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Moderate clinical improvement with maintenance ECT in a 17-year-old boy with intractable catatonic schizophrenia

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Abstract

The use of electro-convulsive therapy (ECT) in adolescents is controversial, and few studies have been conducted to assess its efficacy and safety in this population. We report the case of a 19-year-old boy who received two series of ECT, one at 15 and another at 16, for intractable catatonic schizophrenia. Since the age of 17, he has required treatment combining clozapine and maintenance ECT. The course showed a sustained moderate improvement. The treatment permitted the patient to regain some autonomy with moderate adverse effects. ECT remains an uncommon treatment in adolescents, and the current case supports the view that it should not be banned in young people.

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Fig. 1

Notes

  1. Pack therapy: envelopment in damp sheets for 1 h sessions with the patient expressing body and corporal feelings and spontaneous fantasies. An example is given in case 2 of Cohen’s report [11].

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, APHP, CNRS, Groupe Hospitalier Pitié-Salpêtrière, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, 47-3 Bd de l’Hôpital, 75651, Paris Cedex 13, France

    Angèle Consoli MD, Martine Barbeau PhD & David Cohen MD, PhD

  2. CNRS UMR 8189 “Psychologie et Neurosciences Cognitives”, Paris, France

    Angèle Consoli MD, Françoise Cornic MD & David Cohen MD, PhD

  3. Department of Psychiatry, Hôpital Saint-Antoine, Paris, France

    Valérie Boulicot MD & Françoise Cornic MD

  4. Department of Psychiatry, Hôpital Sainte-Anne, Paris, France

    Françoise Cornic MD

  5. Department of Psychiatry, Hôpital Pitié-Salpêtrière, Paris, France

    Philippe Fossati MD, PhD

Authors
  1. Angèle Consoli MD
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  2. Valérie Boulicot MD
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  3. Françoise Cornic MD
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  4. Philippe Fossati MD, PhD
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  5. Martine Barbeau PhD
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  6. David Cohen MD, PhD
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to David Cohen MD, PhD.

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Consoli, A., Boulicot, V., Cornic, F. et al. Moderate clinical improvement with maintenance ECT in a 17-year-old boy with intractable catatonic schizophrenia. Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry 18, 250–254 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00787-008-0724-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00787-008-0724-6

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