COMPARISON OF METRAZOL CONVULSIVE THERAPY WITH ELECTRIC SHOCK IN TREATMENT OF SCHIZOPHRENIA

Abstract

In 1940 I reported¹ results obtained in the treatment of 100 schizophrenic patients with metrazol convulsive therapy. A similar study has been conducted during the past one and one-half years in the treatment of 100 schizophrenic patients with electric shock. The present group was composed approximately of the same type of psychiatric material as that employed in the first study. It has been emphasized by several writers that the difference in diagnostic criteria used by various clinicians in arriving at the diagnosis of schizophrenia is responsible for contradictory reports as to the results obtained with shock therapy in many hospitals. It is even debatable at present whether the term schizophrenia is actually limited to one mental disorder or may include a variety of similar psychiatric conditions. Besides, patients seen by psychiatrists in private practice and outpatient mental hygiene clinics are often of different type than those committed to public