@article{ref1,
title="Relief of expressed suicidality in schizophrenia after electroconvulsive therapy: a naturalistic cohort study",
journal="Psychiatry research",
year="2020",
author="Tor, Phern-Chern and Bin Abdin, Edimansyah and Hadzi-Pavlovic, Dusan and Loo, Colleen",
volume="284",
number="",
pages="e112759-e112759",
abstract="Suicide risk in schizophrenia is a significant treatment challenge but there are few approved treatments. Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is a highly effective treatment for suicidality in depression but its effect on suicidality in schizophrenia is unclear. We conducted a retrospective naturalistic study of the real-world effect of ECT on expressed suicidality as assessed by item 4 of the 24-item Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale in 113 patients with treatment resistant schizophrenia receiving ECT. 19.5% of patients expressed suicidal ideation pre-ECT of which 86.4% experienced an improvement in expressed suicidality after an average of 10.2 (SD 2.7) sessions of ECT. Changes in suicide scores before and after ECT was examined using a generalized estimating equation (GEE) model which showed that the effect of ECT on suicide was significantly mediated by depression and explained 72.2% of the decreased in expressed suicidality. ECT is effective in decreasing depression and expressed suicidality in patients with schizophrenia and should be considered as a treatment option for managing suicidality and psychosis in patients with treatment resistant schizophrenia.<br><br>Copyright © 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0165-1781",
doi="10.1016/j.psychres.2020.112759",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2020.112759"
}