The ECT Handbook

The fourth edition of this popular Handbook provides the latest guidance on prescribing and administering electroconvulsive therapy (ECT). Leading researchers and practitioners review new research on ECT and related treatments, including their efficacy in children and adolescents, and in those with bipolar disorder and neurological conditions. With a focus on safe provision and minimisation of side effects, it provides the reader with practical, evidence-based advice. The book has been substantially revised: references have been updated throughout; related treatment modalities such as rTMS, tCDS and ketamine are covered in greater depth; and current administrative and legal framework guidelines are clearly outlined. An essential reference manual for consultant and trainee clinical psychiatrists, as well as ECT practitioners. This guide will benefit clinical teams looking after complex cases of depression, as well as those involved in the care of other people for whom ECT may be recommended.

List of contributors; Preface to the fourth edition; 1. The place of ECT and related treatments in contemporary UK psychiatry I. Nicol Ferrier; 2. Mechanism of action of ECT Philip J. Cowen; 3. ECT in the treatment of depression I. Nicol Ferrier; 4. ECT in mania (and mixed states) R. H. Mcallister-Williams; 5. Electroconvulsive therapy for bipolar disorder depression Ute Kessler; 6. ECT in older adults Stuart Watson, Jane Newby and Phil Laws; 7. ECT in people with an intellectual disability Peter Cutajar and Jo Jones; 8. ECT in pregnancy and postnatally Alain Gregoire and Joanne Spoors; 9. Electroconvulsive therapy in children and adolescents Rosalind Y. K. Oliphant, Eleanor M. Smith and Aditya Narain Sharma; 10. The use of ECT in the treatment of schizophrenia Richard Braithwaite; 11. The use of ECT in the treatment of catatonia Richard Braithwaite; 12. ECT in neuropsychiatric disorders Jasvinder Singh and David Andrew Cousins; 13. Cognitive side-effects of ECT Martha Finnegan and Declan M. Mcloughlin; 14. Non-cognitive adverse effects of ECT Jonathan Waite; 15. Transcranial magnetic stimulation Alex O'Neill-Kerr and Sudheer Lankappa; 16. Neurosurgery for mental disorder Keith Matthews and Christine Matthews; 17. Ketamine for psychiatric disorders Rupert McShane; 18. The ECT accreditation service (ECTAS) Jill Emerson; 19. The Scottish ECT accreditation network (SEAN) Linda Cullen and Alistair Hay; 20. Medical training for psychiatrists in ECT Vimal Sivasanker and Ian Nnatu; 21. Nursing care of the patient receiving ECT and the roles of the ECT nurse Kara Hannigan; 22. Treatment suites and practical aspects of ECT Ross A. Dunne, Alex O'Neill-Kerr, Declan McLoughlin and Jonathan Waite; 23. Anaesthesia for electroconvulsive therapy Godfrey M Bwalya, Rahul Bajekal and Jonathan Waite; 24. Dental issues related to ECT Denis Martin, revised by Basel Switzer; 25. Interactions between ECT and prescribed medication Ian M. Anderson; 26. Seizure monitoring in ECT David M. Semple and Ryan Alexander Devlin; 27. Safe ECT practice in people with a physical illness Jonathan Waite; 28. Capacity, consent and the law Jonathan Waite; 29. Patients' and carers' and the public's perspectives on ECT and related treatments Jonathan Waite; Index.

I. Nicol Ferrier is Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne. Professor Ferrier was the pharmacological lead on the 2004 NICE Guidelines for Unipolar Depression and was Chairman of the 2006 NICE Bipolar Disorder Guideline. He has served on the MRC Clinical Fellowship and Wellcome Trust Neuroscience and Mental Health Grant Committees and is Past-President of the British Association for Psychopharmacology. He was Lead of the North East Hub of the Mental Health Research Network from 2005 to 2014 and Chair of the Royal College of Psychiatrists ECT and Related Treatments Committee from 2014 to 2018. His research interests are in psychopharmacology and the neurobiology and treatment of severe affective disorders. He has published over 250 papers on these topics.
Jonathan Waite is Honorary Senior Fellow, Institute of Mental Health, University of Nottingham, Nottingham. He is a retired consultant psychiatrist, editor of The ECT Handbook (Cambridge, 3rd edition, 2013), which as Highly Commended in BMA Medical Book Awards, and author of Dementia Care (2008). He is an acknowledged authority on medical aspects of mental capacity law and was one of the Lord Chancellor's Medical Visitors.