[Electroconvulsive therapy in the treatment of depression in anorexia nervosa]

Abstract

Background: Often anorexia nervosa occurs with other psychiatric comorbidities of which mood disorders are the most frequent. Depressive feelings hamper the chance of a favourable outcome of this persistent disorder. In addition, the underweight makes antidepressants work suboptimal. Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) offers an important therapeutic value in the treatment of mood disorders. We are investigating whether ECT can be an effective treatment method for patients with anorexia nervosa and major depressive disorder.

Aim: Analysis of the literature on the possible effectiveness of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) in the treatment of major depressive disorder and anorexia nervosa supplemented with a case report.

Method: Literature study in PubMed, Web of Science and Embase and a case report.

Results: 262 published articles were found between 1955 and 2020, 16 were found to be relevant.

Conclusion: From the literature, clinical recommendations cannot be made binding. No randomized controlled trials have been published on this subject. However, we saw in our case study and in the literature found that clearing the depressive symptoms through electroconvulsive therapy led to an improvement in food and fluid intake. ECT has no effect on their deranged thought pattern.