Electroconvulsive Therapy

Aims

The ECT research group is dedicated to both the clinical application of ECT and investigation of the principles and mechanism of action of this long-standing 80-year-old therapy, which was been continuously refined and remains superior to other therapies. Aiming at a personalized, patient-centered medicine, every patient should be offered an individually tailored treatment, including an optimized benefit-risk-ratio. In this context, the investigation of mechanisms of action and predictors of response can be particularly useful. Alongside established clinical variables, we are especially interested in (epi-)genetic markers, e.g. small noncoding RNA molecules, which play an important role in the regulation of gene expression and thus multiple biological pathways with relevance for psychiatric disorders.

Furthermore, we are interested in the care for specific patient groups. While there are clear recommendations regarding ECT in the current evidence-based guidelines for the treatment of affective and psychotic disorders in adult psychiatry, access to ECT is widely limited in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Forensic Psychiatry. High quality studies from these areas are thus urgently needed to improve the evidence and care for these populations.