Antidepressant drug treatment in relation to the use of ECT.

The adequacy of antidepressant treatment by psychiatrists prior to ECT was examined in a group of 95 patients. ECT was considered inevitable in 16 cases. Of the remainder, 41 patients had not been given adequate antidepressant treatment prior to ECT. Alternative drug strategies were seldom pursued after one drug had failed. Most patients were continued on a variety of psychotropic drugs during ECT. Subsequent outcome was poor, which may reflect difficulty in identifying an appropriate drug for continuation treatment after ECT.