to the so-called psychiatric assault from ECT should be removed.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, Postgraduate department of Psychiatry, Government Medical College, Srinagar, J & K, India.
authors.forename: Rameshwar S
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Manhas
authors.affiliation: Mood Disorder Clinic, Postgraduate Department of Psychiatry, Government Medical College, Srinagar, J & K, India.
authors.forename: Raheel
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Mushtaq
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Institute of Human Behaviour and Allied Sciences (IHBAS), Delhi, India.
authors.forename: Shah Faisal Ahmad
authors.initials: SF
authors.lastname: Tarfarosh
authors.affiliation: Mood Disorder Clinic, Postgraduate Department of Psychiatry, Government Medical College, Srinagar, J & K, India.
authors.forename: Sheikh
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Shoib
authors.affiliation: Postgraduate Department of Psychiatry, Government Medical College, Srinagar, J & K, India.
authors.forename: Mohammad Maqbool
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Dar
authors.affiliation: Postgraduate Department of Psychiatry, Government Medical College, Srinagar, J & K, India.
authors.forename: Arshad
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hussain
authors.affiliation: Government Medical College, Srinagar, J & K, India.
authors.forename: Tabindah
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Shah
authors.affiliation: Acharya Shri Chander College of Medical Sciences and Hospital, Sidhra, J & K, India.
authors.forename: Sahil
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Shah
authors.affiliation: Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences Medical College, Srinagar, India.
authors.forename: Mushbiq
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Manzoor
keywords: ect; electroconvulsive therapy; healthcare technology; interventional neurology; interventional psychiatry; treatment resistance