Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), despite its controversial history, may well represent the only viable treatment for severe psychiatric illness in those for whom medication is not an option. In Electronconvulsive Therapy, Dr. Max Fink draws on over 50 years of clinical experience to describe this safe, painless, and often life-saving treatment.
Extensively revised and restructured since its original publication a decade ago, the book provides readers with a detailed explanation of the ECT procedure, helping them to better understand and prepare for treatment. Discussions of the mechanisms of actions have been updated and sections have been added on the use of ECT in pediatric populations and to treat movement disorders such as Parkinsons. Case studies of ECT patients illustrate its often dramatic success in relieving depression, mania, catatonia, and psychosis. Clarifying the many misconceptions surrounding the treatment, Dr. Fink reveals how anesthesia and muscle relaxation techniques reduce discomfort and risks to levels lower than those associated with psychiatric drugs. He then provides a historical perspective of the treatment, from the discovery of ECT and its widespread use beginning in the 1930s, to the 1950s when it was replaced by psychotropic drugs, to its revival in the last 30 years as a viable psychiatric treatment. Dr. Fink concludes with a straightforward discussion of the ethical issues surrounding ECT use, and on its similarities to and differences from other modern brain stimulation techniques.
The classic text on the subject, written by a renowned researcher and physician, Electroconvulsive Therapy is an excellent resource for patients, their families, and mental health professionals.

THE SERIES The 10 volumes in this series record a fifty year history of neuropsychopharmacology related by 213 pioneer clinical, academic, industrial and basic scientists in videotaped interviews, conducted by 66 colleagues between 1994 and 2008. These volumes include a preface by the series editor placing its contents in an historical context and linking each volume to the next. Each volume is dedicated to a former President of the ACNP and edited by a distinguished historian or Fellow of the College who provides an introduction to its themes and a biography of each scientist's career. The series provides insights into a half century of discovery and innovation with its rewards and disappointments, progress and setbacks, including future expectations and hopes for the field as a whole and the ACNP as an organization. IN THIS VOLUME In Volume 1, 22 pioneers reflect on their contributions to the "Starting Up" of neuropsychopharmacology in the 1950s, using behavioral methodology to detect differences in the pharmacological profile of newly introduced psychotropic drugs. In Volume 2, "Neurophysiology," the emphasis shifts to the detection of the action of drugs on the functional activity of the brain. Volume 2 is divided into two parts. In Part One (Electrophysiology), 15 interviewees reflect on their contributions to the detection of the effect of drugs on the electrical activity of the brain and in Part Two (Brain Imaging), 5 interviewees talk about their contributions to the study of cerebral blood flow and brain metabolism Dedicated to the memory of Jonathan O. Cole, President, 1966, Volume 2 is edited by Max Fink, a leading American psychiatrist who was instrumental in the introduction of "pharmaco-EEG," using digital computer analysis of the electroencephalogram to identify active psychotherapeutic drugs following the model of the association of EEG and behavior in man.