Researchers from the United States found out that the electric shepherd therapy reduces the risk of suicide among patients with depression recently discharged from hospitals. The article of scientists is published in American Journal of Psychiatry.
Electric shock (also known as electrosalization) therapy (ECT) is an effective method of treating a number of mental diseases, including depression. Researchers from Yale, Connecticutsky, Colombian and Ratger Universities on the database of the National Medical Insurance Program Medicare revealed 10.5 thousand patients over 65 years old, past ECT from 2011 to 2015. In the control group also included 30 thousand people who were not treated in this way.
Comparative analysis showed that in the first 90 days after discharge, people from the number of hospitalized patients with deep depression or other psychiatric disorders who passed the ECT, much less often – 55 percent – committed suicide. At the same time, in a year, the ratio with those who did not receive similar therapy was aligned.