ECT Beats Drug Therapy for Resistant Bipolar Depression

Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) appears to be far more effective than algorithm-based drug therapy for treatment-resistant bipolar depression in what is believed to be the first randomized, controlled trial of ECT in bipolar depression.

However, remission rates were “modest” in both groups, highlighting the need for new and more effective treatment options for this “challenging clinical condition,” the authors, led by Helle K. Schoeyen, MD, PhD, Division of Psychiatry, Stavanger University Hospital, in Norway, note.

The study was published in the January issue of the American Journal of Psychiatry.

READ FULL ARTICLE From Med Scape