Electroconvulsive therapy for an urgent social indication.

Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is often rapidly effective in relieving the symptoms of severe depression. We report the case of a female patient with recurrent depression whose family desperately wanted her to be well enough to participate in her daughter's wedding. They contacted our ECT service only days before the wedding.

Successful electroconvulsive therapy in a patient with intellectual disability and bipolar disorder, with catatonic features misdiagnosed as encephalopathy.

We describe the successful use of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) in a 39-year-old woman with a complex clinical picture including bipolar disorder with catatonic features superimposed on a history of multiple congenital anomalies and intellectual and developmental disabilities. At age 34, the patient presented with marked regression and behavioral disturbance diagnosed as encephalopathy. Multiple medical evaluations were inconclusive, and treatment courses with antibiotics and steroids failed.

The successful use of electroconvulsive therapy in a patient with interferon-induced psychotic depression.

We report the successful use of electroconvulsive therapy in a patient who developed major depression with psychotic features while being treated with interferon alfa-2b for hepatitis C. We reviewed the literature of similar cases and discuss treatment options for interferon-induced depression and psychosis.