Shock therapy during pregnancy

Abstract

1. Three cases of pregnant patients who have been treated with various forms of shock therapy are added to those already reported. 2. One manic-depressive went through pregnancy uneventfully while receiving electric convulsive therapy in the sixth and seventh months of gestation. 3. One paranoid schizophrenic miscarried at about four months while receiving her third course of combined electric convulsive therapy and ambulatory insulin. 4. One paranoid schizophrenic went through pregnancy to normal delivery while receiving 90 days of insulin (including eight genuine coma days) and 20 electric convulsive treatments in the fifth, sixth, and seventh months of gestation. 5. Pregnancy should not necessarily be considered an indication to deprive a psychotic woman of needed shock therapy.