More Effective with Medication

Tyler Kaster, M. D. revealed, “There was a randomized control trial published in The American Journal of Psychiatry by Petrides et al. where they treated patients who were on a stable dose of clozapine with ECT and found a 50 percent response rate” (Canady, 2016, p. 7). Although medication is a successful form of treatments, treatment is better with drugs¹⁰ (Phutane, Thirthalli, Kesavan, Kumar, & Ganhadhar, 2011).

While drugs and medicine might be used interchangeably, there is a distinction between them. A drug refers to a medicinal substance, while medicine expresses prevention of a disease. Drugs are stimulating, but often cause addiction. So, combined use of medication with ECT is more successful.

Clozapine is an antipsychotic that is used in patients that don’t respond to medication. It is especially common for patients with treatment-resistant schizophrenia. ECT-Clozapine combination had a response rate of 54% in a study conducted in India on patients with TRS. Two-thirds of the patients remained improved (Grover, Charkrabarti, Hazari, & Avasthi, 2017). Antipsychotics and ECT yield better results (Keuneman, Weerasundera, & Castle, 2002). Specialists in India state, “ECT is often used in addition to antipsychotics in the treatment of schizophrenia. Studies have shown that a combination of ECT and antipsychotics has a significant advantage with respect to rapidity or quality of response” (Phutane, Thirthalli, Kesavan, Kumar, & Ganhadhar, 2011, para. 2). However, ECT must be used in conjunction with psychotherapy¹¹ (Kleinerman, 1947).

Better results are achieved in combination with psychotic drugs. ECT has a success rate and so does medication. Together, the success rate is increased due to increased efficiency of treatment. Treating schizophrenia with clozapine and ECT is proven to work better than one or the other. To achieve the best results, a combination of medication, ECT, and in some cases psychotherapy, is the best route to take.