Publications by authors named "J Obbels"
Prediction of electroconvulsive therapy outcome: A network analysis approach.
Acta Psychiatr Scand
April 2025
Article Synopsis
- Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is effective for major depressive disorder, but individual responses vary and are hard to predict due to differences in symptoms.
- The study analyzed data from 161 patients to determine which specific baseline depression symptoms could predict remission using a Mixed Graphical Model approach.
- Results showed that suicidality negatively predicted remission, while symptoms like psychomotor retardation and hypochondriasis were positively associated with better treatment outcomes.
The Global ECT MRI Research Collaboration (GEMRIC) has collected clinical and neuroimaging data of patients treated with electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) from around the world. Results to date have focused on neuroimaging correlates of antidepressant response. GEMRIC sites have also collected longitudinal cognitive data.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFVagus nerve stimulation (VNS), an implantable neurostimulator, provides a valuable long-term treatment option for patients with difficult-to-treat depression. It has been reported that previous response to electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) might predict a better response to VNS and that VNS could reduce or eliminate the need for maintenance ECT in some patients. We present the case of a patient who received a total of more than 120 sessions of ECT over the course of 13 years because of a major depressive disorder, with favorable response but without achieving full remission.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) related anxiety (ERA) is a common phenomenon with high individual variability. The way patients cognitively cope with the prospects of receiving ECT could be a mechanism explaining individual differences in ERA. Cognitive coping like monitoring (information seeking, paying attention to consequences) and blunting (seeking distraction and reassurance) has been linked to anxiety in various medical settings, with monitoring leading to more and blunting to less anxiety.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The recent network perspective of depression conceptualizes depression as a dynamic network of causally related symptoms, that contrasts with the traditional view of depression as a discrete latent entity that causes all symptoms. Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is an effective treatment for severe depression, but little is known about the temporal trajectories of symptom improvement during a course of ECT.
Objective: To gain insight into the dynamics of depressive symptoms in individuals treated with ECT.