Journal article: https://www.cochranelibrary.com/cdsr/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD011847.pub2/epdf/full

 

ECT is often viewed as a controversial treatment, as it involves the induction of a seizure via administration of an electrical stimulus via electrodes placed on a patient’s scalp. Although it has been once widely used as treatment for schizophrenia, it is now reserved for treatment-resistant patients due to concerns of possible long-term side effects. The question this review aimed to answer is whether or not ECT is safe and effective for people with schizophrenia who have not responded to their previous treatment.

To answer this question, a thorough search of randomized clinical trials was performed which resulted in a total of 15 studies featuring 1285 individuals to be ultimately included. The results of this study depicted that adding ECT to standard care has a positive effect on clinical response when compared when standard care (moderate-quality evidence). However, the authors do note that the current evidence available is too weak to accurately conclude that the benefits outweigh the potential risks (i.e. short-term and/or long-term memory deterioration). Therefore, future research is warranted to provide a more comprehensive conclusion regarding the use of ECT in treatment-resistant schizophrenic patients. Overall,  this review is clinically significant because it depicts that there is some advantage of ECT on mental state and general functioning but that it does potentially run the risk of memory deterioration- so as mentioned, further research is done to better understand the side effects and to form a more concrete conclusion.