Electroconvulsive therapy in Brazil after the "psychiatric reform": a public health problem--example from a university service.

Objectives: The Brazilian public health system does not provide electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), which is limited to a few academic services. National mental health policies are against ECT. Our objectives were to analyze critically the public policies toward ECT and present the current situation using statistics from the Institute of Psychiatry of the University of São Paulo (IPq-HCFMUSP) and summary data from the other 13 ECT services identified in the country.