Dr Conrad Swartz is a board-certified psychiatrist, elected fellow and past president of the Association for Convulsive Therapy, and two-time recipient of the Clinical Research Award from the American Academy of Clinical Psychiatrists for studies involving ECT. His extensive scholarly publications about electroconvulsive therapy and clinical pharmacology reflect his combining doctoral skills in engineering with medical psychiatry to find new practical solutions to clinical problems. He has directed ECT programs at several medical schools as well as research, education, and clinical programs. He is a co-author of the recently published title Psychotic Depression (Cambridge University Press, 2007)

'… I anticipate that an ECT practitioner will either want his or her own copy of this book, or at least have one available in the local library. The editor and publisher are to be congratulated for providing this valuable resource.' Allan Scott, MD, FRCPsych, Royal Edinburgh Hospital

• Preface Conrad M. Swartz; Part I. Scientific and Experimental Bases of ECT: 1. ECT and electricity Conrad M. Swartz; 2. Non-electrical convulsive therapies Niall McCrae; 3. Neurochemical effects of electrically induced seizures: relevance to the antidepressant mechanism of ECT Renana Eitan, Bernard Lerer, and Galit Landshut; 4. Hypothesized mechanisms and sites of action of ECT Nikolaus Michael; 5. Brain imaging and ECT Hal Blumenfeld and Kathy Peng; 6. Evidence for ECT efficacy in mood disorders Keith Rasmussen; 7. Clinical evidence for the efficacy of ECT in the treatment of catatonia and psychoses Gabor Gazdag, Gabor Ungvari, Stephan Mann, and Stanley Caroff; 8. Hormonal effects of ECT Conrad M. Swartz; Part II. Historical, Societal and Geographic Perspectives: 9. History of electroconvulsive therapy Edward Shorter; 10. ECT in biographical books and movies Andrew McDonald and Garry Walter; 11. Professional barriers to offering or providing electroconvulsive therapy William Reid; 12. Legislation that regulates, limits or bans ECT Alan Felthous; Part III. International Perspectives: 13. ECT availability in the United States Barbara Rohland and Michelle Magid; 14. ECT in Scandinavia and the UK Susan Benbow and Tom Bolwig; 15. Electroconvulsive therapy in continental western Europe: a literature review Walter W. van den Broek and Pascal Sienaert; 16. ECT in Asia Sidney Chang; 17. History of ECT in the Russian Federation Alexander Nelson and Nataliya Giagou; 18. ECT in Latin America Moacyr Alexandro Rosa and Marina Odebrecht Rosa; Part IV. Administrative Perspectives: 19. ECT hospital policy and quality assurance Barry Alan Kramer; 20. Staff management and physical layout for ECT Jerry Lewis; 21. ECT forms Jerry Lewis; Part V. The Clinical Manual: 22. Patient selection and ECT indications Conrad M. Swartz; 23. ECT or antipsychotic drugs (or benzodiazepines for catatonia) Conrad M. Swartz; 24. Informed consent Peter Rosenquist; 25. ECT in the medically ill Keith Rasmussen and Paul Mueller; 26. Anesthesia for ECT Charles Kellner, Dongchen Li, and Limore Maron; 27. Stimulus electrode placement Conrad M. Swartz; 28. Stimulus dosing W. Vaughn McCall; 29. EEG monitoring and implications Hideki Azuma; 30. ECT cognitive effects and testing J. Stuart Lawson; 31. ECT methods in children and adolescents Garry Walter, Colleen Loo, and Joseph Rey; 32. Post-ECT evaluation and prophylaxis Walter W. van den Broek and Tom K. Birkenhager; 33. Ambulatory and maintenance ECT Charles Kellner and Unnati Patel; Part VI. Neuromodulation Treatment: 34. Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) Pinhas Dannon and Oded Rosenberg; 35. Vagus nerve stimulation: indications, efficacy and methods Mustafa M. Husain, Shawn McClintock, and Kenneth Trevino; 36. Deep brain stimulation: methods, indications, locations, and efficacy Thomas Schlaepfer and B. H. Bewernick; 37. Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) Felipe Fregni and Julie Williams.