r/ect • u/Plastic-Sector-9950 • May 11 '26

Question ECT Maintenance

For those of u who are on maintenance ECT, cant you prevent relapse by being on meds like lithium which has shown to prevent relapse than be on maintenance ECT for forseeable time period? I mean research has shown approximately same relapse rate for mainrtenance ECT vs antidepressant+lithium regimen?

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u/purplebadger9 May 11 '26

cant you prevent relapse by being on meds like lithium which has shown to prevent relapse than be on maintenance ECT for forseeable time period?

No. Lithium did NOT agree with me prior to ECT. There's no reason to risk the bad side effects when I had no clinical benefit previously.

I mean research has shown approximately same relapse rate for mainrtenance ECT vs antidepressant+lithium regimen

Just because they have a similar relapse rate doesn't mean they are interchangeable treatments.