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                    <text>MAX FINK, M.D.
11 Buttonfield Lane
South Hadley, MA 01075 Cell: 631.637.1730
fink.max@gmail.com
maxfink55@gmail.com
PRESENT APPOINTMENT
Professor of Psychiatry and Neurology, Stony Brook University 1972-1997
Professor Emeritus
1997CERTIFICATIONS
Diplomate, National Board of Medical Examiners

1946

Diplomate, American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology
Certified in Neurology
Certified in Psychiatry

1952
1954

William Alanson White Institute of Psychoanalysis
Certificate in Psychoanalysis for Physicians
License, Practice of Medicine and Surgery
New York
Missouri

1953

1946
1962

EDUCATION
University College, University Heights Campus
New York University, B.A. cum laude, Honors in Biology

1939-1942

New York University College of Medicine, M.D.

1942-1945

William Alan White Institute for Psychoanalysis
Certificate in psychoanalysis for physicians

1948-1953

Morrisania City Hospital, Rotating Internship

July 1945-April 1946

Montefiore Hospital, Residency in Neuropsychiatry

July 1948-June 1949

Bellevue Psychiatric Hospital, Residencies in Neurology
and Psychiatry

July 1949-December 1951

Hillside Hospital, Resident in Psychiatry

January 1952-December 1952

Mount Sinai and Hillside Hospitals, Fellow in
Neuropsychiatry; National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis
(also January 1951-December 1951)

January 1953-December 1953

�ACADEMIC and RESEARCH AWARDS
C. Charles Burlingame Award, Lecture, Institute for Living, CT 2019
Thomas William Salmon Award and Medal, New York
Academy of Medicine

2011

Honorary Member, Associazione Italiana per la Terapia
Elettroconvulsivante (AITEC)

2006

Honorary Member, European Forum for Electroconvulsive
Therapy (EFFECT)

2006

Honorary Fellow, International Pharmaco-EEG Society (IPEG) 2000
Fellow, Association for Convulsive Therapy

2000

Arrigo Prize for Lifetime Achievement in Neurophysiology,
University of Pavia

1998

Lifetime Achievement Award, Society of Biological Psychiatry 1996
Lifetime Achievement Award, Psychiatric Times and CME, Inc. 1995
Gold Medal Award of the Society of Biological Psychiatry

1988

Laszlo Meduna Prize of the Hungarian National Institute for
Nervous and Mental Diseases

1986

Taylor Manor Hospital Psychiatric Award

1983

Anna Moniker Foundation Prize for Contributions to the
Study of Endogenous Depression

1979

Samuel W. Hamilton Award, American Psychopathological
Association

1974

Alpha Omega Alpha, New York University

1973

A.E. Bennett Psychiatric Research Award, Society of
Biological Psychiatry

1958

Electroshock Research Association Award

1956

Elected Phi Beta Kappa and Alpha Pi
Christopher Coates Biology Prize
Phi Lambda Upsilon Chemistry Prize, New York University

1939-1942

2

�TEACHING AWARDS
“Teacher of the Year,” Department of Psychiatry
Stony Brook University

1992, 1993, 1996

MEMBERSHIPS
Distinguished Life Fellow
American Psychiatric Association (APA)
Secretary, Chairman, section on Brain Function and Behavior
Member, Task Force on Electroconvulsive Therapy
Nassau Neuropsychiatric Society
Suffolk County District Branch

1957, 1958, 1962
1975-1978, 1988-1990
1954-1962 (President, 1959)
1973-

Fellow
New York Academy of Medicine
American College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ACNP)
Association for Convulsive Therapy
International -Pharmaco-EEG (IPEG)
Vice President
Councillor
Honorary Fellow

1981-1984
1986-1990
2000

Senior Member
Society of Biological Psychiatry

1960

Member
American Psychopathological Association
Secretary
Vice President
President-Elect
President

1968-1971
1971-1972
1972-1973
1973-1974

Association for Convulsive Therapy
Chairman, Task Force on Ambulatory ECT

1995

Collegium Internationale Neuro-Psychopharmacologicum
(CINP)

1960

Deutsche EEG Gesellschaft

1962

International Brain Research Organization (IBRO)

1964

International Society for Psychoneuroendocrinology

1964

Instituto de Psiquatria y Psicologia de Montevideo

1964

World Federation of Societies of Biological Psychiatry
Chairman, Task Force on ECT

2002-2005

3

�EDITORIAL APPOINTMENTS
Founding Editor, Convulsive Therapy, 1984-1994
Editorial Board, 1995Contributing Editor
Comprehensive Psychiatry (1972-2000)
Currents Developments in Psychopharmacology
Directions in Psychopharmacology
Journal of Clinical Psychiatry (1980-1999)
Neuropsychiatry, Neuropsychology &amp; Behavioral Neurology (1988-2003)
Neuropsychology (Associate Editor, Pharmaco-EEG, 1983-1997)
Pharmacopsychiatry
Psychiatric Journal, University of Ottawa (1980-1992)
Clinical Pharmacology &amp; Therapeutics (1977-1981)
Psychopharmacologia (1975-1978)
Sleep &amp;Wakefulness (1978-1981)
PRIOR APPOINTMENTS
Academic
Assistant in Neurology, New York University

1952-1954

Research Professor of Psychiatry, Washington University

1962-1966

Professor of Psychiatry, University of Missouri

1963-1966

Visiting Professor
University of Istanbul
National Institute of Neurology of Mexico
University of California at Irvine
Organon Special Visiting Lectureship, Netherlands

1968, 1969
1969
1976
1988

Honorary Member, Societe Royale de Medecine Mentale
de Belgique

1969

Professor of Psychiatry, Albert Einstein College of Medicine

1998-2005

4

�Hospital
Staff Neurologist, Long Island Jewish Hospital
Associate Attending Neurologist, North Shore Hospital

1954-1959
1954-1962

Supervising Psychiatrist; Director of Research
Director, Department of Experimental Psychiatry
Hillside Hospital, Glen Oaks, NY

1954-1962

Director, Missouri Institute of Psychiatry, St. Louis, MO

1962-1966

Director, Division of Biological Psychiatry, NY
Medical College

1966-1973

Attending Psychiatrist
Metropolitan Medical Center
Flower &amp; Fifth Avenue Hospitals
Bird S. Coler Hospital
University Hospital, Stony Brook University

1965-1973
1966-1973
1966-1973
1980-1997

Consulting Psychiatrist
Grasslands Hospital
Central Islip Psychiatric Center
V.A. Hospital, Northport, NY

1971-1973
1974-1979
1972-1981

Director, Division of Clinical Sciences
Long Island Research Institute

1976-1983

Attending Psychiatrist, Department of Psychiatry
Long Island Jewish Hillside Hospital

1981-2005

CONSULTANT
Committee on Clinical Drug Evaluation
Psychopharmacology Service Center, NIMH

1962-1965

Division of Mental Diseases of the State of Missouri

1962-1966

VA-NIMH-SAODAP Collaborative Studies in Opiate
Dependence

1972-1974

Bureau of Drugs, Food &amp; Drug Administration

1970-1973

American Psychiatric Association Task Force on ECT

1975-1978

V.A. Merit Review Board on Behavioral Sciences

1977-1980

German BGA Commission of Pharmaco-EEG

1980-1981

NIMH Committee on Collaborative ECT Project

1980-1982

5

�National Academy of Sciences, National Research Council
Committee on Toxicology: Committee on Anticholinergic
Drugs Panel

1981-1982

U.S. Army Workshop on the Feasibility of Using
Incapacitating Agents Against Terrorists

1986

American Psychiatric Association Task Force on
Electroconvulsive Therapy

1988-1990

MILITARY SERVICE
Captain, U.S. Army Medical Corps.
School of Military Neuropsychiatry, Fort Sam Houston
Chief, NP Clinical Service, Fort Knox Station Hospital

1946-1947

PRIVATE PRACTICE
Ship Surgeon
Grace Line
American Export Line

1947-1948
1948

Neurology and Psychiatry
275 Middle Neck Road, Great Neck, NY

1954-1958

6

�PUBLICATIONS

1950
1. Subdural hematoma developing during hospitalization. Amer. J. Psychiat.,107: 381-383 (with M. Green).
2a. Patterns in perception of simultaneous tests of face and hand. Trans. Amer. Neurol. Ass., 75: 250
(with M.B. Bender and M. Green). (abstract).

1951
2b. …ibid., Arch. Neurol. Psychiat. (Chic.), 66: 355-362.
1952
3. The face-hand test as a diagnostic sign of organic mental syndrome. Neurology (Minneap.), 2: 46-58
(with M.B. Bender and M. Green).
4. Tactile perceptual tests in the differential diagnosis of psychiatric disorders. J. Hillside Hosp., 1: 21-31
(with M.B. Bender).
5. A clinical evaluation of carotid angiography. Contin Neurol. (Basel), 12: 181-195 (with J.M. Stein).
6a. Exosomesthesia, or displacement of cutaneous sensation into extra-personal space. Trans. Amer. Neurol.
Ass., 77: 260-262 (with M.F. Shapiro and M.B. Bender). (abstract).
6b. …ibid., Arch. Neurol. Psychiat. (Chic.), 68: 481-490.
7a. Order of dominance in cutaneous perception. Trans. Amer. Neurol. Ass., 77: 238-240 (with M.B. Bender
and M. Green). (abstract).
7b. Patterns of perceptual organization with simultaneous stimuli. Arch. Neurol. Psychiat. (Chic.), 72: 233255 (with M.B. Bender and M. Green), 1954.

1953
8. Perception of simultaneous tactile stimuli in normal children. Neurology (Minneap.), 3: 27-34
(with M. B. Bender).
9. Perception of simultaneous tactile stimuli by mentally defective subjects. J. Nerv. Ment. Dis., 117: 43-49
(with M.B. Bender and M. Green).
10. Spinal fluid findings following cerebral angiography. Neurology (Minneap.), 3: 137 (with J.M. Stein).
11. A statistical study of a psychoanalytic hypothesis: absence of a parent as a specific factor determining
choice of neurosis. J. Hillside Hosp., 2: 67-71 (with S. Tarachow).

7

�12. Effects of intravenous barbiturate on perception. Trans. Amer. Neurol. Ass., 78: 244-245
(with M.B. Bender, P. Bergman, and M. Nathanson). (abstract).
13. Homosexuality with panic and paranoid states case report. J. Hillside Hosp., 2: 164-190.

1954
14. Standardization of the face-hand test. Neurology (Minneap.), 4: 211-217 (with M. Green).

1955
15. The “Amytal test” in patients with mental illness. J. Hillside Hosp., 4: 3-13 (with R.L. Kahn and
E.A. Weinstein).
16. Delusional reduplication of parts of body after insulin coma therapy. J. Hillside Hosp., 4: 134-147
(with R.L. Kahn and D. Graubert).

1956
17. Relation of Amobarbital test to clinical improvement in electroshock. Arch. Neurol. Psychiat. (Chic.),
76: 23-29 (with R.L. Kahn and E.A. Weinstein).
18. Evaluation of high dose reserpine therapy for the relief of anxiety. J. Hillside Hosp., 5: 67-77
(with M. Wachspress, A.G. Blumberg, and J.S.A. Miller).
19. Relation of Changes in Memory and Learning to Improvement in Electroshock. Confin. Neurol. (Basel),
16: 88-96 (with H. Korin and S. Kwalwasser).
20. Denial of blindness following cerebral angiography. J. Hillside Hosp., 5: 238-245.
21a. Quantitative studies of slow wave activity following electroshock. Electroenceph. Clin. Neurophysiol.,
8: 158 with R.L. Kahn). (abstract).
21b. Relation of EEG delta activity to behavioral response in electroshock: quantitative serial studies. Arch.
Neurol. Psychiat. (Chic.), 78: 516-525, 1957 (with R.L. Kahn).

1957
22a. EEG and clinical response to Megimide. Electroenceph. Clin. Neurophysiol., 9: 180
(with M. Green). (abstract).
22b. Clinical and electroencephalographic effects of Megimide in patients without cerebral disease.
Neurology (Minneap), 8: 682-685 (with M. Green).
23. A unified theory of the action of physiodynamic therapies. J. Hillside Hosp., 6: 197-206.
24. Perception of embedded figures after induced altered brain function. American Psychologist, 12: 361
(with R.L. Kahn).
25. Social factors in selection of therapy in a voluntary mental hospital. J. Hillside Hosp., 6: 216-228
(with R.L. Kahn and M. Pollack).
8

�26. Role of stimulus intensity in perception of simultaneous cutaneous electrical stimuli. J. Hillside Hosp.,
6: 241-250 (with H. Korin).
Added 2/25/17 Soviet Medical Advances: Importance of making literature available to American scientists.
New York Times Letters, 15 Nov 1957, pg 26.

1958
27. Changes in language during electroshock therapy. In P.H. Hoch and J. Zubin (eds.), Psychopathology of
Communication. Grune and Stratton, New York, 1958: 126-139 (with R.L. Kahn).
28. Lateral gaze nystagmus as an index of the sedation threshold. Electroenceph. Clin. Neurophysiol., 10:
162-163.
29a. Effects of Diethazine on EEG and significance for theory of convulsive therapy. Electroenceph. Clin.
Neurophysiol. 10: 207-208. (abstract).
29b. Effect of anticholinergic agent, Diethazine, on EEG and behavior: significance for theory of convulsive
therapy. Arch. Neurol. Psychiat. (Chic.), 80: 380-387.
29c. ..ibid., In J.H. Masserman (ed.), Biological Psychiatry. Grune and Stratton, New York, 1959, 1: 184-194.
30. Experimental studies of the electroshock process. Dis. Nerv. Syst., 19: 113-118 (with R.L. Kahn and
M. Green).
31. Comparative study of Chlorpromazine and insulin coma in the therapy of psychosis. J. Amer. Med. Ass.,
166: 1846-1850 (with R. Shaw, G. Gross, and F.S. Coleman).
32. Electroencephalographic correlates of the electroshock process. Dis. Nerv.Syst., 19: 227 (with M. Green).
(abstract).
33a. Experimental studies of convulsive and drug therapies in psychiatry: theoretical implications.
Arch. Neurol. Psychiat. (Chic.), 80: 733-734 (with R.L. Kahn and M.A. Green). (abstract).
33b. Alteration of brain function in therapy. In N.S. Kline (ed.), Psychopharmacology Frontiers.
Little, Brown &amp; Co., Boston, 1959: 325-332.
34a. Effect of anticholinergic compounds on post-convulsive electroencephalogram and behavior.
Electroenceph. Clin. Neurophysiol.,10: 776. (abstract).
34b. Effect of anticholinergic compounds on post-convulsive electroencephalogram and behavior of
psychiatric patients. Electroenceph. Clin. Neurophysiol., 1960, 12: 359-369.

1959
35. Effects of diffuse altered brain function on perception. In Proc. XV Int. Congr. Psychol. North Holland,
Amsterdam: 238-239 (with R.L. Kahn and H. Korin). (abstract).
36. Psychological factors affecting individual differences in behavioral response to convulsive therapy.
J. Nerv. Ment. Dis., 128: 243-248 (with R.L. Kahn and M. Pollack).

9

�37a. Significance of EEG pattern changes in psychopharmacology. Electroenceph. Clin. Neurophysiol., 11:
398. (abstract) .
37b. EEG and behavioral effects of psychopharmacologic agents. In P. B. Bradley, P. Deniker, and
C. Radouco-Thomas (eds.), Neuro-Psychopharmacology. Elsevier, Amsterdam, 1959, 1: 441-446.
38a. Electroencephalographic and behavioral effects of Tofranil. Canad. Psychiat. Assoc. J., 4 Suppl.: 166171.
38b. …ibid., Electroenceph. Clin. Neurophysiol., 1960, 12: 243-244. (abstract).
39. Relation of tests of altered brain function to behavioral change following induced convulsions.
In L. van Bogaert and J. Radermecker (eds.), First International Congress of Neurological Sciences.
Pergamon Press, London, 1959, 3: 613-619 (with R.L. Kahn and H. Korin).
40. The Role of set in the perception of simultaneous tactile stimuli. Amer. J. Psychol., 72: 384-392
(with H. Korin).
41. Personality factors in behavioral responses to electroshock therapy. J. Neuropsychiat., 1: 45-49
(with R.L. Kahn).
42. Sociopsychologic aspects of psychiatric treatment in a voluntary mental hospital: duration of
hospitalization, discharge ratings and diagnosis. Arch. Gen. Psychiat., 1: 565-574 (with R.L. Kahn and
M. Pollack).

1960
43. Efficacy of divided and single dose schedules in insulin coma therapy. Amer. J. Psychiat., 116: 839-840
(with A.G. Blumberg and P. Laderman).
44. Changes in verbal transactions with induced altered brain function. J. Nerv. Ment. Dis., 130: 235-239
(with J. Jaffe and R.L. Kahn).
45. Drug induced changes in interview patterns: linguistic and neurophysiologic indices. In G.J. Sarwer-Foner
(ed.), The Dynamics of Psychiatric Drug Therapy. C.C. Thomas, Springfield, IL, 1960: 29-44
(with J. Jaffe and R.L. Kahn).
46. Social attitude California F Scale and convulsive therapy. J. Nerv. Ment. Dis., 130: 187-192
(with R.L. Kahn and M. Pollack).
47. Figure-ground discrimination after induced altered brain function. Arch. Neurol. (Chic.), 2: 547-551
(with R.L. Kahn and M. Pollack).
48. Prognostic value of Rorschach criteria in clinical response to convulsive therapy. J. Neuropsychiat., 1:
242-245 (with R.L. Kahn).

1961
49. Modification of psychotherapeutic transactions by altered brain function. Amer. J. Psychother., 15: 46-55
(with J. Jaffe, H. Esecover, R.L. Kahn).
10

�50. Neuropsychologic response patterns of some psychotropic drugs. In E. Rothlin (ed.), Neuropsychopharmacology. Elsevier, Amsterdam, 1961, 2: 381-384 (with M. Pollack, E. Karp, G. Krauthamer, and
D.F. Klein).
51. …ibid., Problems of antagonists to psychotropic drugs, 30-32.
52. Inhalant-induced convulsions. Arch. Gen. Psychiat., 4: 259-266 (with R.L. Kahn, E. Karp, M. Pollack,
M.A. Green, B. Alan, H.J. Lefkowits).
53. Behavioral patterns in convulsive therapy. Arch. Gen. Psychiat., 5: 30-36 (with R.L. Kahn).
54. Sociopsychological characteristics of patients who refuse convulsive therapy. J. Nerv. Ment. Dis., 132:
l53-l57 (with M. Pollack).
55. EEG techniques in study of psychotropic drugs. Acta of the Internationat. Meeting on the Techniques for
the Study of Psychotropic Drugs, Bologna, 1960. Societa Tipografica Modenese, Modena, 1961: 3pp.
56. Withdrawal symptoms following discontinuation of Imipramine therapy. Amer. J. Psychiat., 118: 549-550
(with J.C. Kramer and D.F. Klein).
57. Experimental psychiatric research at Hillside: review and prospect. J. Hillside Hosp., 10: 159-169.
58. Prediction of individual patient response to convulsive therapy. VA Cooperative Chemotherapy Studies in
Psychiatry, 6: 317-324.
59. Social aspects of psychiatric treatment in three hospitals: methodological problems. VA Cooperative
Studies in Psychiatry, 6: 202-206 (with M. Pollack, N. Siegel, and R.L. Kahn).
59b. Sociopsychological aspects of psychiatric treatment in three voluntary hospitals. A.M.A. Arch. Gen.
Psychiat., 14: 20-25 (with R.L. Kahn and N. Siegel).
60. Quantitative electroencephalography and human psychopharmacology: I. Frequency spectra and drug
action. Med. Exp. (Basel), 5: 364-369.

1962
61. The critical flicker frequency and EEG alpha: a reliability study. Electroenceph. Clin. Neurophysiol., 14:
60-63 (with E. Karp and M. Pollack).
62. The mode of action of convulsive therapy: the neurophysiologic-adaptive view. J. Neuropsychiat., 3:
231-233.
63. Disordered perception of simultaneous stimulation of face and hand: a review and theory. In J. Wortis
(ed.), Biological Psychiatry. Plenum Press, Inc., New York, 1962, 4: 362-369 (with M. Pollack).
64. Tachistoscopic perception after induced altered brain function: influence of mental set. J. Nerv. Ment.
Dis., 134: 422-430 (with M. Pollack, R.L. Kahn, and E. Karp).
65. Motivation for psychotherapy. Comprehens. Psychiat., 3: 170-173 (with N. Siegel).
66. Psychiatric reaction patterns to Imipramine (Tofranil). Amer. J. Psychiat., 119: 432-438
11

�(with D.F. Klein).
67. Behavioral reaction patterns with Phenothiazines. Arch. Gen. Psychiat., 7: 449-459 (with D.F. Klein).
68. The disposition of applications for psychotherapy in an out-patient clinic. Social-Casework, 43: 545-547
(with N. Siegel).
69. Social class, diagnosis, and treatment in three psychiatric hospitals. Social-Problems, 10: 191-196
(with N. Siegel, R.L. Kahn, and M. Pollack).
70. Imipramine as an adjunct to Phenothiazine therapy. Comprehens. Psychiat., 3: 377-380 (with J.C. Kramer
and D.F. Klein).

1963
71. EEG and human psychopharmacology. Abstracts of Proceedings of Symposium at Third World Congress
of Psychiatry, Montreal, 1961). Electroenceph. Clin. Neurophysiol., 15: 133-137.
72. Multiple item factors as change measures in psychopharmacology. Psychopharmacologia (Berl.), 4: 4352 (with D.F. Klein).
73. Quantitative electroencephalography in human psychopharmacology II: drug patterns. In G. Glaser (ed.),
EEG and Behavior. Basic Books, Inc., New York, 177-197.
74. Effects of Imipramine and Chlorpromazine on perceptual analytic ability, perceptual responsivity and
memory as revealed in Rorschach responses. J. Nerv. Ment. Dis., 137: 42-50 (with I. Belmont, M. Pollack,
and A. Willner).

1964
75. A selected bibliography of electroencephalography in human psychopharmacology, 1951-1962.
Electroenceph. Clin. Neurophysiol., Suppl. 23, 68 pp.
76. Comparative study of period analysis and frequency analysis of the electroencephalogram.
Electroenceph. Clin. Neurophysiol., 17: 454-455. (with N. Burch). (abstract).
77. Comparative studies of Chlorpromazine and Imipramine I: drug discrimination patterns. In P.B. Bradley,
F. Flugel, and P.H. Hoch (eds.), Neuro-Psychopharmacology. Elsevier, Amsterdam, 3: 370-372
(with M. Pollack, D.F. Klein, A.G. Blumberg, I. Belmont, E. Karp, J.C. Kramer, and A. Willner).
78. Comparative studies of Chlorpromazine and Imipramine II: psychological performance profiles.
In P.B. Bradley, F. Flugel, and P.H. Hoch (eds.), Neuro-Psychopharmacology. Elsevier, Amsterdam, 3: 373376 (with M. Pollack, E. Karp, I. Belmont and A. Willner).
79. Digital computer analysis of EEG using an IBM 1710 system. Electroenceph. Clin. Neurophysiol., 17:
712 (with D. Shapiro, D. Bridger and T. Itil). (abstract).

1965
80. Clinical efficacy of Chlorpromazine-Procyclidine combination, Imipramine and placebo in depressive
disorders. Psychopharmacolgia (Berl.), 7: 27-36 (with D.F. Klein and J. Kramer).

12

�81. Imipramine-induced behavioral disorganization in schizophrenic patients: physiological and psychological
correlates. In J. Wortis (ed.), Biological Psychiatry. Plenum Press, Inc., New York, 7: 53-6l (with M. Pollack,
D.F. Klein, A. Willner, and A.G. Blumberg).
82a. EEG analyses by digital computer, I: development of IBM 1710 System. Electroenceph. Clin.
Neurophysiol., 18: 520 (with T. Itil, D. Shapiro, and D. Bridger). (abstract).
82b. EEG analyses by digital computer, II: relation of pentothal induced changes to resting pattern.
Electroenceph. Clin. Neurophysiol., 18: 520-21 (with T. Itil). (abstract).
83. Quantitative EEG and human psychopharmacology, III: changes on acute and chronic administration of
Chlorpromazine, Imipramine and placebo saline. In W. P. Wilson: Applications of Electroencephalography in
Psychiatry. Duke University Press, Durham, North Carolina, 226-240.
84. Clinical neurophysiology. In D. Bente and P. Bradley (eds.), Neuro-Psychopharmacology, Elsevier,
Amsterdam, 4: 64-69.

1966
85. Klinische Untersuchungen und quantitative EEG-daten bei experimentellen Psychosen. ArzneimittelForsch., 16: 237-240 (with T. Itil).
86. Die Anwendung von Digital-Computer Methoden in der Psychopharmakologie. Arzneimittel-Forsch., 16:
297-299 (with T. Itil and D. Shapiro).
87. Trifluperidol in the treatment of psychosis. observations suggestive of anticholinergic activity at higher
dosages. J. New Drugs, 6: 174-181 (with A. Don, M. Stallings, T. Itil and J.M. Holden).
88. Cholinergic mechanisms in mental illness: anticholinergic hallucinogens. In J. Wortis (ed.), Recent
Advances in Biological Psychiatry, Plenum Press, Inc., N.Y., 8: 115-119.
89. …ibid., Drug induced or spontaneous psychopathological changes and the relationship to quantitative
electroencephalography, 8: 303 (with T. Itil and A. Keskiner). (abstract).
90. …ibid., Classification of psychosis by quantitative EEG measures, 8: 305-312 (with T. Itil and D. Clyde).
91. Cholinergic aspects of convulsive therapy. J. Nerv. Ment. Dis., 142: 475-484.
92. The question of dissociation of EEG and behavior with anticholinergic agents. Electroenceph. Clin.
Neurophsiol., 21: 41 (with T. Itil). (abstract).
93. Prolonged adverse reactions to LSD in psychotic subjects. Arch. Gen. Psychiat., 142: 450-454
(with J. Simeon, W. Haque, and T. Itil)
94. Behavior and quantitative EEG changes induced by hallucinogenic drugs. Proc. XVIII Int. Cong. Psychol.,
(Moscow) I: 224 (with T. Itil). (abstract).
95. Anticholinergic drug induced delirium experimental modification, quantitative EEG and behavioral
correlations. J. Nerv. Ment. Dis., 143: 492-507 (with T. Itil).
96. Therapeutic studies in therapy resistant schizophrenic patients. Comprehens. Psychiat., 7: 488-493
13

�(with T. Itil and A. Keskiner).

14

�1967
97. Clinical trial of Navane Thiothixene in schizophrenia. Curr. Ther. Res., 9: 10-16. (with J. Simeon,
A. Keskiner, D. Ponce, T. Itil).
98. Clinical laboratory test standards in new drug trials. J. Clin. Pharmacol. and New Drugs, 7: 1-8.
(with J. M. Holden, T. Itil, J. Simeon).
99. Organic treatment of schizophrenia. In Textbook of Psychiatry, A.M. Freedman and H. Kaplan (eds.).
Williams and Wilkins, Baltimore, pp. 661-664 (with T. Itil).
100a. …ibid., Computers and psychiatry, Chapter 5.2, pp. 232-238.
100b. …ibid., Human Behavior: Biological, Psychological, and Sociological, A.M. Freedman and H. Kaplan
(eds.), Atheneum, 1972, 450-460.
101a. Quantitative analysis of the electroencephalogram by digital computer methods. III. Applications to
psychopharmacology. VII IBM Medical Symposium, Poughkeepsie, IBM Press, pp. 263-290.
101b . …ibid., Computers and Electronic Devices in Psychiatry, N.S. Kline and E. Laska (eds.), Grune and
Stratton, 109-123, 1968 (with D.M. Shapiro, C. Hickman and T. Itil).
102. Through a mirror darkly. Review of Psychopathology of Perception. P.H. Hoch and J. Zubin (eds.),
N.Y., Grune and Stratton. Contemp. Psychol., 11: 536-538.
103. Altered sensitivity to centrally active drugs following lobotomy. In. J. Wortis (ed.), Biological
Psychiatry, Plenum Press, Inc. N.Y., 9: 157-170 (with T. Itil, J. Holden, A. Keskiner).
104. Effect of Sulthiame in schizophrenic patients. Proc. First Init. Cong. Acad. Psychosom. Med., E. Dunlop
(ed.) pp. 185-194, Amsterdam, Excerpta Med. Fdn. (with T. Itil, A. Keskiner).
105. Digital computer analysis of the human EEG in psychiatric research. Comprehens. Psychiat., 8: 521-538
(with T. Itil and D. Shapiro).
106a. EEG and behavioral aspects of the interaction of anticholinergic hallucinogens with centrally active
compounds. Anticholinergic Drugs and Brain Functions in Animals and Man, P. Bradley and M. Fink (eds.),
Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp. 149-168 (with T. Itil).
106b. Anticholinergic hallucinogens and their interaction with centrally active drugs.
Neuropsychopharmacology, H.Brill (ed.), Excerpta Medica, Amsterdam, pp. 381 (with T. Itil).
107. Anticholinergic drugs and brain function in animals and man. Neuro-psychopharmacology, H. Brill
(ed.), Excerpta Medica, Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp. 374-390.

108. Treatment of chronic psychotic patients with combined medications. Neuropsychopharmacology,
H. Brill (ed.), Excerpta Medica, Amsterdam, pp. 1016-1020 (with T. Itil, J. Holden, D. Shapiro, A. Keskiner).
109. EEG Patterns with combined drug treatments in psychotic patients. Turk J. Electroenceph. Clin.
Neurophysiol, 1: 1-9 (with T. Itil, G. Ulett).

15

�110. Anticholinergic Drugs and Brain Functions in Animals and Man, P. Bradley and M. Fink (eds.),
Progress in Brain Research, Vol. 28, Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp. 375, 1968.
111. Brain, behavior and anticholinergic drugs. Anticholinergic Drugs, and Brain Functions in Animals and
Man, P. Bradley and M. Fink (eds.), Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp. xii-xvi.
112. Quantitative EEG: A new dimension in psychopharmacology. Proceedings IV World Congress
Psychiat., Excerpta Med. Fdn., Amsterdam, pp. 338-339.
113a. The differentiation of tranquillizers by quantitative EEG. Electroenceph. Clin. Neurophysiol. 24 (with
T. Itil, D. Shapiro, C. Hickman, and N. Kiremitci). (abstract).
113b. Quantitative EEG Studies of Chlordiazepoxide, Chlorpromazine and Imipramine in volunteer and
schizophrenic subjects. Psychopharmacology of the Normal Human, W. Evans and N.S. Kline (eds.),
C.C. Thomas, Springfield, Chapter 9, pp. 219-238, 1969 (with T. Itil, D. Shapiro, N. Kiremitci, C. Hickman).
114. On-line computer classification of electronencephalographic sleep stages. Psychophysiology 4: 366
(with T. Itil, D. Shapiro, C. Hickman, N. Kiremitci and J.M.C. Holden). (abstract).
115. Cyclazocine and Methadone in narcotic addition. J.A.M.A., 202: 191-194 (with A.M. Freedman,
R. Sharoff and A. Zaks).
116a. Social class and prognosis of schizophrenia. Turk. Noro-Psikiyatri Arsivi, 4: 1-12. (with N. Freilich,
T. Itil).
116b. …ibid., The influence of family structure and attitudes on the course and prognosis of schizophrenia, 5:
1-10, 1968 (with N. Freilich, T. Itil, J. M. Holden).

1968
117. Neurophysiological Response Strategies in the Classification of Mental Illness in The Role of
Methodology of Classification in Psychiatry and Psychopathology, Katz, M.M., Cole, J.O., and Barton,
W.E. (eds.), Washington, DC Govt. Printing Office, pp. 535-540.
118. Long acting Phenothiazine (Fluphenazine Decanoate) in the treatment of psychosis. Arch. Gen.
Psychiat., 18: 477-481 (with A. Keskiner, J. Simeon, and T.M. Itil).
119. Clinical Studies of Cyclazocine in the Treatment of Narcotic Addiction. Amer. J. Psychiat., 124: 14991504 (with A.M. Freedman, R. Sharoff, and A. Zaks).
120. Naloxone in heroin dependence. Clin. Pharm. Therap., 9: 568-577 (with A. Zaks, R. Sharoff, A. Mora,
A. Bruner, S. Levit, A.M. Freedman).
121. Basic concepts and use of Cyclazocine in the treatment of narcotic addiction. Brit. J. Addict., 63: 59-69
(with A.M. Freedman).
122. Differentiation of psychotropic drugs by quantitative EEG analysis. Agressologie, 9: 267-280, 1968
(with T. Itil, D. Shapiro).
123. Thioridazine and Chlordiazepoxide, alone or combined, in the treatment of chronic schizophrenia.
Comp. Psychiat., 9: 633-643 (with J. Holden, T. Itil, A. Keskiner).

16

�124. EEG classification of psychoactive compounds in man: review and theory of behavioral associations.
Psychopharmacology: A Review of Progress, 1957-1967: D. Efron, J. Cole, J. Levine and J.B. Wittenborn
(eds.): U.S. Govt. Printing Office, Washington, DC, pp. 497-507.

1969
127. The human electroencephalogram: index of clinical activity of new psychoactive agents. Mod. Prob.
Pharmacopsychiat., 2: 106-110.
128. EEG and human psychopharmacology. Ann. Rev. Pharmacol., 9: 241-258.
129. Psychoactive drugs and the alert human EEG. Pakistan Medical Review 3: 29-40.
130. Digital computer classifications of EEG sleep states. Electroenceph. Clin. Neurophysiol. 27: 76-83
(with T. Itil, D.M. Shapiro, D. Kassebaum).
131. Intravenous Diacetylmorphine (Heroin) in studies of opiate dependence. Dis. Nerv. Syst. Suppl., 30: 8992 (with A. Zaks, A. Bruner, A. Freedman).
132. High dose Chlordiazepoxide therapy of anxiety. Curr. Therap. Res., 11: 9-14 (with M. Taylor, M. Spero,
J. Simeon).
133. Liquid Butaperazine response in the treatment of chronic psychosis in a mental health clinic. Curr.
Therap. Res. 11: 57-63 (with G. Clare, J. Simeon, ).
134. High dose Tybamate therapy of heroin dependence. J. Clin. Pharmacol. New Drugs. 9: 232-238
(with F. Veress, V. Major, A. Freedman).
135. Narcotic antagonists and substitutes in opiate dependence. The Present Status of Psychotropic Drugs.
A. Cerletti and F.J. Bove (eds.), Excerpta Med. Fdn., Amsterdam, 428-431 (with A. Freedman, A. Zaks,
R. Sharoff, R. Resnick).
136. Clinical and EEG studies of Doxepin: an interim report. Psychosomatics, 10: 14-17 (with J. Simeon,
M. Spero).
137. High and very high dose Fluphenazine in the treatment of chronic psychosis. In The Present Status of
Psychotropic Drugs, A. Cerletti and F. J. Bove (eds.), Excerpta Med. Fdn., Amsterdam, 495-497
(with N. Polvan, V. Yagcioglu, T. Itil).
138a. EEG Patterns as an index of clinical activity of psychoactive drugs. Electroenceph. Clin. Neurophysiol.,
27: 710 (with D.M. Shapiro). (abstract).
138b. Drugs, EEG and behavior. Drugs and the Brain, P. Black (Ed.), Baltimore, Johns Hopkins Press,
Chapter X, pp. 149-160.
139. Electroencephalograms, mental state and psychoactive drugs. Pharmacol. for Physicians.
W.B. Saunders, Philadelphia, 3 (5): 1-5.
140. Electroencephalographic effects of Trifluperidol. Dis. Nerv. Syst., 30: 524-540 (with T. Itil).
141. EEG Patterns of Cyclazocine, a narcotic antagonist. In Neurophysiological and Behavioral Aspects of
Psychotropic Drugs, A. Karczmar and W.P. Koella (eds.), C.C. Thomas, Philadelphia, Chapter 4, pp. 62-71
17

�(with T. Itil, A. Zaks, A.M. Freedman).
142. Neuropharmacological analysis of agonistic actions of cyclazocine in rabbits. Biol. Psychiat., 1: 217-330
(with R.P. White, W.G. Drew).
143. Anxiety precipitated by lactate. New Eng. J. Med., 281:1429 (with M.A. Taylor and J. Volavka). (letter).

1970
144. Antagonists in the treatment of opiate dependence. In Modern Trends in Drug Dependence and
Alcoholism, R.V. Phillipson, (ed.), Butterworth, London, pp. 49-59 (with A.M. Freedman).
145. Clinical antidepressant activity of Cyclazocine: a narcotic antagonist. Clin. Pharmacol. Therap., 11: 4148 (with J. Simeon, T. Itil, and A.M. Freedman).
146. A Cyclazocine typology in opiate dependence. Amer. J. Psychiat., 126: 1256-1260 (with R. Resnick,
A.M. Freedman).
147. d-Cycloserine therapy of psychosis by symptom provocation. Comprehens. Psychiat. 11: 80-88
(with J. Simeon, T. Itil, D. Ponce).
148. A comparison of Doxepin and Chloridiazepoxide in the therapy of anxiety. Curr. Therap. Resch., 4: 201211 (with J. Simeon, M. Spero, O. Nikolovski).
149. Depot Fluphenazine facilitation of treatment of psychosis. In Changing Patterns in Psychiatric Care, T.
Rothman (ed.), Crown, N.Y., 176-185 (with J. Simeon, A. Keskiner, T.M. Itil).
150. Narcotic antagonists in opiate dependence. Science, 169: 1005-1006.
151a. Blockade with Methadone, Cyclazocine and Naloxone. Int. J. Addictions, 5: 507-515
(with A.M. Freedman, A. Zaks, R. Resnick).
151b. …ibid., In Einstein, S. Methadone Maintenance, New York, M. Dekker, 161-170, 1971.
152a. Treatment of heroin dependence with opiate antagonists. In Masserman, J. (ed.), Current Psychiatric
Therapies, Grune and Stratton, N.Y., 161-170 (with A. Zaks, R. Resnick and A.M. Freedman).
152b. …ibid., In R.M. Suinn and R.G. Weigl (eds.): Innovative Medical Psychiatric Therapies. Baltimore,
University Park Press, 51-60, 1976.
153. Electrographic effects of Diacetylmorphine Heroin and Naloxone in man. Neuropharm., 9: 587-593
(with J. Vo1avka, A. Zaks, J. Roubicek).
154. Technology in psychiatric research. In S. Merlis (Ed.): Non-Scientific Constraints in Medical Research,
Raven Press, New York, pp. 91-96.
155a. Lateralized EEG changes after induced convulsions. Electroenceph. Clin. Neurophysiol., 29: 324
(with J. Roubicek, J. Volavka, R. Abrams). (abstract).
155b. Lateralized EEG changes after unilateral and bilateral electroconvulsive therapy. Dis. Nerv. Syst., 31
(11) Suppl.: 28-33 (with R. Abrams, J. Volavka, J. Roubicek, R. Dornbush).

18

�1971
156. Depot Fluphenazine in the treatment of psychosis in a community mental health clinic. Dis. Nerv. Syst.,
31 (9) Suppl.: 28-3l (with L. Bucci, M. Fuchs, J. Simeon).
157. Long-acting depot Phenothiazines in emergency and maintenance therapy of psychosis. In The Role of
Drugs in Community Psychiatry, C. Shagass (ed.), Karger, Basel. Mod. Probl. Pharmacopsychiat., 6: 78-82.
158. Memory changes after unilateral and bilateral convulsive therapy. Brit. J. Psychiat., 119: 75-78
(with R. Dornbush, R. Abrams).
159. Naloxone treatment of opiate dependence. JAMA, 215: 2108-2110 (with A. Zaks, T. Jones,
A.M. Freedman).
160. Opiate antagonists in the treatment of Heroin dependence in man. In Narcotic Drugs, Biochemical
Pharmacology, Clouet, D. (ed.), Plenum Publ. Co., New York, pp. 468-477 (with A. Zaks, R. Resnick, and
A. M. Freedman).
161. …ibid., Electrophysiological Studies of Opiates and Antagonists in Man, pp. 452-467 (with A. Zaks,
J. Volavka. J. Roubicek).
162a. A rational therapy of opiate dependence: narcotic antagonists. Amer. J. Nursing, 71: 1359-1363
(with A.M. Freedman, A. Zaks, R. Resnick).
162b. …ibid., In The Nurse in Community Mental Health, E. P. Lewis and M. H. Browning (eds.), New York,
Amer. J. Nursing Co., 283-293, 1972.
162c. …ibid., J. Psychedelic Drugs, 4: 157-161.
163. Narcotic antagonists in the treatment of opiate dependence. Int. Z. Klin. Pharm. Therap. u. Tox., 4: 455458 (with A. Zaks, R. Resnick, A.M. Freedman).
164. Toward a rational theory of behavior. Career Directions in Psychiatry; 1: 22-29.
165. Computer Aided Interactive Psychiatric Diagnosis Programs. New York, Biodata, Inc., 75 pp.
(with D. M. Shapiro, S. Feldstein).
166a. Marijuana, memory and perception. Amer. J. Psychiat. 128: 194-198 (with R. Dornbush,
A.M. Freedman).
166b. …ibid., In E.L. Abel (ed.): Marijuana, Memory and Perception. New York, MSS Information Corp.,
23-26, 1973.
167. Marijuana, EEG and behavior. In Marijuana: Chemistry, Pharmacology, and Patterns of Social Use.
A. Singer and S. Yolles (eds.), Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci., 191: 206-215 (with J. Volavka, R. Dornbush,
S. Feldstein, G. Clare, A. Zaks, A. Freedman).
168. Cyclazocine therapy of opiate dependence: a progress report. Comprehens. Psychiat., 12: 491-502 (with
R. Resnick, A.M. Freedman).
169a. EEG profile analysis for psychopharmacology: a progress report. Electroenceph. Clin. Neurophysiol.
31: 105 (with D.M. Shapiro). (abstract).
19

�169b. Discussion, quantitative EEG. Clin. Electroenceph., 2: 116 (letter).
170. Evidence for a characteristic EEG frequency response to Thiopental. Electroenceph. Clin. Neurophysiol.
31: 149-153 (with J. Schwartz, S. Feldstein, D.M. Shapiro, and T. Itil).
171. EEG profiles of Fenfluramine, Amobarbital and Dextroamphetsmine in normal volunteers.
Psychopharmacologia Berl. 22: 369-383 (with D.M. Shapiro and T.M. Itil).
172. Drugs and cerebral function, W.C. Smith (ed.), Book review, Electroenceph. Clin. Neurophysiol., 31:
195.
173. Duration of methadone induced cross-tolerance to heroin. Br. J. Addict., 66: 205-208 (with A. Zaks,
A.M. Freedman).
174. An author seduced? Book review, Seduction, A Conceptual Model in the Drug Dependencies and Other
Contagious Social Ills, P. Blachly. Contemp. Psychol., 16: 721.

1972
175. Convulsive Therapy (ed.). Seminars in Psychiatry 4: 1. Grune &amp; Stratton, Inc., New York, 70 pp.
176. The therapeutic process in induced convulsions ECT. Seminars in Psychiatry, 4: 39-46.
177. Answers to questions about ECT. Seminars in Psychiatry, 4: 33-38 (with R. Abrams).
178. CNS Effects of convulsive therapy: significance for a theory of depressive psychosis. In J. Zubin and F.
Freyhan (eds.): Disorders of Mood, John Hopkins, Baltimore, pp. 93-112.

20

�179a. EEG and clinical change after bilateral and unilateral electroconvulsive Therapy. Electroenceph. Clin.
Neurophysiol., 32: 631-639 (with J. Volavka, S. Feldstein, R. Abrams).
179b. …ibid., 32: 251-252. (abstract).
180. Clinical experiences with multiple electroconvulsive treatments. Comprehens. Psychiat., 13: 115-121
(with R. Abrams).
181. Unilateral and bilateral ECT: effects on depression, memory and the electroencephalogram. Arch. Gen.
Psychiat. 27: 88-94 (with R. Abrams, R.L. Dornbush, S. Feldstein, J. Volavka, J. Roubicek).
182a. A rational therapy of opiate dependence: narcotic antagonists. In C.J.D. Zarafonetis (ed.),
Drug Abuse: Proceedings of the International Conference, Lea &amp; Febiger, Philadelphia, 171-176.
182b. …ibid., Discussion, 177-188.
183. Clinical status of the narcotic antagonists in opiate dependence. In H. Kosterlitz, H.O.J. Collier, and J.
Villareal (eds.): Agonist and Antagonist Actions of Narcotic Analgesic Drugs, London, MacMillan, pp. 266276 (with A. Freedman, R. Resnick, and A. Zaks).
184. Opiate dependence: treatment and prophylaxis. In H.M. van Praag (ed.): Biochemical and
Pharmacologic Aspects of Dependence and Reports on Marijuana Research, Amsterdam, Ervin F. Bohn, pp.
85-99.
185. …ibid., Cannabis psychosis,194-204 (with A.M. Freedman).
186. Selective drug therapies in clinical psychiatry: neuroleptic, anxiolytic, and antimanic Agents. In Treating
Mental Illness: Aspects of Modern Therapy, A. M. Freedman and H. Kaplan, (eds.), New York, Atheneum,
pp. 287-309 (with R. Abrams).
187. Levomethadyl in maintenance treatment of opiate dependence. JAMA, 220: 811-813 (with A. Zaks,
A.M. Freedman).
188. Treatment and prevention of opiate dependence with narcotic antagonists. Contemp. Drug Probl. 1: 245262.
189. EEG effects of drug of dependence. In S.J. Mule and H. Brill (eds.). Clinical and Biological Aspects of
Drug Dependence, Cleveland, Ohio, Chemical Rubber Co., 379-387.
190. EEG indices of CNS bioavailability of psychoactive drugs. Electroenceph. Clin. Neurophysiol., 33: 246247 (with D. M. Shapiro). (abstract).
191. Clinical evaluation of GP-41299: an antianxiety agent of the Doxepin type. Arzneimittel-Forschung, 22:
1903-1905 (with P. Gaztanaga, R. Abrams, J. Simeon, T. Jones).
192. Heroin maintenance. JAMA, 221: 602. (letter).
193. Heroin maintenance. Contemp. Drug. Probl., 1: 875-877.
194. Effects of delta-nine-tetrahydrocannabinol on EEG, heart rate, and mood. Electroenceph. Clin.
Neurophysiol. 33: 453 (with J. Volavka, R. Dornbush , S. Feldstein). (abstract).

21

�195. 21-day administration of marijuana in male volunteers. In M. F. Lewis (ed.): Current Research in
Marijuana, pp. 115-128, New York, Academic Press (with R.L. Dornbush, G. Clare, A. Zaks, P. Crown,
J. Volavka).

1973
196. Quantitative EEG classification of psychoactive drugs in Man. In U.J. Jovanovic (ed.), The Nature of
Sleep, Stuttgart, G. Fisher, pp. 76-78.
197. Methadone relatives and substitutes. J.A.M.A., 223: 80. (letter).
198. The electroencephalogram in clinical psychiatry. In J. Mendels (ed.): Biological Psychiatry,
J. B. Lippincott, N.Y. pp. 33l-344.
199. EEG seizure patterns during multiple unilateral and bilateral ECT. Comprehens. Psychiat., 14: 25-28
(with R. Abrams, J. Volavka).
200. Prediction of clinical response to ECT. Brit. J. Psychiatry, 122: 457-461 (with R. Abrams, S. Feldstein).
201. Heroin maintenance, panel discussion. Contemp. Drug. Probl., 2: 165-200.
202. Drugs, EEG, and behaviour: EEG profiles and bioavailability measures for clinical
psychopharmacology. Electroenceph. clin. Neurophysiol., 34: 754. (abstract).
203. EEG, heart rate and mood change “high” after cannabis. Psychopharmacologia, 32:11-25
(with J. Volavka, P. Crown, R. Dornbush, S. Feldstein).
204. Psychological differentiation and the response of opiate addicts to pharmacological treatment. Brit. J.
Addic., 68: 151-157 (with S. Feldstein, P. Chester).
205. Narcotic antagonists. In National Commission on Marijuana and Drug Abuse, Drug Use in America:
Probtem in Perspective, Washington, DC, U.S. Government Printing Office, Appendix, IV: 143-157.
206. Levomethadyl Acetate: prolonged duration of opioid effects, including cross-tolerance to heroin, in man.
J.A.M.A., 226: 316-318 (with R. Levine, A. Zaks, A., A.M. Freedman).
207. Levomethadyl (LAAM): a long-acting substitute for methadone in maintenance therapy of opiate
dependence. In J. Masserman (ed.), Current Psychiatric Therapies, XIII:151-155. New York, Grune &amp;
Stratton.
208. How shocking is shock therapy? Editorial, Biological Psychiatry, 7: 79-80.
209. Drug models in schizophrenia. In J. O. Cole, A. M. Freedman, and A. J. Friedhoff (eds.),
Psychopathology and Psychopharmacology, Baltimore, Johns Hopkins Press, 1973, pp. 108-111.
210. Effects of cannabis on human EEG and heart rate: evidence of tolerance development on chronic use.
In T.A. Ban, et al. (eds.), Psychopharmacology, Sexual Disorders, and Drug Abuse. Prague, Avicenum, pp.
703-704.
211. Questions in Cyclazocine therapy of opiate dependence. In S. Fisher and A. M. Freedman (eds.), Opiate
Addiction: Origins and Treatment. Washington, DC, V. H. Winston and Sons, pp. 203-210.

22

�1974
212. Psychobiology of Convulsive Therapy. Washington, DC, V.H. Winston and Sons (with S. Kety,
J. McGaugh, and T. Williams (eds.), 312 pp.
213. …ibid., Induced seizures and human behavior, pp. 1-18.
214. …ibid., Clinical progress in convulsive therapy, pp. 271-278.
215. EEG applications in psychopharmacology. In M. Gordon (ed.), Psychopharmacological Agents Vol. III).
Academic Press, New York, pp. 159-174.
216. Simultaneous tactile perception in patients with conversion sensory deficits. J. Mt. Sinai Hosp., 41:141143 (with M.A. Green).
217. High dose Cyclazocine therapy of opiate dependence. Amer. J. Psychiat. 131: 595-597 (with R. Resnick,
A.M. Freedman).
218. Psychoactive drugs, brain function, and human behavior. Proc. World Congress Psychiatry, Amsterdam,
Excerpta Medica, pp. 747-750.
219a. Brain function, verbal behavior, and psychotherapy. Comprehensive Psychiatry, 15: 257-266.
219b. …ibid., In R. Spitzer and D.F. Klein (eds.): Evaluation of Psychological Therapies. Baltimore, Johns
Hopkins Press, 1976, pp. 74-88.
220. Induced seizures. Book review: Neurochemistry of Cerebral Electroshock, W.B. Essman. Science, 184:
789.
221. Book review: International Rev. Neurobiology, Vol. 15. Electroenceph. Clin. Neurophysiol. 36: 557-558,
1974.
222. Short-term effects of heroin on Man. Arch. Gen. Psychiat. 30: 677-684 (with J. Volavka, R. Levine,
S. Feldstein).
223. EEG and task performance after heroin in post-addicts. Electroenceph. Clin. Neurophysiol. 37: 195-196
(with J. Volavka, R. Levine, M. Komlosi). (abstract).
224. EEG profiles and bioavailability measures of psychoactive drugs. In T. Itil (ed.): Psychotropic Drugs
and the Human EEG. Modern Problems in Pharmacopsychiatry, Basel, S. Karger, pp. 76-98.
225. Polypeptide influences on attention, memory, and anxiety in man. Pharmacol. Biochem. and Behavior,
2: 663-668 (with L. Miller, A. Kastin, C.A. Sandman, W.T. Van Veer).
226. Psychiatric diagnosis: phenotypic or pathophysiologic? Editorial. Biological Psychiatry 9: 227-229.
227. Cerebral electrometry in phase I assessment of psychoactive drugs. In W.B. Essman and L.Valzelli
(eds.): Current Developments in Psychopharmacology, New York, Spectrum Publn., pp. 301-316.

23

�228. Electrophysiologic measures for phase I psychopharmacology in man. In G. McMahon (ed.): Principles
and Techniques of Human Research and Therapeutics, vol. VIII: Psychopharmacological Agents, Mt. Kisco,
N.Y., Futura Publishing, pp. 19-30.
229. Marijuana, hashish, and Tetrahydrocannabinol-delta-9: effects on EEG, heart rate, and Mood. J. Psycho.
Res.10: 159 (with J. Volavka, P. Crown, R. Dornbush). (abstract).

1975
230. Narcotic antagonist therapy of opiate dependence. In R.W. Richter (ed.): Medical Aspects of Drug
Abuse, New York: Harper and Row, pp. 160-166.
231. Public hysteria and medical practice. Letter. JAMA 232: 1126, 1975 (with L. Koran, M.G. Miller).
232. New strategies of psychotropic drug evaluation. In T. Vossenaar (ed.): Proceedings of a Symposium on
Depressive Illness. Amsterdam. Excerpta Medica, pp. 44-54.
233. Clinical evaluation of narcotic antagonism in man. In S. Ehrenpreis and M. Neidle (eds.): Methods in
Narcotics Research. New York, M. Dekker, pp. 337-346.
234. Book review: Psychotropic Drugs and the Human EEG (eds.T.M. Itil, S. Karger), Basel, 1974.
Comprehensive Psychiatry 16: 499-500.
235. Fenmetozole DH-524: Euphoriant classified by cerebral electrometry Curr. Therap. Res. 18: 590-596
(with P. Irwin).
236. Prediction of clinical activity of drugs in man. In Sudilovsky A., Gershon, S. and Beer, B. (eds.)
Predictiveness in Psychopharmacology: Preclinical and Clinical Correlations. New York, Raven Press,
pp. 65-87.
237. …ibid., EEG classification of a novel anorexigenic: PRF-36-CL, comparison with placebo,
Dextroamphetamine, and Fenfluramine, 89-103 (with P. Irwin, and P. Sibony).
238. Cerebral electrometry: quantitative EEG applied to human psychopharmacology. In H. Kunkel and
G. Dolce (eds.): CEAN - Computerized EEG Analysis. Stuttgart, G. Fischer, 271-288.
239. The effects of extreme high dosage Fluphenazine on resistant schizophrenics in two different countries.
In T.M. Itil (ed.): Transcultural Neuropsychopharmacology. Istanbul, Bozak Press, 95-100 (with T. Itil,
N.O. Polvan).

1976
240. Chronic hashish use and mental disorder. Am. J. Psychiat. 133: 225-227 (with C. Stefanis, A. Liakos,
J. Boulougouris, A.M. Freedman).
241a. Quantitative EEG studies of marijuana, delta-nine-Tetrahydrocannabinol, and hashish in man.
In M.C. Braude and S. Szara (eds.): The Pharmacology of Marijuana. New York, Raven Press, 383-391
(with J. Volavka, C.P. Panayioutopolis, and C. Stefanis).
241b. …ibid., Electroenceph. Clin. Neurophysiol. 42: 430, 1977. (abstract).

24

�242. Controlled clinical and quantitative EEG Studies of Triflubazam (ORF-8063) in patients with anxiety.
Curr. Therap. Res. 19: 307-315 (with T. Itil, S. Akpinar, N. Polvan, M. Huque, and K. Sungerbey).
243. Antipsychiatrists and ECT. (letter). Brit. Med. J. 1: 280, Jan 31, 1976.
244. Concentration of 5-Hydroxyindoleacetic Acid, Homovanillic Acid, and Tryptophan in the cerebrospinal
fluid of depressed patients before and after ECT. Biol. Psychiat. 11: 85-90 (with R. Abrams, W.B. Essman,
M.A. Taylor).
245. Book review: LSD: A Total Study, S. Sankar. Westbury, New York, PJD Publications, 1975. Amer. J.
Psychiat 133: 593-594.
246. Book review: Safeguarding Psychiatric Privacy, E.M. Laska and R. Blank (eds.), New York, John Wiley
&amp; Sons, 1975, Amer. J. Psychiat. 133: 726-727.
247. Pharmacokinetic analysis of quantitative EEG data. In Rationality of Drug Development. Amsterdam,
Excerpta Medica #383, 177-180 (with P. Irwin and M. Gastpar).
248. Relation of EEG to blood levels of psychoactive drugs. In L. Gottschalk and S. Merlis (eds.):
Pharmacokinetics, Blood Levels, and Clinical Response. New York, Spectrum Publications, 243-250
(with P. Irwin).
249. Blood levels and EEG effects of Diazepam and Bromazepam. Clin. Pharm. Therap. 20: 184-191
(with P. Irwin, R. Weinfeld, M. Schwartz, A. Conney).
250a. EEG and Blood Level Correlations for Psychoactive Drugs. In M. Matejcek and G.K. Schenk (eds.):
Quantitative Analyses of EEG. Konstanz, Switzerland, AEG Telefunken, 119-126 (with P. Irwin).
250b. Electroencephalographic measures for pharmacodynamic analysis of psychoactive drugs in Man.
In P. Deniker, C. Radouco-Thomas, and A. Villeneuve (eds.): Neuropsychopharmacology. Oxford, England,
Pergamon Press, 1203-1207, 1978.

251. An empirical comparison of three EEG digital conversion techniques. In M. Matejcek and G.K. Schenk
(eds.): Quantitative Analysis of EEG. Konstanz, Switzerland, AEG Telefunken, 379-394 (with P. Irwin).
252. Chronic Cannabis Use. Edited by R.L. Dornbush, A.M. Freedman and M. Fink, Annals N.Y. Academy of
Sciences, 282: 430 pp.
253. Effects of acute and chronic inhalation of hashish, marijuana, and THC-delta-9 on brain electrical
activity in man: evidence for tissue tolerance. In R. Dornbush, A. Freedman and M. Fink (eds.): Chronic
Cannabis Use. Annals N.Y. Academy of Sciences 282: 387-398.
254. Summary. Chronic cannabis use. Annals N. Y. Academy of Sciences 282: 427-430.
255a. EEG and task performance after ACTH 4-10 in man. Neuropsychobiology 2: 293-290
(with W. Sannita, P. Irwin).
255b. EEG and behavioral effects of ACTH 4-10 in normal volunteers. Electroenceph. Clin. Neurophysiol.
50: 2-3, 1980 (with W. Sannita, P. Irwin). (abstract).

25

�1977
256. CNS sequellae of EST: risks of therapy and their prophylaxis. In C. Shagass, S. Gershon and
A. Friedhoff (eds.): Psychopathology and Brain Dysfunction. New York, Raven Press, 223-239.
257. EST: a special case in pharmacotherapy. In W.E. Fann, I. Karacen, A.D. Pokorny and R.C. Williams
(eds.): Phenomenology and Treatment of Depression. New York, Spectrum Publications, 285-294.
258. The treatment of narcotic poisoning. In H.F. Conn (ed.): Current Therapy, 1977. Philadelphia,
W.B. Saunders, 894-895 (with A. Zaks).
259. Hypothalamic peptides and brain function. In E. Usdin, D. Hamburg, and J. Barchas (eds.)
Neuroregulators and Psychiatric Disorders. New York, Oxford Press, 296-298.
260. Hashish: A Study of Long-Term Use. C. Stefanis, R. Dornbush, and M. Fink (eds.). New York,
Raven Press, 181 pp.
261. …ibid., Medical studies in long-term hashish users. II. Clinical electroencephalography and
echoencephalography, 59-62 (with C.P. Panayiotopoulos, J. Volavka, C. Stefanis).
262. …ibid., Acute EEG effects of cannabis preparations in long-term users, 79-90 (with J. Volavka,
C.P. Panayiotopoulos).
263. …ibid., Study of long-term hashish users in Greece: Summary and Discussion,151-158.
264. Book review: Marihuana Chemistry, Biochemistry, and Cellular Effects. G.C. Nahas, W.D.M. Paton,
and J.E. Idanpaan-Heikkila (eds.). New York, Springer-Verlag, 1976. Quart. Rev. Biol. 52: 236.
265. Quantitative EEG analysis and psychopharmacology. In Remond, A. (ed.): EEG Informatics.
A Didactic Review of Methods and Applications of EEG Data Processing. Amsterdam, Elsevier, 301-308.
266. EEG, blood level, and behavioral effects of the antidepressant Mianserin (Org GB 94).
Psychopharmacologia 54: 249-254 (with P. Irwin, M. Gastpar, and H. de Ridder).
267. Myths of “shock therapy.” Amer. J. Psychiat. 134: 991-996.

1978
268. Comments on report by P. Simon. In P. Deniker, C. Radouco-Thomas, and A. Villeneuve (eds.):
Neuropsychopharmacology. Oxford England, Pergamon Press, 215-217.
269. Psychoactive drugs and the waking EEG. In M.A. Lipton, A. DiMascio, and K.F. Killam (eds.):
Psychopharmacology: A Generation of Progress. New York, Raven Press, 691-698.
270. EEG response strategies in psychiatric diagnosis. In Spitzer, R. and D.F. Klein (eds.): Critical Issues in
Psychiatric Diagnosis. New York, Raven Press, 253-263.
271. EEG study of Mianserin (GB-94) in depressed patients. Brit. J. Clin. Pharmacol. 5 Supplement (1): 43S49S (with P. Irwin).

26

�272. Sieben jahre klinische erfahrung mit opiat-antagonisten bei Opiatabhangigkeit. In W.F. Biniek (ed.):
Drogenabhangigkeit. Darmstadt, Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 422-431.
273. Efficacy and safety of induced seizures (EST) in man. Comprehens. Psychiat. 19: 1-18.
274. ECT in metropolitan New York hospitals: A survey of practice 1975-1976. Amer. J. Psychiat. 135: 479482 (with G.M. Asnis, S. Saferstein).
275. Is EST a useful therapy of schizophrenia? In J.P. Brady and H.K.H. Brodie (eds.): Controversy in
Psychiatry. Philadelphia, W.B. Saunders Co., 183-193.
276. Electroshock therapy: myths and realities. Hosp. Pract. 13: 77-82.
277. EEG and psychopharmacology. In Cobb, W.A. and van Duijn, H. (eds.): Contemporary Clinical
Neurophysiology Suppl. 34, Electroenceph. Clin. Neurophysiol. 45: 41-56.
278. Book review: Neuropeptide Influences in the Brain and Behavior. Adv. Biochem. Pharmacol. 17:
L.H. Miller, C.A. Sandman and A.J. Kastin (eds.), New York, Raven Press, 298 pp, 1977. Quart. Rev. Biol.
53: 195.
279. Book review: Psychopharmacology. A Biochemical and Behavioral Approach. L.S. Seiden and
L.A. Dykstra (eds.), New York, Van Nostrand Co., 451 pp., 1977. Quart. Rev. Biol. 53: 196.
280. Book review: Psychotherapeutic Drugs. Part 1: Principles. Part 2: Applications. E. Usdin and
I.S. Forrest (eds.), New York, Marcel Dekker, 698+699 pp., 1976. Quart. Rev. Biol. 53: 210-211.
281. Book review: Hemi-Inattention and Hemisphere Specialization. E.A. Weinstein and R.P. Friedland
(eds.), New York, Raven Press, 156 pp., 1977. Quart. Rev. Biol. 53: 211.

1979
282a. Convulsive Therapy: Theory and Practice. New York, Raven Press, 308 pp.
282b. Convulsive Therapy: Theory and Practice. Published in Japanese translation, Tokyo, Seiwa Shoten, 394
pp., 1980.
283. Mania and electroseizure therapy (EST). In Shopsin, B. (ed.): Manic Illness. New York, Raven Press,
219-228.
284. A history of convulsive therapy. Psych. Jrl. Univ. Ottawa Fac. Med. 4: 105 - 110.
285. Efficacy of ECT. Lancet 2: 1303 -1304. (letter).
286. EST and other somatic therapies of schizophrenia. In L. Bellak (ed.): Disorders of the Schizophrenic
Syndrome. Basic Books, New York, 353-363.
287. CNS effects of the antihistamines, Diphenhydramine and Terfenadine RMI-9918. Pharmakopsych.
Neuro-Psychopharmakologie 12: 35, 44 (with P. Irwin).
288a. Phenytoin: EEG effects and plasma levels in volunteers. Therap. Drug Monitoring 1: 93-104
(with P. Irwin, W. Sannita, Y. Papakostas, M.A. Green).

27

�288b. EEG study of phenytoin in normal volunteers at non-toxic doses. Electroenceph. Clin. Neurophysiol.
49: 83 (abstract).
289a. EEG profile studies of clozapine in volunteers and psychiatric patients.
Pharmakopsych. Neuro-Psychopharmakologie 12: 184-190 (with P. Irwin and P. Weinhold).
289b. EEG effects of clozapine: Association or dissociation of EEG and behavior? NeuroPsychopharmacology. Oxford, Pergamon, 363-369. (abstract).
290. Anxiety, anxiolytics and the human EEG. In w. Fann, I. Karacen, A. Pokorny, and R.L. Williams, (eds.):
Phenomenology and Treatment of Anxiety. New York, Spectrum Publications, 237-250.
291. Neurobiology Group Report, Dahlem Conference. In K.S. Fu and T. Pavlidis (eds.): Biomedical Pattern
Recognition and Image Processing. Life Sciences Research Report 15. Verlag Chemie, Basel, 364-394
(with D.B. Cooper, M. Abeles, G. Bodenstein, et al.).
292. Normal prolactin responses in tardive dyskinesia. Psychopharmacology 66: 247-250 (with G.M. Asnis,
E.J. Sachar, G. Langer, F.S. Halpern).
293. Book review: Contemporary Research in Behavioral Pharmacology. D.E. Blackman and D.J. Sanger
(eds.), New York, Plenum Press, 506 pp., 1978. Quart. Rev. Biol. 54:118-119.
294. Book review: The Endorphins. Adv. Biochem. Pharmacol. 18. E. Costa and M. Trabucchi (eds.),
New York, Raven Press, 379 pp., 1978. Quart. Rev. Biol. 54: 119.
295. Book review: Rational Anti-epileptic Drugs Therapy. P.J.M. Guelen and E. van der Kleijn. Amsterdam,
Elsevier/North Holland. Trends in Neurosciences 2: 492-494.
296. Book review: Psychotropic Drugs: A Guide for the Practitioner. H.M. van Praag, New York,
Brunner/Maxel, 1978. Comprehens. Psychiat. 20 :494-495.

1980
297a. A neuroendocrine theory of convulsive therapy. Point of view. Trends in Neurosciences 3: 25-27.
297b. …ibid. Nervenheilkunde 1: 26-29, 1982.
297c. Convulsive therapy and depression: A neurohumoral and neuroendocrine theory. In Saletu, B. (ed.):
Neuro-Psychopharmacology. Oxford, Pergamon, 41-44. (abstract).
297d. A theory of convulsive therapy in endogenous depression: Significance of hypothalamic functions.
Psychiatry Research 2: 49-61 (with J.O. Ottosson),
298. Convulsive therapy and endogenous depression. Pharmakopsychiat. 13: 49-54.
299. Neuroendocrinology and ECT: A review of recent developments. Comprehens. Psychiat. 21: 450-459.
300. ECT, mood and hormones. In D. de Wied and P. A. van Keup (eds.): Hormones and the Brain.
MTP Press, Lancaster, England, 253-262.
301. Convulsive and drug therapies of depression. Ann. Rev. Med. 32: 405-412.

28

�302a. Neuroendocrine measures in psychiatric patients: Course and outcome with ECT. Psychiatry Research
4: 55-64 (with Y. Papakostas, J. Lee, P. Irwin, L. Johnson).
302b. Dexamethasone suppression test and outcome with ECT. In C. Perris, G. Struwe, and B. Jansson (eds.):
Biological Psychiatry 1981. 1075-1078, 1981.
303. Random thoughts about ECT. (editorial). Am. J. Psychiat. 138: 484-485.

1981
304. Toward a rational theory of behavior. Career Directions 7: 2-12.
305. An objective classification of psychoactive drugs. Prog. Neuro-Psychopharm. 4: 495-502.
306. EEG and behavioral profile of flutroline (CP-36,584), a novel antipsychotic drug. Psychopharmacology
72: 67-71 (with Peter Irwin).
307. EEG and behavioral effects of pirenzepine in normal volunteers. Scand. Jrl. Gastroenterol. 15
Supplement 66: 39-46 (with Peter Irwin).
308. Classification of psychotropic drugs: Quantitative EEG analysis in man. In van Praag, H.M., Lader,
M.H., Rafaelson, O.J. and Sachar, E.J. (eds.): Handbook of Biological Psychiatry. Volume VI. Marcel
Dekker, New York, 309-326.
309. The significance of quantitative pharmaco-electroencephalography in establishing dose-time relations
and its impact on clinical pharmacology: Critical review and perspectives. Psychopharm. Bull. 17:94.
(abstract).
310a. Lateral cerebral differences in psychotropic drug effects. Psychopharm. Bull.17:98. (abstract).
(with Peter Irwin).
310b. Do psychoactive drugs affect the EEG from the cerebral hemispheres differently? In C. Perris,
D. Kemali and L. Vacca (eds.): Electroneurophysiology and Psychopathology. S. Karger, Basel, Adv. Biol.
Psychiat 6: 121-125 (with P. Irwin).
311a. Critical flicker-fusion frequency, EEG, and psychoactive drugs. Psychopharm. Bull. 17: 103. (abstract).
(with P. Irwin).
311b. EEG, CFF and behavior. Pharmakopsychiatria 15: 36-38, 1982 (with P. Irwin).
312. A single measure of EEG spectral differences with heuristic value in assessing drug effect.
Electroenceph. Clin. Neurophysiol. 51: 32P (abstract). (with P. Irwin).
313. CNS effects of clonidine in normal volunteers. Psychopharm. Bulletin. 17: 16-17 (with P. Irwin).
314. Pharmaco-EEG and bioequivalence: A practical methodology for psychoactive drugs. Psychopharm.
Bulletin 17: 120-121.
315. Pharmacoelectroencephalographic study of brotizolam, a novel hypnotic. Clin. Pharm. Therap. 30: 336342 (with P. Irwin).

29

�316. EEG and behavioral effects of aspirin in asymptomatic volunteers. In C. Perris, G. Struwe, and
B. Jansson (eds.): Biological Psychiatry 1981, Elsevier, Amsterdam, 227-229 (with P. Irwin)
317. Clinical trials with des-Tyr-gamma-Endorphin GK-78. In C. Perris, G. Struwe, and B. Jansson (eds.):
Biological Psychiatry 1981, Elsevier, Amsterdam, 398-401 (with Y. Papakostas, J. Lee, T. Meehan,
L. Johnson).
318. Book review: The Psychosurgery Debate. E. S. Valenstein (ed.). W.H. Freeman &amp; Co., San Francisco,
1980. Amer. J. Psychiat. 138: 408-409.
319a. Book review: Divergent Views in Psychiatry. M. Dongier and E. D. Wittkower (eds.). Harper &amp; Row,
Hagerstown, MD, 1981. Am. J. Psychiat. 138: 1641.
319b. Divergent views of divergent views: Dr. Fink replies. (letter). Am. J. Psychiat. 139: 1219-1220, 1982.
320. Book review: Neural Peptides and Neuronal Communication. E. Costa and M. Trabucchi (eds.).
Raven Press, New York, 1980. Quart. Rev. Biol. 56: 98.
321. Book review: Differential Psychopharmacology of Anxiolytics and Sedatives. J. R. Boissier (ed.).
S. Karger, Basel, 1979. J. Nerv. Ment. Dis. 169: 469-470.
322. Book review: The Psychodynamic Approach to Drug Therapy. M. Ostow (ed.). Van Nostrand, Reinhold,
New York, 1980. Science Books and Films 16: 209.
323. Book review: Law and Ethics in the Practice of Psychiatry. C.K. Hofling (ed.). Brunner/Mazel, 1981.
Science Books and Films 17: 64-65.

1982
324. Mianserin. In H. Lehmann (ed.): Non-MAOI and Non-Tricyclic Antidepressants. S. Karger, Basel. Mod.
Probl. Pharmacopsychiat. 18: 70-101 (with R. Pinder).
325. Quantitative pharmaco-EEG to establish dose-time relations in clinical pharmacology.
In W.M. Herrmann (ed.): Electroencephalography in Drug Research. Gustav Fischer, Stuttgart, 17-22.
326a. Guidelines for pharmaco-EEG studies in man. Pharmacopsychiat. 15:107-108 (with G. Stille, W.M.
Herrmann, D. Bente, T.M. Itil, W.P. Koella, S. Kubicki, H. Kunkel, J. Kugler, M. Matejcek.
and Petsche, H.).
326b. …ibid., Empfehlungen für pharmakoelektroenzephalographische Untersuchungen am Menschen. EEGEMG 13: 1-2.
327. Anticholinergic drugs and the EEG. In Committee on Toxicology, National Academy of Sciences.
Possible Long-Term Health Effects of Short-Term Exposure to Chemical Agents: I: Anticholinesterases and
Anticholinergics. National Academy Press, Washington, DC, June 1-8.
328. Neurophysiologic methods to establish antidepressant activity. Neurophysiologische Methoden zum
Nachweis antidepressiver Wirkung. Arzneimittelforschung 32: 857-859.
329. CNS effects of acetylsalicylic acid Aspirin (with P. Irwin). Clin. Pharm. Therap. 32: 362-365.

30

�330a. Pharmaco-EEG study of 6-azamianserin ORG-3770: Dissociation of EEG and pharmacologic
predictors of antidepressant activity (with P. Irwin). Psychopharmacology 78: 44-48.
330b. …ibid., Psychopharm. Bull. 19: 96, 1983.
331. Blood levels and quantitative EEG response to CNS-active drugs: Retrospective observations.
Electroenceph. Clin. Neurophysiol. Suppl. 36: 447-452 (with P. Irwin).
332. Predictors of outcome in convulsive therapy. Psychopharm. Bull. 18: 50-57.
333. Convulsive therapy: A risk-benefit analysis. Psychopharm. Bull. 18: 110-116.
334. Placebo-controlled studies of ECT. Br. J. Psychiat. 141: 213-214. (letter).
335. Neuroendocrine aspects of convulsive therapy. In R. Abrams and W. Essman (eds.): Electroconvulsive
Therapy: Biological Foundations and Clinical Applications. Spectrum Publications, New York, 187-198.
336a. Monitoring the duration of ECT seizures: ‘Cuff’ and EEG methods compared (with L. Johnson).
Arch Gen. Psychiat. 39:1189-1191.
336b. EEG monitoring of ECT preferred to cuff method. Reply. Am. J. Psychiat. 140: 1649, 1983.
336c. ECT Seizure Monitoring. Arch. Gen. Psychiat.: 106-107, 1984 (with L. Johnson). (letter).
337. The enigma of convulsive therapy: An effective, safe and controversial treatment. In J.O. Cavenar and
H.K.H. Brodie (eds.): Critical Problems in Psychiatry. J. B. Lippincott, Philadelphia, 203-219.
338. ECT in the elderly. In C. Eisdorfer and W.E. Fann (eds.): Treatment of Psychopathology in the Aging.
Springer Publishing Co., New York, Chapter 7, 97-111.
339. ECT in anxiety: An appraisal. Am. J. Psychother. 36: 371-378.
340. The present status of electroconvulsive therapy. Directions in Psychiatry. Hatherleigh Co. Ltd.,
New York, 35:1-8.
341. Book reviews: ECT in Great Britain. J. Pippard and L. Ellam: Electroconvulsive Treatment in Great
Britain, 1980. Gaskell, London, 162 pp., 1981; and R. L. Palmer (ed.): Electroconvulsive Therapy: An
Appraisal. Oxford, New York 316 pp., 1981. Am. J. Psychiat. 139:958-959.
342. Book review: Drug Development Research. H. Lal and S. Fielding (eds.). A.R. Liss, New York. Quart.
Rev. Biol. 57: 234.

1983
343. Guidelines for electroconvulsive therapy in the elderly. In T. Crook and G. D. Cohen (eds.): Physicians’
Guide to the Diagnosis and Treatment of Depression in the Elderly. Mark Powley Associates, New York, VI:
55-60.
344. Missed seizures and the bilateral-unilateral electroconvulsive therapy controversy. Am. J. Psychiat. 140:
198-199. (editorial).
345. Bias against ECT: again. Contemp. Psychol. 28: 246-247. (letter).
31

�346. Antidepressant effects of electroconvulsive therapy. Br. Med. J. 286:1744 1745. (letter).
347. Electroshock and Berkeley: II. Biol. Psychiat. 18: 610-613. (editorial).
348. ECT and depression: What have we learned? In F.J Ayd, I.J. Taylor, and B.T. Taylor (eds.):
Affective Disorders Reassessed: 1983. Ayd Medical Communications, Baltimore, pp. 56-72.
349. Pharmacoelectroencephalography. Neuropsychobiol. 9: 45-46. (editorial). (with D. Bente and
H. Kunkel).
350. Book review: The Unfathomed Mind: A Handbook of Unusual Mental Phenomena. W.R. Corliss.
Glen Arm, MD, 754 pp., 1981. Science Books and Films 18: 242.
351. Book review: Neurobiology. G. M. Shepherd. Oxford University Press, NY, 611 pp., 1983. Science
Books and Films 19: 83.
352. Book reviews: Advances in Biochemical Pharmacology. Vol. 31. Typical and Atypical Antidepressants:
Molecular Mechanisms. Vol. 32: Clinical Practice. E. Costa and G. Racagni (eds.). Raven Press, N.Y. 391
pp. and 400 pp., 1982. Non-Tricyclic and Non-Monoamine Oxidase Inhibitors. H.E. Lehmann (ed.).
S. Karger, Basel, 1982. Quart Rev. Biol. 58: 300-301.

1984
353. Theories of the antidepressant efficacy of convulsive therapy ECT. In R.M. Post and J.C. Ballenger
(eds.): Neurobiology of Manic Depressive Illness. Williams &amp; Wilkins, Baltimore, 721-730.
354. Theories of convulsive therapy: A neuroendocrine hypothesis. In B. Lerer, R.Weiner, and R.H. Belmaker
(eds.): ECT: Basic Mechanisms. John Libbey &amp;. Co., London, pp. 115-123.
355a. Convulsive therapy: Fifty years of controversy. Clin. Neuropharmacol. 7. Supplement 1: 8-9 (abstract).
355b. Meduna and the origins of convulsive therapy. Am. J. Psychiat. 141: 1034-1041.
356. Neuroendocrine aspects of the relief of melancholia by induced seizures ECT. In E. Usdin, M. Asberg,
L. Bertilsson, and F. Sjoqvist (eds.): Frontiers in Biochemical and Pharmacological Research in Depression.
Adv. Biochem. Psychopharm. 39: 345-357.
357. Pharmaco-EEG effects of antihypertensive agents. Clin. Neuropharmacol. 7 Supplement 1: 119
(abstract).
358. Familiarization session and the placebo control in EEG studies of drug effects. Neuropsychobiology. 10:
173-177 (with P. Irwin).
359. ECT: For whom is it justified? J. Clin. Psychopharmacol. 4: 303-304 (editorial).
360. The present status of unilateral ECT: Some recommendations. Jrl. Affective Dis. 7: 245-247 (editorial).
(with R. Abrams).
361. Book review: L.B. Kalinowsky, H. Hippius, and H.E. Klein. Biological Treatments in Psychiatry.
Grune &amp; Stratton, New York, 424 pp., 1982. Compr. Psychiatr. 25: 126-127.

32

�362. Book reviews: Vaillant, G. E. The Natural History of Alcoholism. Harvard Univ. Press, Cambridge, MA,
359 pp., 1983; B. Tabakoff, P.B. Sutker, and C.L. Randall (eds.): Medical and Social Aspects of Alcohol
Abuse. Plenum Press, New York, 403 pp., 1983; R.G. Smart, F.B. Glaser, Y. Israel, H. Kalant, R.E. Popham,
and W. Schmidt (eds.): Research Advances in Alcohol and Drug Problems vol. 7, Plenum Press, New York,
472 pp., 1983. Quart. Rev. Biol. 59: 369-370.
363. Book review: P. Carlton. A Primer of Behavioral Pharmacology. W. H. Freeman &amp; Co., 301 pp., 1983.
Quart. Rev. Biol. 59: 511-512.

1985
364. Pharmaco-electroencephalography: A note on its history. Neuropsychobiology. 1984; 12: 173-178.
365. Convulsive Therapy. Convulsive Ther. 1985; 1: 1-3. (editorial).
366. Reducing memory loss in electroconvulsive therapy. Convulsive Ther. 1985; 1: 77-80. (editorial).
367. A ‘gratuitous’ conclusion on ECT. Am J Psychiatry 1985; 142: 1129. (letter).
368. Anesthesia in electroconvulsive therapy. Convulsive Ther. 1985; 1: 155-157. (editorial).
369. Convulsive therapy: Fifty years of progress. Convulsive Ther. 1985; 1: 204- 216.
370. The ethics of placebo. In L. White, B. Tursky, G.E. Schwartz (eds.): Placebo: Theory, Research and
Mechanisms. Guilford Press, New York, 1985; 423-430.
371. Anesthesia in ECT. J Clin Psychopharmacol. 1985; 5: 312. (letter).
372. MAOI, anesthesia, and ECT. J Clin Psychopharmacol 1985; 5: 313. (with K. Freese).
373. National Institutes of Health Consensus Conference on ECT. Convulsive Ther. 1985; 1: 231-233.
(editorial).
374. Pharmaco-EEG as a method to assess bioequivalence of CNS active substances in man. Integrative
Psychiatry 1985; 3 Supplement: 12S-19S.
375. Summary. Integrative Psychiatry 1985; 3 (Supplement): 92s-93s (with L. Hollister).
376. Book review. E.A. Turner. Surgery of the Mind. Carmen Press, Birmingham UK, 238 pp., 1982.
In Am J Psychiatry 1985; 142: 374-375.
377. Book review. M. Fraser. ECT: A Clinical Guide. John Wiley, New York, 134 pp., 1982. In Convulsive
Ther 1985; 1: 66-67.
378. Book review. N.S. Endler. Holiday of Darkness: A Psychologist’s Personal Journey Out of Depression.
Wiley-Interscience, New York, 169 pp., 1982. In Convulsive Ther. 1985; 1: 140-142.

33

�379. Book reviews: L. Kalinowsky, H. Hippius, H.E. Klein. Biological Treatments in Psychiatry. Grune &amp;
Stratton, New York, 424 pp., 1982; R. Abrams, W.B. Essman (eds.): Electroconvulsive Therapy: Biological
Foundations and Clinical Applications. Spectrum Publications, New York, 270 pp., 1982. In Convulsive
Ther. 1985; 1: 222-223.
380. Book review: S.E. Luria. A Slot Machine, A Broken Test Tube. Harper &amp; Row, New York, 230 pp.,
1984. In Am J Psychiatry 1985; 142: 1210-1211.
381. Book review: G.G. Nahas. Marijuana in Science and Medicine. Raven Press, New York, 312 pp., 1984.
In Quart Rev Biol. 1985; 60: 551-552.
382. Book review: R.G. Smart et al. (eds.): Research Advances in Alcohol and Drug Problems. Vol 8. Plenum
Press, New York, 333 pp. In Quart Rev Bioi 1985; 60: 552.
385a. Historical Article: Autobiography of L. J. Meduna. Convuls Ther. 1985; 1(1): 43-57.

1986
383. Neuroendocrine predictors of ECT outcome: DST and prolactin. Annals New York Academy Sci 1986;
462: 30-36.
384. Convulsive therapy today: A decade of increased understanding and acceptance. Psychiatry Letter 1986;
4: 7-12.
385b. Autobiography of L.J. Meduna. Ideggyogyaszati szemle 1986; 39: 225-34. (article in Hungarian).
386. Electroconvulsive therapy today. Currents 1986; 5: 5-12. (interview).
387. Convulsive therapy and epilepsy research. In M.R. Trimble and E.H. Reynolds (eds.): What is Epilepsy?
The Clinical and Scientific Basis of Epilepsy. Churchill Livingstone, Edinburgh, 1986, 217-228.
388. Serial dexamethasone suppression tests in ECT. Clin Neuropharm 1986; 9: Suppl. 4: 444-446
(with K. Gujavarty K, L. Greenberg). (abstract).
389. Multi-lead EEG dynamic mapping during ECT. Clin Neuropharm 1986; 9: Suppl. 4: 536-537
(with M. Fink, L. Greenberg, K. Gujavarty). (abstract).
390. Convulsive therapy: How it evolved. Psychopharm Bull 1986; 22: 357-459.
391. A new evaluation of convulsive therapy: The Ontario report. Convulsive Ther 1986; 2: 73-76 (editorial).
392. Training in ECT. Convulsive Ther 1986; 2: 227-230. (editorial).
393. Book review: J. Winson. Brain and Psyche: The Biology of the Unconscious. New York, Doubleday,
1985, 300 pp. In Science Books and Films 1986; 21: 157.
394. Book review: D.C. Horwell (ed.): Drugs in the Central Nervous System Disorders. New York, Marcel
Dekker Inc. 1985, 354 pp. In Quart Rev Biol 1986; 61: 146.

34

�1987
395. Serial dexamethasone suppression tests and clinical outcome in ECT. Convulsive Ther 1987; 3: 111-120
(with L. Greenberg, K. Gujavarty).
396. Electroconvulsive therapy and neuroleptic medication in the treatment of therapy resistant positivesymptom psychosis. Convulsive Ther 1987; 3: 185-195 (with K. Gujavarty, L. Greenberg).
397. Isoflurane anesthesia therapy: A replacement for ECT in depressive disorders? Convulsive Ther 1987; 3:
269-277 (with L.B. Greenberg, J. Gage, S. Vikun).
398. Update on ECT. Psychiatric Annals 1987; 17: 47-53 (interview).
399. Convulsive therapy in affective disorders: A decade of understanding and acceptance. In H. Meltzer
(ed.): Psychopharmacology: A Third Generation of Progress. Raven Press, New York, 1987, Chap 108:
1071-1076.
400. ECT: A last resort treatment for resistant depression? In J. Zohar, R. Belmaker (eds.): Treating Resistant
Depression. PMA Publishing Co, New York, Chap 9: 163-173.
401. Convulsive therapy. In G Adelman (ed.): Encyclopedia of Neuroscience. Birkhuser, Boston, 1987, 277278.
402. Neuroendocrine aspects of convulsive therapy: Review of recent developments. In C.B. Nemeroff,
P.T Loosen (eds.): Handbook of Clinical Psychoneuroendocrinology. Guilford Press, New York, 1987,
Chapter 11: 255-265.
403. New technology in convulsive therapy: A challenge in training. Am J Psychiatry 1987; 144: 1195-1196
(editorial).
404. Neuropsychiatry and behavioral neurology. Convulsive Ther 1987; 3: 91-92 (editorial).
405. Is ECT usage decreasing? Convulsive Ther 1987; 3: 171-173. (editorial).
406. Maintenance ECT and affective disorders. Convulsive Ther 1987; 3: 249-250 (editorial).
407. Contraindications to electroconvulsive therapy. Anesth Analg 1987; 66: 918 (letter).
408. A case of resistant schizophrenia. Br J Psychiatry 1987; 150: 562-563 (letter).
409. Book review: A.V. Valdman (ed.): Drug Dependence and Emotional Behavior: Neurophysiological and
Neurochemical Approaches. Plenum Publ Co., New York, 1986. In Quart Rev Biol 1987; 62: 120-121.
410. Book review: W. Kalow, H.W. Goedde, D.P. Agarwal (eds.): Ethnic Differences in Reaction to Drugs
and Xenobiotics. AR Liss, New York, 583 pp., 1986. In Quart Rev Biol 1987; 62: 124.
411. Book review: M.H. Van Woert, E. Chung (eds.): Cooperative Approaches to Research and Development
of Orphan Drugs. AR Liss, New York, 204 pp., 1985. In Quart Rev Biol 1987; 62: 124-125.

35

�412. Book review: E.S. Valenstein. Great and Desperate Cures. Basic Books, New York, 338 pp., 1986.
In Convulsive Ther 1987; 3: 79-81.
413. Book review: M. Brause, A.M. Zimmerman (eds.): Genetic and Perinatal Effects of Abused Substances.
Academic Press, New York, 211pp., 1987. In Quart Rev Biol 1987; 62: 469.

1988
414. Prospective electroconvulsive therapy in delusional depressed patient with a frontal meningioma.
Br J Psychiatry 1988; 153: 105-107 (with L.B. Greenberg, R. Mofson).
415. Convulsive therapy for affective disorders. In A. Georgeotas and R. Cancro (eds.): Depression and
Mania. Elsevier, North Holland and New York, 1988; 29: 452-460.
416. Convulsive therapy: A manual of practice. Review of Psychiatry VII. 1988; 21: 482-497. APA Press,
Washington DC.
417. The present status of electroconvulsive therapy: An update. F. Flach (ed.): Directions in Psychiatry
1988; 1-8. Hatherleigh Co., New York.
418. Forward. Electroconvulsive Therapy, Richard Abrams, 1st ed., Oxford University Press, New York,
1988; vii-x.
419. Forward. Electroconvulsive Therapy: The Myths and the Realities. N.S. Endler, E. Persad, Hans Huber,
Toronto; 1988; ix-xi.
420. Fifty years of electro-convulsive therapy. Convulsive Ther 1988; 4: 2-4 (editorial).
421. ECT for Parkinson disease? Convulsive Ther 1988; 4: 189-191 (editorial).
422. How does ECT work? Psychopharmacol Bull 1988; 24: 385-386 (with W. Potter).
423. Neuroendocrine hypothesis of antidepressant action of ECT. Psychopharmacol Bull 1988; 24: 400-402.
424. Use of ECT in the United States. Am J Psychiatry 1988; 145: l33-134. (letter).
425. ECT instrumentation. Biol Psychiatry 1988; 24: 360-361. (letter).
426. The diagnosis and treatment of depression in the old. JAMA 1988; 260: 1405. (letter).
427. ECT: The continuing controversy. Consensus in Psychiatry 1988; 1: 1.
428. Brain imaging and pharmaco-EEG. Consensus in Psychiatry 1988; 1: 1-2.
429. Book review: Kurt Eissler: Freud as an Expert Witness. IUP Press, Madison CT, 1986. In Convulsive
Ther 1988; 4: 250-251.

36

�430. Book reviews: M.A. Taylor, F.S. Sierles, R. Abrams. General Hospital Psychiatry. Free Press, New
York, 1985; A. Stoudemire, B.S. Fogel (eds.): Principles of Medical Psychiatry. Grune &amp; Stratton, Orlando
FL, 1987; A.J. Frances, R.H. Hales (eds.): Review of Psychiatry VII, American Psychiatric Press, Washington
DC, 1988. In Convulsive Ther 1988; 4: 175-177.
431. Book review: I. Rosenfield. The Invention of Memory: A New View of the Brain. Basic Books,
New York, 1987. In Science Books &amp; Films 1988; 24: 77-78.
432. Book reviews: B. Aperia. A Psychoendocrinological Study of Electroconvulsive Therapy in Major
Depressive Disorder. Thesis. Department of Psychiatry, Karolinska Institute, St Gyran’s Hospital, Stockholm,
Sweden, 1985. P. Silfverskiyld. Depression and Mania: Clinical and Neurophysiological Aspects and Effects
of ECT. Thesis. Department of Psychiatry, University of Lund, Lund, Sweden, 1987. In Convulsive Ther
1988; 4: 177-179.
433. Book review: Current Approaches: ECT. J. Malkien, S. Brandon. Duphar Laboratories, UK, 1988.
In Convulsive Ther 1988; 4: 335-336.
434. Book review: R.E. Hales, S.C. Yudofsky (eds.): Textbook of Neuropsychiatry. APA Press, Washington
DC, 1987. In Neuropsychiatry, Neuropsychol Behav Neurology 1987; 1: 153-155.
435. Book review: P.H. Wender. The Hyperactive Child, Adolescent and Adult: Attention Deficit Disorder
Through the Lifespan. Oxford University Press, New York, 162 pp., 1987. In Science Books &amp; Films, 1988;
23: 244.
436. Videotape Review: Healthcare Information Network, Princeton NJ. Electroconvulsive Therapy: A New
Age, A New Understanding. Series: Mind and Body. Distributed by MECTA Corporation, Portland OR, 1987.
In Convulsive Ther 1988; 4: 180.

1989
437. Convulsive therapy: A reappraisal. In J.G. Howells (ed.): Modern perspectives in the Psychiatry of
Affective Disorders. Brunner/Mazel Inc., New York, 1989; 22: 393-410.
438. Electroconvulsive therapy: The forgotten option in the treatment of therapy resistant depression.
In I. Extein (ed.): Treatment of Tricyclic Resistant Depression. APA Press, Washington DC, 1989, 135-150.
439. A comparison of etomidate and methohexital anesthesia for electroconvulsive therapy. Annals Clin
Psychiatry 1989; 1: 39-42 (with L.B. Greenberg, R. Boccio).
440. A neuroendocrine view of ECT. Convulsive Ther 1989; 5: 296-304 (with C.B. Nemeroff).
441. Convulsive therapy and kindling. In M. Trimble and T. Bolwig (eds.): The Clinical Relevance of
Kindling. John Wiley &amp; Sons, Chichester. 1989; 13: 195- 208.
442. Electroconvulsive therapy: A review. Organorama 1989; 26: 24-25.
443. Update on “Shock” therapy. Health &amp; Medical Horizons. Macmillan Co., New York, 1989; 197-198
(commentary).
444. Recommendations for EEG and evoked-potential mapping. Neuropsychobiology 1989; 22: 170-176.
International Pharmaco-EEG Group; (with W. Herrmann et al.).
37

�445. Reversible and irreversible dementia. Convulsive Ther 1989; 5: 123-125 (editorial).
446. ECT in Parkinson disease. The Psychiatric Times 1989; 63: 6-7. (commentary).
447. Maintenance ECT is a continuing saga. The Psychiatric Times 1989; 64: 13-14. (commentary).
448. Reversible dementia and ECT. The Psychiatric Times 1989; 65: 23-24. (commentary).
449. Primo Levi need not have died. The New York Times. January 5, 1989. A20. (letter).
450. The efficacy of electroconvulsive therapy in therapy-resistant psychotic patients. J Clin.
Psychopharmacol 1989; 9: 231-232. (letter).
451. Max Hamilton. Biol Psychiatry 1989; 26: 218-219. (homage).
452. Maintenance ECT. In response. Jefferson Jrl Psychiatry 1989; 7: 71-72 (letter).
453. Videotape review: J. David. Four Lives: A Portrait of Manic Depression. Fanlight Productions, 1988.
Hosp &amp; Commun Psychiatry 1989; 40: 347-348.
454. Book review: Lader M., Lang R., Wilson G.D. Patterns of Improvement in Depressed In-Patients.
Oxford University Press, Oxford UK, 1987, 118 pp. In J Nerv Ment Dis 1989; 177: 498-499.

1990
455. How does convulsive therapy work? Neuropsychopharmacology 1990; 3: 73-82.
456. Response to commentaries on “How does convulsive therapy work?” Neuropsychopharmacology 1990;
3: 97-100.
457. Electroconvulsive therapy and cyclophosphamide in combination for severe neuropsychiatric lupus with
catatonia. Am J Medicine 1990; 88: 443-444 (with G.L. Fricchione, L.D. Kaufman, B.L. Gruber).
458. Rat brain concentration of fluphenazine during a course of electroconvulsive shock. Convulsive Ther
1990; 6: 273-9 (with I. Zervas, L.B. Greenberg, R.F. Suckow, T. Cooper, L. Jandorf).
459. Electroconvulsive therapy in the elderly. Psychiatric Annals 1990; 20: 99-101. (with L.B. Greenberg).
(review).
460. Electroconvulsive therapy. Current Opinion in Psychiatry 1990; 3: 58-61. (review).
461. Electroconvulsive therapy of anxiety disorders. In R. Noyes, M. Roth, G.D. Burrows (eds.): Handbook of
Anxiety IV: The Treatment of Anxiety. Elsevier Science Publishers BV, Amsterdam, Chap 25: 511-518, 1990.
462. A trial of ECT is essential before a diagnosis of refractory depression is made. In J.D. Amsterdam (ed.):
Refractory Depression. Adv Neuropsychiatry Psychopharmacology 1990; 2: 87-92. Raven Press, New York.
463. Is catatonia a primary indication for ECT? Convulsive Ther 1990; 6: 1-4. (editorial).

38

�464. The 1990 APA task force report: A quiet revolution. Convulsive Ther 1990; 6: 75-78. (editorial).
465. ECT in modern literature. Convulsive Ther. 1990; 6: 191-193. (editorial).
466. Electrode placement: A clinician’s guide. Convulsive Ther. 1990; 6: 263-265. (editorial).
467. Clozapine and electroconvulsive therapy. Arch Gen Psychiatry 1990; 47: 290-291. (letter).
468. Continuation ECT today. Harvard Medical School Mental Health Letter. (forum). 1990; 6: 8.
469. Guidelines for the long-term use of convulsive therapy. JAMA 1990; 264: 1174. Questions and answers.
470. Book review: L.G. Kiloh, J.S. Smith, G.F. Johnson. Physical Treatments in Psychiatry. Blackwell
Scientific, Melbourne, 1988. In Am J Psychiatry 1990; 147: 1239-1240.
471. …ibid., In Convulsive Ther. 1990; 6: 60-62.
472. Book review: M.R. Trimble, E.H. Reynolds (eds.): Epilepsy, Behaviour and Cognitive Function.
John Wiley &amp; Sons, Chichester UK, 1988. In Am J Psychiatry 1990; 147: 665-666.
473. Energy parameters of ECT devices need reassessment. Psychiatric Times 1990; 7: 23, 26. (commentary).
474. Catatonia and ECT. Psychiatric Times 1990; 7: 32-33. (commentary).

1991
475. Neuropeptide concentrations in the cerebrospinal fluid of depressed patients treated with
electroconvulsive therapy. Corticotrophin-releasing factor, betaendorphin and somatostatin. Br J Psychiatry
1991; 158: 59-63 with C.B. Nemeroff, G. Bissette G, H. Akil).
476. Catatonia: A separate category for DSM-IV? Integrative Psychiatry 1991; 7: 210 (with M.A. Taylor).
477. Impact of the anti-psychiatry movement on the revival of ECT in the U.S. Psychiatric Clinics N.A. 1991;
14: 793-801.
478. Electroconvulsive therapy, 1989-1990. Current Opinion Psychiatry 1991; 4: 73-77 (with I. Zervas).
479. The revival of ECT in America. Bolletino di Psichiatria Biologica. 1991: 6: 25-29.
480. What is an adequate treatment in convulsive therapy? Acta Psychiatr Scand 1991; 84: 424-427.
481. Electroconvulsive therapy. Review of APA Task Force report. Wn Jrl Med 1991; 155, 515. (review).
482. Present use of ECT. Integrative Psychiatry 1991; 7: 69-70. (letter).
483. Pharmacotherapy and ECT. Convulsive Ther 1991; 7: 77-80. (editorial).
484. A scientific society for ECT. Convulsive Ther 1991; 7: 155-156. (editorial).
39

�485. ECT for refractory Parkinson’s Disease. Convulsive Ther 1991; 7: 222-223 (with I. Zervas). (letter).
486. A historical review of electroconvulsive therapy. Jefferson Jrl Psychiatry 1991; 9: 97-99. (letter).
487. Steroid induced catatonia. Br J Psychiatry 1991; 159: 445. (letter).
488. ECT in long-term follow up of BPD. Biol Psychiatry 1991; 30: 1172. (letter).

1992
489. Soziale und politische Aspekte der Elektrokonvulsionstherapie in den USA: Lektionen fur die deutsche
Psychiatrie. Social and political aspects of ECT in the U.S.: Lessons for German psychiatry). Biologische
Psychiatrie. Springer Verlag, Heidelberg, 1992, 88-90.
490. The use of ECT in geriatric patients. In G.S. Alexopoulos (ed.): Clinics Geriatric Medicine 1992; 8: 349354, W.B. Saunders: Philadelphia (with L.B. Greenberg).
491. Electroconvulsive therapy. In E.S. Paykel (ed.): Handbook of Affective Disorders. 2nd ed. ChurchillLivingstone, London, 1992; 22: 359-368. (review).
492. Induced seizures ECT and memory. In D Barcia Salorio (ed.): Trastornos de la Memoria. Editorial
MCR, Madrid. 1992; 5.1: 383-396.
493. Pharmaco-Electroencephalography: A science ignored. Pharmacopsychiatry 1992; 24: 183-184.
(editorial).
494. Qualification for ECT. Convulsive Ther 1992; 8: 1-4 (with R. Abrams). (editorial).
495. ECT and public mental health services. Convulsive Ther 1992; 8: 87-91. (editorial).
496. Catatonia and DSM-IV. Convulsive Ther 1992; 8: 159-162. (editorial).
497. Book review: Electroconvulsive therapy. Psychiatric Clinics N.A. 1992; 14: 693,1020.
In Convulsive Ther 1992; 8:54-55.
498. Book review: ECT awaits its Lavoisier. R. Abrams. Electroconvulsive Therapy, 2nd ed. Oxford
University Press, New York, 340 pp., 1992. In Convulsive Ther 1992; 8:213-216.
499. Book review: B.N. Gangadhar (ed.). Proceedings of the National Workshop on ECT. NIMHANS,
Bangalore, India, 264 pp., 1992. J Krzyzowski. Leczenie Elektrowstrzasami. Z.D. Poligraficzny, Warsaw,
Poland, 215 pp., 1991. In Convulsive Ther 1992; 8: 216-217.
500. Failure to use ECT in a case of catatonia. Am J Psychiatry 1992; 149: 145. (letter).
501. The treatment of catatonia: Benzodiazepines or ECT? P.J. Rosebush, A.M. Hildebrand, M.F. Mazurek
(letter). Dr. Fink replies. Am J Psychiatry 1992; 149: 1279-1280. (letter).
502. ECT response in catatonia. Am J Psychiatry 1992; 149: 581-582 (with A. Francis). (letter).

40

�503. Why not ECT for catatonia? Biol Psychiatry 1992; 31: 536-537. (letter).
504. ECT and delirium in Parkinson’s Disease. Jrl Neuropsychiatry &amp; Clin Neuroscience 1992; 4: 231
(with I. Zervas). (letter).
505. Follow-up: Letter on review of APA Task Force report by Peter Breggin. Readings: A Journal of
Reviews and Commentary. American Orthopsychiatry Association). 1992; 7:22-23 (with L. Eisenberg).
(letter).
506. Role of Dopamine in mood disorders. Comprehens Psychiatry 1992; 33: 417-417 (with L. Fochtmann).
(letter).
507. ECT and delirium in Parkinson's Disease. Am J Psychiatry 1992; 149: 1758 (with I. Zervas). (letter).
508. Missed neuroleptic malignant syndrome. BMJ 1992; 304: 1246. (letter).
509. Catatonia: incidence and treatment in a university hospital. Convulsive Ther 1992; 8: 60-61
(with I. Zervas, J. Pataki J). (abstract).

1993
510. Blood pressure, memory, and electroconvulsive therapy. Convulsive Ther 1993; 9: 14-22
(with I. Zervas, A. Calev, L. Jandorf).
511a. Caffeine pre-treatment enhances clinical efficacy and reduces cognitive effects of ECT. Convulsive
Ther 1993; 9:95-100 (with A. Calev, G. Petrides, A. Francis, L. Fochtmann).
511b. Effect of ECT with caffeine pre-treatment on efficacy for depression and memory deficits. Biol
Psychiatry 1993; 33:84A (with A. Calev).
512. Who should get ECT? In C.E. Coffey (ed.): The Clinical Science of Electroconvulsive Therapy. 1993; 1:
3-16. APA Press, Washington, DC.
513. Catatonia: A treatable disorder, occasionally recognized. Directions in Psychiatry. 1993; 13(3): 1-8
(with G. Bush, A. Francis).
514. Die Geschichte der EKT in den USA in den letzten Jahrzehnten. (Recent history of electroconvulsive
therapy in the U.S.) Nervenarzt. 1993; 64: 689-95.
515. Subjective symptoms in depression and during the course of electroconvulsive therapy. Neuropsychiatry,
Neuropsychol Behav Neurol. 1993; 6: 187-92 (with N. Tubi, A. Calev, D. Niga1, B. Shapira, H.L. Pass,
L. Jandorf, B. Lerer).
516. Post-ECT delirium. Convulsive Ther 1993; 9: 326-330. (review).
517. Reversible dementia and affective disorder: The Rip van Winkle Syndrome. Convulsive Ther 1993; 9:
209-16 (with L. Bright-Long). (case report).
518. Combining drugs and electroconvulsive therapy: Safe and/or effective? J. Clin. Psychopharmacology
1993; 13 2): 85-86. (commentary).
41

�519. Prolonged seizures. Convulsive Ther 1993; 9: 87-89. (commentary).
520. ECT in children and adolescents. Convulsive Ther 1993; 9: 15S-7. (commentary).
521a. The next challenge: The mode of action of ECT. Convulsive Ther 1993; 9: 192-7. (annotation).
521b. The mode of action of ECT. Psychopharmacol. Bull. 1994; 30: 309-12, 1994.
522. ECT and drugs: Concurrent administration. Convulsive Ther 1993; 9: 237-40. (with C.H. Kellner).
(commentary)
523. Commentary on J.B. Welch: Topographic brain mapping: Applications and pitfalls. Integrative
Psychiatry 1993; 9: 67-8.
524. EEG and behavior: Association or dissociation in man? Integrative Psychiatry 1993; 9: 108-123.
(hypothesis).
525. Catatonia and psychotic delusional depression, distinct syndromes in DSM-IV. Am. J. Psychiatry 1993;
150: 1130-1. (letter).
526. Using MEDLINE to solve clinical problems. JAMA 1993; 270: 2053 (letter).
527. Book review: “Round up a new set of suspects...” Review of M.K. O’Connor, T.A. Rummans (eds):
Updating ECT. Psychiatric Annals, 1993; 23:1-47. In Convulsive Ther 1993; 9: 141-2.
528. Book review: Psychiatry: The next phase. Review of M. Taylor: The Neuropsychiatric Guide to Modern
Everyday Psychiatry. The Free Press, New York, 530 pp., 1993. In Convulsive Ther. 1993; 9: 143-5.
529a. Question the Experts: Blood levels of nortriptyline. J Clin Psychopharmacology 1993; 13: 296.
529b. Reply to “Question the Experts.” J Clin. Psychopharmacology 1993; 13: 359.
530. Book review: Psychiatry’s frog or prince? Electroconvulsive Therapy. Richard Abrams, Oxford
University Press, 1992. In BJP Review of Books 6:18-19, July, 1993.
531. Book review: Electroconvulsive Therapy. Richard Abrams, Oxford University Press, 1992, 2nd ed.
In Am. J. Psychiatry 1993; 150:1747-8.
532. Book review: Neuropsychological Perspectives on Emotion. F.N. Watts. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence
Erlbaum. In Science Books &amp; Films 1993; 29:261.
533. Book review: Motor Disorders in Psychiatry. D. Rogers, Wiley &amp; Sons, Chichester UK, 1992.
In Neuropsychiatry, Neuropsychol Behav Neurol 1993; 6: 267-8.
534a. Catatonia: A rating scale and prospective study utilizing lorazepam and ECT. Amer Col
Neuropsychopharmacology Abstracts, pg 88, December 1993 (with G. Bush, A. Francis, G. Petrides,
F. Dowling).
534b. What is catatonia? The Harvard Mental Health Letter 1995; 11: 8 (with G. Bush, G. Petrides).
(commentary).
42

�1994

535a. Continuation ECT for relapse prevention in depression. Convulsive Ther 1994; 10: 77 (with G. Petrides,
D. Dhossche). (abstract).
535b. A prospective study of continuation ECT. Biol. Psychiatry 1994; 35: 652-3 (with G. Petrides ,
D. Dhossche, A. Francis). (abstract).
535c. Continuation ECT: Relapse prevention in affective disorders. Convulsive Ther 1994; 10: 189-94
(with G. Petrides G., D. Dhossche, A. Francis).
536. Indications for the use of ECT. Psychopharmacol. Bull. 1994; 30: 269-80.
537a. Combining electroconvulsive therapy and drugs: A review of safety and efficacy. CNS Drugs 1994; 1:
370-376. (review).
537b. ECT and psychoactive drugs combined. ASCP Progress Notes Newsletter 1994; (52): 3. (review).
538. Optimizing ECT. L’Encephale 1994; 20: 297-302. (review).
539a. ECT in adolescents. The Harvard Mental Health Letter 1994; 10: 8. (commentary).
539b. ECT in adolescents. Psychiatric Times 1994; 12: 18-19,1995. (commentary).
540a. Catatonia in DSM-IV. Biological Psychiatry 1994; 36: 431-3. (commentary).
540b. DSM-IV and catatonia. Psychiatric Times 1994; 11: 35. (commentary).
541. Public perceptions of ECT. Jefferson Jrl. Psychiatry 1994; 12: 83-86. (letter).
542. Administrative problems limiting electroconvulsive therapy. Br. J. Psychiatry 1994; 164: 850-1. (letter).
543. Diazepam or lorazepam for prolonged seizures? Convulsive Ther 1994; 10: 236. (letter).
544. Convalescence and ECT. Convulsive Ther. 1994; 10: 301-3. (letter).
545. Book review: The Clinical Science of Electroconvulsive Therapy. C.E. Coffey (ed.), American
Psychiatric Press, Washington DC, 259 pp., 1993. In The Psychiatric Times, Feb. 1994, pg. 25.
546. Book review: Drugs and Disease. J. L. Harris. Twenty-First Century Books, New York, 1993.
In Science Books 1994; 30: 82.
547. Book review: Cannabis, Politically Incorrect. Marihuana, The Forbidden Medicine. L. Grinspoon,
J.B. Bakalar. Yale University Press, New Haven, CT, 1993. In Am. J. Psychiatry 1994; 151: 1091.
548. The half-age stimulation strategy for bilateral ECT. Biol. Psychiatry 1994; 35: 653 (with G. Petrides).
(abstract).
549. Alternative stimulation strategies for bilateral ECT. Convulsive Ther 1994; 10: 77 (with G. Petrides).

43

�(abstract).

1995
550. Convulsive therapy in delusional disorders. Psychiatric Clinics North America 1995; 18 (2): 393-406.
(review).
551. ECT and non-memory cognition: A review. Br. J. Clin Psychology 1995; 34: 505-15 (with A. Calev,
E.A. Gaudino, N.K. Squires, I.M. Zervas).
552. Recognizing NMS as a type of catatonia. Neuropsychiatry Neuropsychol Behav Neurol. 1995; 8: 75-6.
(commentary).
553. Treat NMS as catatonia. Psychiatric Times 1995; 12 (3): 34. (commentary).
554. ECT in mania: A rediscovered use. Psychiatric Times 1995; 12 (6): 16.
555. ECT and schizophrenia. Psychiatric Times 1995; 12 (10): 30.
556. Milton Greenblatt: a remembrance. Convulsive Ther 1995; 11: 151-3 (with F. Frankel).
557. Convalescence and ECT: Comment on Letter by Dr. Brackin. Convulsive Ther 1995; 11: 220-21.
(letter).
558. ECT and young minds. Lancet 1995; 345: 519. (letter).
559. NMS and catatonia: Reply to Raja and Miti. Neuropsychiatry Neuropsychol Behav Neurol 1995; 8: 2301. (letter).
560. “An ethical dilemma ....” Psychiatric Bulletin 1995; 19: 650-1 (with D.F. Klein). (letter).
561. ECT and pre-pubertal children. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry 1995; 34: 1256-7
(with G.A. Carlson). (letter).
562. Book review: F.E. Bloom, O.J. Kupfer (eds.): Psychopharmacology: The Fourth Generation of
Progress. New York, Raven Press, 1995, 2002 pp. In Neuropsychiatry, Neuropsychol. &amp; Behav Neurol. (84):
303-4.
563. Book review: Asaad, Ghazi: Understanding mental disorders due to medical conditions or substance
abuse: What every therapist should know. Brunner Maazel, NY, 1995. In Science Books &amp; Films 31 (5): 1345. (book review).
564. Book review: J. Morrison: DSM-IV Made Easy: The Clinician’s Guide to Diagnosis. Guilford Press, NY,
1995. In Science Books &amp; Films 31 (8): 233.

1996
565. Atrial fibrillation, anticoagulation, and electroconvulsive therapy. Convulsive Ther. 1996; 12: 91-98
(with G. Petrides).

44

�566. Ambulatory electroconvulsive therapy. Task force report of the association for convulsive therapy.
Convulsive Ther. 1996; 12: 42-55 (with R. Abrams, S. Bailine, R. Jaffe).
567. Convulsive therapy for schizophrenia? Schizophrenia Bull. 1996; 221: 27-39 (with H.A. Sackeim).
568. Catatonia: I: rating scale and standardized examination (with G. Bush, G. Petrides, F. Dowling,
A. Francis). Acta psychiatr. Scand 1996; 93 (2): 129-36.
569. Catatonia: II. Treatment with lorazepam and electroconvulsive therapy (with G. Bush, G. Petrides,
F. Dowling, A. Francis). Acta Psychiatr. Scand 1996; 93 (2):137-43.
570. Catatonia. In T.A. Widiger, A.J. Frances, H.A. Pincus et al. (eds.): DSM-JV Sourcebook, 1996; vol
2:181-192.
571. The “half-age” stimulation strategy for ECT dosing. Convulsive Ther 1996; 12: 138-146
(with G. Petrides).
572. Toxic serotonin syndrome or neuroleptic malignant syndrome? Pharmacopsychiatry 1996; 29: 159-161.
(case report).
573. A second quiet revolution: Ambulatory ECT. Convulsive Ther 1996; 12: 1-2 (with C.H. Kellner).
(editorial).
574. Seizure adequacy: Does EEG hold the key? Convulsive Ther. 1996; 12: 203-206 (with C.H. Kellner).
(editorial).
575. Neuroleptic malignant syndrome and catatonia: One entity or two? Biol Psychiatry 1996; 39: 1-4.
(editorial).
576. Ambulatory ECT and managed care. The Psychiatric Times 1996; 13: 42.
577. Response to “Neuroleptic malignant-like syndrome due to cyclobenzaprine?” J Clin Psychopharmacol.
1996; 16: 97-9. (letter).
578. “Abnormal EEG effects of Clozapine.” J Neuropsych Clin Neuroscience 1996; 8: 114-115. (letter).
579. Algorithm accuracy. Comment on the International Psychopharmacology Algorithm Project. Psychiatric
Times 1996; 13(8): 5. (letter).
580. Treating the syndrome before the complications. Am J Psychiatry 1996; 153: 1371 (with A. Francis).
(letter).
581. Choosing a dosing strategy for electrical stimulation in ECT. J Clin Psychiatry 1996; 57: 487.
(with G. Petrides). (letter).
582. ‘Catatonic schizophrenia’ is not ‘schizophrenia.’ Schizophrenia Res 1996; 18: 118. (abstract).
583. Book review: C. P. Freeman (ed.): The ECT Handbook. Royal College of Psychiatrists, London, 153 pp.,
1995. In Convulsive Ther 1996; 12: 127-130.

45

�584. Book review: Bergsholm P.: Electroconvulsive Therapy: Issues related to narcosis, physiology,
radiological anatomy, electrode placement, and endocrinology. Forde/Bergen, University of Bergen, 1995. In
Convulsive Ther 1996; 12: 131-132.

1997
585. Catatonia. In M. Trimble, J. Cummings (eds.): Contemporary Behavioural Neurology. 1997; Chapter 16;
pages 289-309. Butterworth/Heinemann, Oxford, UK.
586a. Prejudice against ECT: Competition with psychological philosophies as a contribution to its stigma.
Convulsive Ther 1997; 13: 253-265.
586b. Response to Zigmond M. Lebensohn. Convulsive Ther 1997; 13: 268.
586c. Electroshock and psychoanalysis: schism in American psychiatry. Convulsive Ther 1997; 13: 51-52.
587. Recognition and treatment of the catatonic syndrome. Jrl Intensive Care Med. 1997; 12: 135-147
(with G. Fricchione, G. Bush G, M. Fozdar, A. Francis). (review).
588. Neuroleptic malignant syndrome: Identification and treatment. Essential Psychopharmacology. 1997; 2:
209-16. (review and commentary).
589. Energy dosing in ECT: Threshold stimulation or formula? Convulsive Ther. 1997; 13: 4-6. (debate with
Richard Weiner).
590. Clinical common sense versus theoretical correctness. Reply to Harold A. Sackeim. Convulsive Ther.
1997; 13: 41-43 (with G. Petrides).
591. The decision to use ECT: For Whom? When? In A.J. Rush (ed.): Mood Disorders: Systematic
Medication Management. Modern Probl. Pharmacopsychiatry. 1997; 25: 203-214. Karger, Basel,
Switzerland.
592. Electroconvulsive therapy in affective disorders: Efficacy and mode of action. In A. Honig, H.M. van
Praag (eds.): Depression: Neurobiological, Psychopathological and Therapeutic Advances. 1997; Chapter 23,
pages 397-412. John Wiley &amp; Sons, Ltd. Sussex, England.
593. What is the role of ECT in the treatment of mania? The Harvard Mental Health Letter 1997; 18: 8.
594. Cognitive screening instruments in neuropsychiatry: A report of the committee on research of the
American Neuropsychiatric Association. J Neuropsychiatry Clin Neurosci. 1997; 9:189-97 (with P.F. Malloy,
J.L. Cummings, C.E. Coffey, J. Duffy, E.C. Lauterbach, M. Lovel, D. Royall, S. Salloway).
595. Lethal catatonia, neuroleptic malignant syndrome, and catatonia: A spectrum of disorders. Reply. J Clin
Psychopharmacol. 1997; 17: 237. (letter).
596. The importance of a differentiated psychopathology of catatonia. Acta Psychiatr. Scand. 1997; 95: 358-9
(with G. Petrides, G. Bush, A. Francis). (letter).
597. ECT Update. Psychiatric Times. 1997; 14: 39-41. (review and lesson).

46

�598. Catatonia and NMS: Recognition and treatment. The Psychiatric Times. 1997; 14: 42-49. (review and
lesson).
599. A.E. Bennett and curare. Convulsive Ther 1997; 13: 92. (commentary).
600. Book review: Squire L. A History of Neuroscience in Autobiography. Washington DC, Society for
Neuroscience. vol 1, 1996. In Science Books &amp; Films 1997; 33: 137.
601. Book review: New histories of psychiatry: Somatic and dynamic views contrasted. Shorter E. A History
of Psychiatry. From the Era of the Asylum to the Age of Prozac. John Wiley &amp; Sons, N.Y. 1997; Stone MH.
Healing the Mind. A History of Psychiatry from Antiquity to the Present. W.W. Norton &amp; Co., N.Y. 1997.
In Convulsive Ther 1997; 13: 280-1.

1998
602. Electroconvulsive therapy and managed care. Am Jrl Managed Care. 1998; 4: 107-112 (with S. Bailine).
603. ECT and managed care. Journal Watch: Psychiatry. 1998; 4: 76 (73).
604. ECT in older patients: Benefits and risks. Psychiatric Times 1998; 15(2): 68-71. (lesson).
605. ECT certification. J ECT 1998; 14: 1-4 (with C.H. Kellner). (editorial).
606. ECT and clozapine in schizophrenia. J ECT 1998; 14: 223-6. (editorial).
607. ECT in mania: An ignored and effective treatment option. Jrl Bipolar Disorders 1998; 2: 19-21.
(review).
608. Electroconvulsive therapy. In C.E. Coffey and R. Brumback (eds.): Textbook of Pediatric
Neuropsychiatry, 1998; Chapter 54: 1389-1408. American Psychiatric Press, Washington, DC
(with C.E. Coffey).
609. EEG monitoring in ECT: A guide to treatment efficacy. Psychiatric Times 1998; 15 (5): 70-2
(with R. Abrams).
610. Misguided consent for ECT. Austral NZ Jrl Psychiatry. 1998; 31: 209. (letter).
611. Theophylline and ECT. J ECT 1998; 14: 286-9 (with H.A. Sackeim). (letter).
612. Delirium following cessation of alcohol consumption. Am J Psychiatry 1998; 155: 1638.
613. Pharmaco-electroencephalography: A debate in psychopharmacology. In T. Ban, D. Healy, E. Shorter
(eds.): The Rise of Psychopharmacology and the Story of the CINP, 1998; 151-6. Animula Publishing House,
Budapest.
614. The case for formal certification in ECT. J ECT 1998; 14: 132. (abstract).
615. To titrate or not to titrate: A debate with a twist. J ECT 1998; 14: 133-4. (abstract).
616. Concurrent use of ECT and atypical antipsychotic medications. J ECT 1998; 14: 139-40
(with G. Petrides, A. Abaza, A. Francis). (abstract).

47

�617. Book review: Principles of Neuropsychopharmacology. R.S. Feldman, J.S. Meyer, L.F. Quenzer.
Sinauer: Sunderland, MA, 1997. In Quart Rev Biol 1998; 73: 122.
618. Video Review: Brainstorm: The Hidden Epidemic of Depression. Filmakers Library, New York, 1998;
53 min. video. In Science Books &amp; Films 1998; 34: 150.

1999
619a. ELECTROSHOCK: Restoring the Mind. Oxford University Press, New York, 157 pp. Re-issued in
paperback as Electroshock: Healing Mental Illness, 2002.
619b. Eletrochoque. Restaurando a Mente. Portugese translation by Dra. Andrea Favano. Sao Paulo Brazil:
Editora Roca Ltda, 2003.
620. www.electroshock.org. (website, July 1999).
621a. Electroconvulsive therapy and mental retardation. J ECT 1999; 15: 140-9 (with M. Thuppal).
621b. Electroconvulsive therapy and mental retardation. J ECT 1998; 14: 142 (with M. Thuppal). (abstract).
622. Delirious mania. Bipolar Disorders 1999; 1: 54-60.
623. ECT in delirious states. J ECT 1999; 15: 175-77. (editorial).
624. Convulsive therapy. In G. Adelman, B.H. Smith (eds.): Elsevier’s Encyclopedia of Neuroscience.
Elsevier Science. B.V., New York and Amsterdam, 466-468, 1999.
625. Convulsive Therapy. In H. Freeman (ed.): A Century of Psychiatry, Mosby-Wolfe, London, 1999; I:
96-99; II: 229-32.
626. Ladislas J. Meduna. Images in psychiatry. Am J Psychiatry 1999; 156: 1807.
627. Intractable seizures, status epilepticus, and ECT. J ECT 1999; 15: 282-4 (with C. Kellner,
H.A. Sackeim). (letter).
628. Pediatric ECT. Psychiatric Times 1999; 169: 63-5 (with C. Foley).
629. Neuroleptic malignant syndrome: Recognition and treatment. Psychiatric Times 1999; 16 (8): 6.
(commentary).
630. Book review: J.L. Beyer, Weiner R.D., Glenn M.D.: Electroconvulsive Therapy: A Programmed Text.
American Psychiatric Press, Inc., Washington DC, 1998, Am J. Psychiatry 1999; 156: 333.

48

�2000
631. Electroshock revisited. Amer Scientist 2000; 88 (2): 162-167.
632. Catatonia. In C. Andrade (ed.): Advances in Psychiatry. New Delhi, Oxford University Press. Chapter 2,
pp. 26-44, 2000 (with G. Petrides).
633. A clinician-researcher and ECDEU: 1959-1980. In T. Ban, D. Healy, E. Shorter (eds.): The Triumph of
Psychopharmacology and the Story of the CINP. Budapest, Animula, 2000, 82-96, 2000.
634. Can delirium relieve psychosis? Comprehens Psychiatry 2000; 41: 450-453 (with C. Malur, A. Francis).
635. ECT has proved effective in treating depression. Nature 2000; 405: 826. (letter).
636. The interaction of delirium and seizures. In P.T. Trzepacz (ed.) Seminars in Clinical Neuropsychiatry
2000; 52: 31-35.
637. Educational resources for electro-convulsive therapy. Arch Indian Psychiatry 2000; 6: 6-9.
638a. ECT in the management of delirium, NMS, and catatonia. Essential Psychopharmacology 2000; 3: 116.
638b. ECT in the management of delirium, NMS, and catatonia. Directions in Psychiatry 2000; 220: 367-376.
(lesson).
639. Herman C.B. Denber. Neuropsychopharmacology 2000; 23:474-475. (obituary).
640. Undiagnosed Stupor: A treatable syndrome of catatonia? ASCP Progress Notes 2000; 10: 1,4,7.
641. Fixed high dose right unilateral ECT. (commentary). Evidence-Based Mental Health 2000; 3: 114-115.
642. Controversies in the diagnosis and treatment of manic-depressive illness. World Jrl Biological
Psychiatry 2000; 1: 219. (letter).
643. NMS best treated as catatonia. Psychiatric Times 2000; 17 (11): 28-29. (commentary).
644. Book review: The Science of Happiness: Unlocking the Mysteries of Mood. Stephen Braun. NY, Wiley,
2000. In Science Books &amp; Films, 2000:36 (5): 212.
645. A neuroendocrine view of convulsive therapy. Neuropsychopharmacology 2000; 23: S91. (abstract).

49

�2001
646. Convulsive therapy after 65 years. J Affective Dis. 2001; 63: 1-15.
647. ECT remission rates in psychotic versus non-psychotic depressed patients: A report from CORE.
J ECT 2001; 17: 244-253 (with G. Petrides, M.M. Husain, R. Knapp, A.J. Rush, M. Mueller, T.A. Rummans,
K.M. O’Connor, K.G. Rasmussen, H.J. Bernstein, M. Biggs, S.H. Bailine, C.H. Kellner).
648. The influence of age on the response of patients with major depression to electroconvulsive therapy. Am
J Geriatr Psychiatry 2001; 9: 382-390 (with K.M. O’Connor, R. Knapp, M.M. Husain, T.A. Rummans, G.
Petrides, G. Smith, M. Mueller, K. Snyder, H. Bernstein, A.J. Rush, C. Kellner).
649. ECT has much to offer our patients: It should not be ignored. World Jrl Biological Psychiatry 2001; 2: 18.
650. Electroconvulsive therapy in medication-resistant depression. In Jay Amsterdam, Mady Hornig-Rohan,
and Andrew Nierenberg (eds.): Treatment resistant mood disorders. 2001; 11: 223-238. Cambridge
University Press, Cambridge UK.
651. Convulsive therapy in the 21st Century. In M.G. Gelder, J.J. Lopez-Ibor and N.C. Andreasen (eds.): New
Oxford Textbook of Psychiatry, Oxford University Press, London. Chap 6.2.9.1; pp. 1342-1352.
652. The many varieties of catatonia. European Arch Psychiatry Clin Neurosci 2001; 251: Suppl 1: 8-13
(with M.A. Taylor).
653. Catatonia: Syndrome or schizophrenia subtype? Recognition and treatment. J Neural Transmission 2001;
108: 637-644.
654. The broad clinical activity of ECT should not be ignored. J ECT 2001; 17: 233-235. (editorial).
655. New research improves ECT outcomes. Psychiatric Times 2001; 18: 21. (review).
656. Electrode placement and electroconvulsive therapy: A search for the chimera. Arch Gen Psychiatry.
2001; 58: 607-608. (with S. Bailine, G. Petrides). (letter).
657. Modal ECT is effective: Response to Letter by Sackeim et al. J ECT 2001; 17: 222-225. (letter).
658. Treating neuroleptic malignant syndrome as catatonia. J Clin Psychopharmacol. 2001; 21: 120-121.
(letter).
659. Treating manic stupor. Indian J Psychiatry 2001; 433: 286-287. (letter).
660 Treating bipolar affective disorder. BMJ 2001; 322: 365. (letter).
661. Book review: A Century of Psychiatry. Hugh Freeman. London, Mosby-Wolfe Medical
Communications. In Neuropsychiatry, Neuropsychology Behavioral Neurology 2001; 14: 77.

2002
662. The efficacy of ECT and “Treatment Resistance.” J ECT 2002; 18: 1-2.

50

�663. Move On! Commentary on R. Abrams: stimulus titration and EC T dosing. J ECT 2002; 18: 11-12.
664. Catatonia and ECT. Reconsidering Meduna’s hypothesis of a biological antagonism between dementia
praecox and epilepsy. World Jrl Biol Psychiatry 2002; 3: 105-108.
665. The 21st century clinical evaluation of psychoactive drugs. In T. Ban, D. Healy, E. Shorter (eds.):
From Psychopharmacology to Neuropsychopharmacology in the 1980s and the Story of CINP as told in
Autobiography. Budapest: Animula Publishing, 2002; 21-26.
666. ECT: an effective, but ignored, treatment of psychosis. In B. Green (ed.): Focus on Antipsychotics.
London: Librapharm/Petroc Press, 2002, 3: 10-17.
667. Equivalency of rTMS and ECT unproven. Biol Psychiatry 2002; 52: 1032-1033 (with C.H. Kellner,
M. Husain, G. Petrides, T. Rummans). (letter).
668. Electrotherapeutics. J ECT 2002; 18: 114-115.
669. Catatonia and NMS. (Grand Rounds Response) Psychiatric Bull. 2002; 26: 393. (with M.A. Taylor).
(letter).
670. ECT in neurological disorders. Psychiatric Times 2002; 19 (9): 28-29.
671. Catatonia in adolescents and children. Psychiatric Times 2002; 19 (9): 28-29.
672. Book review: American Psychiatric Association. The Practice of Electroconvulsive
Therapy: Recommendations for Treatment, Training and Privileging. 2nd ed. Psychiatric Services.
2002; 53: 1040-1041.
673. Book review: Rage Against Electroshock. Kneeland TW, Warren CAB. Pushbutton Psychiatry.
Westport CT: Praeger, 2002. J ECT 2002; 18: 112-113.
674. Book review. Electricity in Medicine: Ugo Cerletti’s Contribution. Electric Bodies: Episodes in the
History of Medical Electricity. Paola Bertucci, Giuliano Pancaldi (eds.). Bologna, Italy: Universita di
Bologna, 2001. J ECT 2002; 18:165-166.

2003
675a. Catatonia. A Clinician’s Guide to Diagnosis and Treatment. Cambridge UK: Cambridge University
Press (with M.A. Taylor).
675b. Catatonia. Guía clinica para el diagnóstico y el tratamiento. Translated into Spanish by
Beatriz M. Ruiz and Miguel B. Arroyo. Barcelona: Masson, 2005.
675c. …ibid., Translated into Japanese by Kazumasa Suzuki. Tokyo: Seiwa Shoten, 2007.
676. Catatonia in psychiatric classification: A home of its own. Am J Psychiatry 2003; 160: 1233-1241
(with M.A. Taylor).
677. A Beautiful Mind and insulin coma: social constraints on psychiatric diagnosis and treatment. Harvard
Review of Psychiatry 2003; 11: 284-290.

51

�678. A Gilles de la Tourette form of catatonia: Response to ECT. J ECT 2003; 19(2): 115-117.
(with H. Trivedi, A. Mendelowitz).
679. ECT Update: Recognizing and treating psychotic depression. J Clin Psychiatry 2003; 64: 232-234.
680. Therapy-Resistant Depression: When to consider ECT. Algorithm seeks respect for neglected therapy.
Current Psychiatry 2003; 2: 49-54.
681. Commentary on “Successful use of ECT as the sole modality of treatment in a case of motility
psychosis”: The classification of catatonia. J ECT 191: 48- 49, March 2003 (with M.A. Taylor).
682. Electroshock 2003. Masterminds Indian Psychiatric Society (Jan) 2003, 3-4.
683. Letter from India: Conflicts in the use of ECT. Psychiatric Times 2003 (Mar); 20: 10.
684. Book review. A classic text updated. Abrams R: Electroconvulsive Therapy, New York: Oxford
University Press. J ECT 2003; 19:123-124. ibid. Psychiatric Times 2003 (Jun); 20: 25.
685. Book review. D. Healy. The Creation of Psychopharmacology. Cambridge MA: Harvard University
Press, 2002. Psychiatric Times 2003; 220: 29.
686. Book review. G. Parker, D. Straton, K. Wilhelm, P. Mitchell; M-P. Austin, K. Eyers, D. Hadzi-Pavlovic.
Dealing with Depression: A Commonsense Guide to Mood Disorders. New South Wales: Crows Nest, 2002.
Am J Psychiatry 2003; 160:1365-1366.
687. Book review: K. Hugdahl, R.J. Davidson. The Asymmetrical Brain. Cambridge MA: MIT Press, 2003.
Science Books &amp; Films 2003; 9: 160.

2004
688a. Ethics of Electroconvulsive Therapy. New York: Brunner-Routledge (with J.O. Ottosson).
688b. …ibid., Translated into Japanese by Mitsuru Nakamura. Tokyo: Seiwa Shoten, 2006.
689. Pharmaco-Electroencephalography: A Selective History of the Study of Brain Responses to
Psychoactive Drugs. In History of CINP, vol IV. Edited by T. Ban, E. Shorter, D. Healy. pp. 661-672.
690. Speed of Response and Remission in Major Depressive Disorder with Acute ECT: A Consortium for
Research in ECT (CORE) Report (with M.M. Husain, A.J. Rush, R. Knapp, G. Petrides, T. Rummans,
M.M. Biggs, K.M. O’Connor, K. Rasmussen, M. Litle, W. Zhao, H.J. Bernstein, G. Smith, M. Mueller, S.M.
McClintock, S.H. Bailine, C.H. Kellner). J Clin Psychiatry 2004; 65: 485-491.
691. Efficacy of ECT in catatonia. In S.Caroff, S.Mann, A. Francis, G Fricchione (eds.): Catatonia. From
Psychopathology to Neurobiology. Washington DC: American Psychiatric Press. 13: 151-160
(with G. Petrides, C. Malur).
692. Induced seizures as psychiatric therapy: Ladislas Meduna’s contributions in modern neuroscience. J ECT
2004; 20: 133-136. (commentary).
693. Response to T.E. Schlaepfer: Learning from the history of neuroscience: Dogma and patient interests. J
52

�ECT 2004; 20: 138.
694. Melancholy or Malarky? In Spitzer R.L., First M.B., Gibbon M., Williams J.B.W. (eds.): Treatment
companion to the DSM-IV-TR casebook. Washington DC: American Psychiatric Publishing, 2004; 112-119.
695. Response to critique: classification of catatonia. Am J Psychiatry 2004; 161: 1136 (with M.A. Taylor).
(letter).
696. Response. Catatonia in psychiatric classification. Am J Psychiatry 2004; 161: 2328.
697. Non-convulsive status epilepticus and electroconvulsive therapy. J ECT 2004; 20: 131-2. (letter).
698. Treat TSS and NMS as malignant catatonia. BMJ (rapid responses) 2004; 329: 1333-1335.
699. Convulsive therapy electroshock (ECT). In G. Adelman, B.H.Smith (eds.): Encyclopedia of
Neuroscience, 3rd ed. Amsterdam: Elsevier B.V., 2004.
700. Insulin coma therapy (ICT). Encyclopedia of Neuroscience. In G. Adelman, B.H. Smith (eds.):
Encyclopedia of Neuroscience, 3rd edition. Amsterdam: Elsevier B.V., 2004.
701. About Meduna’s pioneer activity. Neuropsychopharmacol Hung 2004; 6: 39. (letter).
702. ECT: Serendipity or logical outcome? Psychiatric Times 2004; 211: 21-22.
703. A new appreciation of ECT. Psychiatric Times 2004; 214: 32-35.
704. ECT at 70: What have we learned? Psychiatric Times 2004; 21(8): 13-14.
705. Book review. The Mount Everest Challenge. Lisanby S.H. (ed.): Brain Stimulation in Psychiatry.
Washington DC: American Psychiatric Publishing Inc. Am J Psychiatry. 2004 (161): 2149-2150.
706. Book review. Schroeder B.E.: Ecstasy. Philadelphia: Chelsea House, 2003. Science Books and Films
2004 (May-June); 127.

2005
707. Catatonia. Guia clinica para el diagnóstico y el tratamiento. (Spanish translation). Barcelona: Masson
Elsevier.
708. Psychobiology of Electroshock. In J. Licinio (ed.): Biology of Depression. Weinheim, Germany: WileyVCH, 2004. Chap 7: 211-221.
709. Relief of expressed suicidal intent by ECT: A Consortium for Research in ECT Study. Am J Psychiatry
2005;162: 977-982 (with C.H. Kellner, R. Knapp, G. Petrides, M.M. Husain, T. Rummans, M. Mueller,
H. Bernstein, K. Rasmussen, K. O’Connor, G. Smith, A.J. Rush, M. Biggs, S. McClintock, S.H. Bailine,
C. Malur).
710. Should the dexamethasone suppression test be resurrected? Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica 2005; 112:

53

�245-9. (commentary).
711. Is the practice of ECT ethical? World Jrl Biological Psychiatry 2005; 6 (Supplement 2): 38-43.
712. The “treatment resistant” label in bipolar disorder is a misnomer. Psychiatric Annals 2005; 35: 965-8.
(review).
713. Predicting the response to ECT. J ECT 2005; 21(3): 137-8. (editorial). (with V. McCall).
714. William Karliner: practitioner, experimentalist, and teacher. Obituary. J ECT 2005; 21: 201-2.
715. Suicide risk reduced. Psychiatric Times 2005; 222: 94-95.
716. The bean-counters view of ECT. Psychiatric Times 22; 10: 54.
717. Continuation ECT Today: What we know and what we need to know. Psychiatric Times 2005; 2214: 7677.
718. Use of pharmacologic coma for adult status epilepticus. Epilepsy &amp; Behavior. 2005; 6: 292 (letter).
(with D. Anschel).
719. Cheap shot at ECT. Lancet 2005; 365: 937 (with C. Kellner, V. McCall). (letter).
720. Book review. Kelleher, C.A.: Brain Trust. New York: Paraview Pocket Books, 2004. Science Books and
Films 2005; 41:105.
721. Book reviews. Scull A. Madhouse: A Tragic Tale of Megalomania and Modern Medicine. New Haven:
Yale University Press, 2005; J. El-Hai. The Lobotomist: A Maverick Medical Genius and his Tragic Quest to
Rid the World of Mental Illness. New York: Wiley, 2005. J ECT 2005; 21: 191-3.
722. Book review. A. Scull: Madhouse: A Tragic Tale of Megalomania and Modern Medicine. New Haven:
Yale University Press, 2005. Science Books and Films 2005; 41: 251.

2006
723. Melancholia: The Diagnosis, Pathophysiology, and Treatment of Depressive Disorders. Cambridge UK:
Cambridge University Press, 2006 (with M.A. Taylor).
724. Catatonia in autistic spectrum disorders: A medical treatment algorithm. In D. Dhosshe, L. Wing,
M. Ohta, K-J Neumarker (eds.): Catatonia in Autism Spectrum Disorders. Amsterdam: Elsevier/Academic
Press. Int Rev Neurobiology 2006; 72:233-244 (with M.A. Taylor, N. Ghaziuddin).
725. Patterns of Psychotropic Medication Use Among Severely Depressed Patients Referred for
Electroconvulsive Therapy: Data from the Consortium for Research on ECT. J ECT 2006; 22: 116-123
(with K.G. Rasmussen, M. Mueller, C.H. Kellner, R.G. Knapp, G. Petrides, T.A. Rummans, M.M. Husain,
K. O’Connor, J.L. Black, S. Sampson).

54

�726. Continuation ECT versus pharmacotherapy for relapse prevention in major depression: a multi-site study
from CORE. Archives General Psychiatry. 2006; 63: 1337-44 (with C.H. Kellner, R.G. Knapp, G. Petrides,
T.A. Rummans, M.M. Husain, K. Rasmussen, M. Mueller, H.J. Bernstein, K. O’Connor, G. Smith, M. Biggs,
S.H. Bailine, C. Malur, E. Yim E, S. Sampson, M Fink).
727. The case against evidence-based principles in psychiatry. Medical Hypotheses 2006; 67: 401-410.
(with R.L. Levine).
728. Catatonia: Subtype or syndrome in DSM? Am J Psychiatry 2006; 163 (11): 1875-6, (with M.A. Taylor).
(commentary).
729. Challenges to British ECT clinical practice. J ECT 2006; 22: 30-32. (commentary).
730. ECT in therapy-resistant mania: Does it have a place? Bipolar Disorders 2006; 8: 307-9. (commentary).
731. The DST riddle. Psychiatric Times 2006; 23 (2): 25-26.
732. Should the diagnosis of melancholia be revived? Psychiatric Times 2006; 23 (6): 78-80.
733. The Camelford hysteria: A lesson for ECT? Psychiatric Times 2006; 23 (11): 69-72.
734. Interseizure EEG slowing after ECT is not NCSE. Pharmacopsychiatry 2006; 39: 119. (letter).
735. Neuroleptic malignant syndrome is malignant catatonia, warranting treatments efficacious for catatonia.
Prog NeuroPsychopharmacol Biol Psychiatry 2006; 30:1182-1183. (with M.A. Taylor). (letter).
736. Book review: G.S. Ungvari. Catatonia: An anthology of classical contributions. Hong Kong: Scientific
Communications Int. Ltd. 2006. J ECT 2006; 22: 277-8.
737. AV Review: Healthy Brains. Chip Taylor Communications. Science Books &amp; Films 2006; 42: 138.
(review).

2007
738. Resurrecting melancholia. Acta psychiatrica scandinavica 2007; Supplement 433: 14-20
(with M.A. Taylor).
739. Melancholia: Restoration in psychiatric classification recommended. Acta Psychiatr Scand. 2007; 115:
89-92 (with T.G. Bolwig, G. Parker, E. Shorter). (conference summary).
740. DSM melancholic features are unreliable predictors of ECT response: A CORE publication. J ECT.
2007; 23: 139-146 (with A.J. Rush, R. Knapp, K. Rasmussen, M. Mueller, T. Rummans, K. O’Connor,
M. Husain, M. Biggs, S. Bailine, C.H. Kellner, and CORE group.)

55

�741. Antidepressant Treatment Failure Does Not Predict Lower Remission Rates with ECT for Major
Depressive Disorder. A Report from the Consortium for Research in ECT. J Clin Psychiatry 2007; 68: 17011706 (with K.G. Rasmussen, M. Mueller, R.G. Knapp, M.M. Husain, T.A. Rummans, S.M. Sampson, M.K.
O’Connor, G. Petrides, C.H. Kellner).
742. Electroconvulsive therapy: Evidence and challenges. JAMA 2007; 298: 330-332 (with M.A. Taylor).
743. Complaints of the loss of personal memories after electroconvulsive therapy: Evidence of a somatoform
disorder? Psychosomatics 2007; 48: 290-293.
744. Data management and design issues in an unmasked randomized trial of electroconvulsive therapy for
relapse prevention of severe depression. J ECT 2007; 23: 244-250 (with K.G. Rasmussen, R.G. Knapp,
M.M. Biggs, G.E. Smith, T.A. Rummans, G. Petrides, M.M. Husain, M.K. O’Connor, C.H. Kellner).
745. Belling the cat: ECT practice standards in the United States. J ECT 2007; 23: 3-5 (with C.H. Kellner).
(commentary).
746. What we learn about continuation treatments from the collaborative ECT studies. J ECT 2007; 23: 215218 (commentary).
747. Ambulatory electroconvulsive therapy. J ECT 2007; 23: 130. (history).
748. Antidepressant medications and other treatments of depressive disorders: A CINP Task Force report
based on a review of evidence. International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology 2007; 10: S1-S207. (with
N. Sartorius, T.C. Baghai, D.S. Baldwin, B. Barrett, D. Brand, W. Fleischhacker, G. Goodwin, H. Grunze, M.
Knapp, B.E. Leonard, J. Lieberman, Y. Nakane, R.M. Pinder, A.F. Schatzberg, J. Svestka, P. Baumann, K.
Ghalib, J.C. Markowitz, F. Padberg, T. Furukawa, K.N. Fountoulakis, P. Jensen, S. Kanba, A. RiecherRossler).
749. Improving electroconvulsive therapy practice. Psychiatric Times 2007; 24 (4): 10-11.
750. Electroshock works. Why? Psychiatric Times 2007; 24 (6): 59-60.
751. Major studies on ECT for depression: What have we learned? Psychiatric Times 2007; 24 (12): 26-28.
752. Catatonia or no catatonia: Still beyond lorazepam/amobarbital. Letter and Reply. Am J Psychiatry 2007;
164: 525 (with M.A. Taylor).
753. The renaissance of ECT. Forward for Electroconvulsietherapie: Aanbevelingen voor de praktijk.
P. Sienaert, J. De Fruyt, M. Dierick (eds.). Ghent: Academic Press, 2007: xv-xviii.
754. …ibid., Book review: Dukakis K, Tye L. SHOCK: The Healing Power of Electroconvulsive Therapy.
New York: Penguin Group, 2006. J ECT 2007; 23: 131-133. Commentary: Ambulatory electroconvulsive
therapy (p.130).

2008
755. Restoring melancholia in the classification of mood disorders. Jrl Affective Disorders 2008; 105: 1-14
(with M.A. Taylor).
756. The medical evidence-based model to identify psychiatric syndromes: Return to a classical paradigm.
Acta Psychiatr Scand 2008; 87: 81-84 (with M.A. Taylor).
56

�757. Karoly Schaffer and his school: The birth of biological psychiatry in Hungary, 1890-1940. Eur
Psychiatry 2008; 23(6):449-456. (with B. Baran, I. Bitter, G. Gazdag, E. Shorter).
758. Change in seizure threshold during ECT: A CORE study. J ECT 2008; 24: 114-116 (with G. Petrides,
C.H. Kellner, M. Mueller, R. Knapp, M.M. Husain, K. Rasmussen, T.A. Rummans, K. O’Connor).
759. Outcome of ECT by race in the CORE multi-site study. J ECT 2008; 24: 117-121 (with M. Williams, T.
Rummans, S. Sampson, R. Knapp, M. Mueller, M. Husain, K. Rasmussen, K. O’Connor, G. Smith, G.
Petrides, C.H. Kellner).
760a. The efficacy of acute ECT in atypical depression. J Clin Psychiatry 2008; 69: 406-411 (with
M.M. Husain, S.M. McClintock, A.J. Rush, R.G. Knapp, T.A. Rummans, K. Rasmussen, C. Claassen,
G. Petrides, M.M. Biggs, M. Mueller, S. Sampson, S.H. Bailine, C.H. Kellner).
760b. ECT not proven for atypical depression. Response to Letter C.M. Swartz. J Clin Psychiatry 2008; 69:
1662-3. (with M.M. Husain, S.M. McClintock, A.J. Rush, R.G. Knapp, T.A. Rummans, K. Rasmussen, C.
Claassen, G. Petrides, M.M. Biggs, M. Mueller, S. Sampson, S.H. Bailine, C.H. Kellner, S.H. Lisanby).
761. Conceptual issues in DSM-V development (commentary). Am J Psychiatry 2008; 165: 799.
(with M.A. Taylor).
762. Continuation treatments for melancholic depression. Commentary to M. Webber: electroconvulsive
therapy, BMJ 2008; 337: 2998 (rapid response).
763. Catatonia in autism is treatable. Psychiatric Times 2008; 25: 17, 20.
764. Why evidence-based medicine cannot be applied to psychiatry. Psychiatric Times 2008; 25: 10-12.

2009
765. Electroconvulsive Therapy: A Guide for Professionals &amp; Their Patients. New York: Oxford University
Press, 2009.
766. Serendipity and science: A double anniversary of a treatment and a journal. J ECT 2009; 25: 1-2.
767. Laszlo Meduna’s pilot studies with camphor induction of seizures: The first 11 patients. J ECT 2009; 25:
3-11 (with G. Gazdag, I. Bitter, G.S. Ungvari, B. Baran).
768. Electrotherapy of melancholia: The pioneering contributions of Benjamin Franklin and Giovanni Aldini.
J ECT 2009; 25:15-18 (with T. Bolwig).
769. Induced therapy in man. In Encyclopedia of Neuroscience. 2009: 5: 117-123. Edited by Larry Squire,
Floyd Bloom, Fred Gage, Nick Spitzer. Oxford: Academic Press.
770. Electroconvulsive Therapy. In New Oxford Textbook of Psychiatry. Edited by M.G. Gelder, J.J. LopezIbor, and N.C. Andreasen. New York: Oxford University Press, 2009, vol II;6.2.10.1: 1251-1259.
771. Catatonia: A syndrome appears, disappears, and is rediscovered. Can J Psychiatry 2009; 54: 23-31.
772. Catatonia: Forgotten but not gone. Arch Gen Psychiatry 2009; 66: 1173-77 (with M.A. Taylor).

57

�773. Catatonia in 100 words. Br J Psychiatry 2009; 194: 325 (with M.A. Taylor).
774. Melancholia in 100 words. Br J Psychiatry 2009; 194: 463 (with M.A. Taylor).
775. The electroshock riddle: effective but rejected. Br J Psychiatry 2009; 195: 390.
776. Biological markers for melancholic depression are effective. Comment on the WFSBP Task Force
Report. World Journal of Biological Psychiatry 2009 (103):252-3 (with M.A. Taylor).
777. Seizure threshold in a large sample: Implications for stimulus dosing strategies in bitemporal ECT.
A report from CORE (with G. Petrides, R.J. Braga, M. Mueller, R. Knapp, T. Rummans, M. Husain,
K. Rasmuussen, S. Bailine, C. Malur, K. O’Connor, C.H. Kellner). J ECT 2009; 25: 232-237.
778. Electroconvulsive therapy in the treatment of intractable status epilepticus. Epilepsy &amp; Behavior 2009;
16:189-90. (letter). (with C.H. Kellner).
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.yebeh.2009.06.022
779. DSM-V: Applying the medical model. Psychiatric Times. 2009, June 9: 26 (6):
http://www.psychiatrictimes.com/display/article/10168/1420772.

2010
780. Endocrine Psychiatry: Solving the Riddle of Melancholia (with E. Shorter). Oxford University Press.
781. Remembering: the forgotten neuroscience of pharmaco-EEG. Acta Psychiatr Scand 2010; 121: 161-73.
782. Catatonia is not schizophrenia: Kraepelin’s error and the need to recognize catatonia as an independent
syndrome in medical nomenclature. Schizophrenia Bulletin 2009; doi: 10.1093/schbul/sbp059; 2010; 36: 31420. (with E. Shorter, M.A. Taylor).
783. The failure of the schizophrenia concept and the argument for its replacement by hebephrenia: applying
the medical model for disease recognition (with M.A. Taylor, E. Shorter, N.A. Vaidya). Acta Psychiatr Scand
2010; 122: 173-183.
784. Phenomenology is not enough. J. McCarthy letter (response). Acta Psychiatr Scand. 2011; 123: 82-83.
(with M.A. Taylor, E. Shorter, N.A. Vaidya).
785. The intimate relationship between catatonia and convulsive therapy. J ECT 2010; 26: 243-245.
(commentary).
786. Catatonia in Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition. A. Francis ,
F. Appiani, A. Bertelsen, T.G. Bolwig, P. Braunig, S.N. Caroff, B.T. Carroll, A.E. Cavanna, D. Cohen,
Cottencin O, M.J. Cuesta, J. Daniels, D. Dhossche, G.L. Fricchione, G. Gazdag, N. Ghaziuddin, D. Healy,
D.F. Klein, S. Krüger, J.W.Y. Lee, S.C. Mann, M. Mazurek, W.V. McCall, W.W. McDaniel, G. Northoff,
V. Peralta, Petrides G, P. Rosebush, T.A. Rummans, E. Shorter, K. Suzuki, P. Thomas, G. Vaiva,
L. Wachtel). J ECT 2010; 26: 246-248. (letter).
787. Whither melancholia? The case for its classification as a distinct mood disorder (with G. Parker,
E. Shorter, M.A. Taylor, H. Akiskal, G. Berrios, T. Bolwig, W.A. Brown, B. Carroll, D. Healy, D.F. Klein,
A. Koukopolous, R. Michels, J. Paris, R.T. Rubin, R. Spitzer, C. Swartz). Am J Psychiatry 2010; 167: 745-47.
(letter).

58

�788. Laszlo Meduna’s immigration to the United States in 1939: Correspondence with Victor Gonda (G.
Gazdag, M. Fink, G. Ungvari, E. Shorter). J ECT 2010; 26: 79-81.
789. The human side of Laszlo Meduna. J ECT 26: 77-78. (commentary).
790. ECT is equally effective in unipolar and bipolar depression (with S. Bailine, R. Knapp, G. Petrides,
M. Husain, K. Rasmussen, S. Sampson, M. Mueller, S. McClintock, K.G. Tobias, C.H. Kellner). Acta
Psychiatr Scand 2010; 121: 431-436.
791. Bifrontal, bitemporal, and right unilateral electrode placement in ECT: A randomized trial (with
C.H. Kellner, R. Knapp, M. Husain, K. Rasmussen, S. Sampson, M. Cullum, S. McClintock, K. Tobias,
C. Martino, M. Mueller, S. Bailine, G. Petrides). Br. J. Psychiatry 2010; 196: 226-234.
792. A randomized controlled trial comparing the memory effects of continuation ECT versus continuation
pharmacotherapy: Results from the CORE study (with G.E. Smith, K.G. Rasmussen, M. Cullum,
M.D. Felmlee, G. Petrides, T.A. Rummans, M. Husain, M. Mueller, H. Bernstein, R. Knapp, M.K. O’Connor,
S. Sampson, S.H. Bailine, C.H. Kellner). J Clin Psychiatry 2010; 71: 185-193.
793. The end of the asylum era in Central-Eastern Europe. History of Psychiatry 2010; 21: 501-504.
(with G. Gazdag, B. Baran, Z. Rihmer).
794. ECT (Electroconvulsive Therapy) as first line treatment for psychotic depression. Letter reply to
B.S. Meyers, A.J. Flynt, A.J. Rothschild et al.: The Study of Pharmacotherapy of Psychotic Depression
STOP-PD. Arch Gen Psychiatry 2009; 66:838-47. (with C.H. Kellner, K. Tobias, G. Petrides). Arch Gen
Psychiatry, 9 Feb 2010. (letter).
795. F.D. Zepf et al.: A 16-year-old boy with severe gamma-butyrolactone (GBL) withdrawal delirium.
Pharmacopsychiatry 2010; 43: 157-8. (letter).
796. The perplexing history of electroconvulsive therapy in three books. Psychiatric Times 2010; (Oct) 27: 31
(with C.H. Kellner). (book review).
797. Book Review. Hysteria: The Biography. Andrew Scull. New York: Oxford University Press, 2009.
SB&amp;F April 2010.
798. Obituary: Sidney Merlis, 1925-2010. Neuropsychopharmacology 2010:35: 2648.

2011
799. Catatonia from its Creation to DSM5: Considerations for ICD. Indian Jrl Psychiatry. 2011; 53: 214-217.
800. Melancholia is a distinct identifiable mood disorder that warrants a separate category in DSM5. In: C.R.
Soldatos and D.G. Dikeos (Ed): Psychiatry and the Neurosciences: International Perspectives. Bologna Italy:
Editografica, 2011: 5-13.
801. ECT resurrected: Its successes and promises after 75 years. Can J Psychiatry 2011; 56:3-4
(Commentary).
802. Presidential Perspective: Defining clinical diagnoses by the medical model. In: Cottler L (Ed): Mental
Health in Public Health: The Next 100 Years, NY: Oxford University Press, 2011: 278-281.

59

�803. Anti-NMDA receptor encephalitis vs. pediatric catatonia. [Comment on Case Report "Anti NMDA
receptor encephalitis" Am J Psychiatry 2011;168: 245-51]. Am J Psychiatry 2011; 168: 749. [Dhossche D,
Fink M, Shorter E, Wachtel LE] (Letter)
804. Transcranial magnetic stimulation is not a replacement for electroconvulsive therapy in depressive mood
disorders. J ECT 2011; 27: 3-4. (Commentary)
805. Stimulus dosing in electroconvulsive therapy. J ECT 2011; 27:268. [Petrides G, Braga RJ, Fink M,
Mueller M, Knapp RG, Husain M, Rummans T, Bailine SH, O'Connor K, Malur C, Kellner CH.]. (Letter)
806. ECT for melancholia. New York City Voices 2011; 18: 16. (Letter)
807. A response to Not “Au Revoir” but "Merci Beaucoup. J ECT 2011; 27:339. [Bailine S, Petrides G,
Kellner C, Fink M, Bolwig T, Freeman C, Greenberg R, Kramer B, Fox H, Francis A, O'Connor K, Ray L,
Satin A, Guerra F, Hermann C, Kayne E, Sevi S, Braga R.] (Letter)
808a. Obituary: Alfred M. Freedman. Psychiatric Times, June 2011, pg 24.
808b. Obituary: Alfred M. Freedman. Neuropsychopharmacology 2011, 36:2784.
809. Book Review: Nash Boutros, Silvana Galderisi, Oliver Pogarell, Silvana Riggio: Standard
Electroencephalography in Clinical Psychiatry: A practical handbook. Chichester UK: Wiley-Blackwell,
2011. Acta psychiatr scand 2011; 124: 239-40.
810. Book Review. Will I Ever Be the Same Again? Transforming the Face of ECT (Shock Therapy). J ECT
2011; 27:262-3 [Kellner CH, Fink M.]
811. Book Review. Hobson, J.Allan. Dream Life: An Experimental Memoir. Science Books &amp; Films 2011;
47(4):186.

2012
812. Hidden in plain sight: Catatonia in pediatrics. Acta psychiatr scand. 2012: 125:11-12. [Commentary]
813. Oral History of Neuropsychopharmacology: The First Fifty Years: Neurophyiology. Thomas Ban and
Max Fink, Editors. Brentwood TN: ACNP. Volume 2: 319 pp.
814. Book Review: Bor, Daniel The Ravenous Brain: How the New Science of Consciousness Explains our
Insatiable Search for Meaning. Science Books &amp; Films 2012; 48(9): 243-4.
815. The responsible role for ECT in suicide prevention and treatment. In: A. Shrivastava, M. Kimball, D.
Lester (Editors): Suicide from a Global Perspective: Risk Assessment and Management. Chap 14: pg 119126.

2013
816. Rediscovering Catatonia: The Biography of a Treatable Syndrome. Acta psychiatr Scand. 2013; 127:
Supplement 441;1-50. [Fink M.]
817. Clinical practice to change with divorce of catatonia and schizophrenia. J Clin Pychopharmacology
2013; 33(3): 287-88. [Fink M.]

60

�818. Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) for children, adolescents and adults with developmental disability and
severe mental illness: A call for action. Am J Psychiatry 2013 [Wachtel L. Dhossche D. Fink M, Jaffe R,
Kellner CH, Weeks H, Shorter E.] (Editorial).
819. Are depression's causes biological? The New York Times, September 16, 2013; pg A22. Letter. [with
Edward Shorter].
820. Introduction. Electroconvulsive Therapy: A Guide for Professionals and their Patients. Korean Edition;
translated by Sangsoo Lee. Seoul S. Korea: Hana Medical Publishing Co., 233 pp. [Fink M.]
821. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth edition, divorces catatonia from
schizophrenia. J Clin Psychopharmacology. 2013; 33(3):1-2.

2014
822. The mechanism of action of ECT. In: N. Ghaziuddin and G. Walter (Eds.): Electroconvulsive Therapy
in Children and Adolescents 2014. New York: Oxford University Press. Chap 2, pp 18-28. [Fink M.]
823. The role of ECT in suicide prevention. J ECT:30: 5-9. [Fink M, Kellner CH, McCall V.]
824. What was learned: Studies by the Consortium for Research in ECT (CORE) 1997-2011. Acta
Psychiatrica Scand. 129: 417-426. [Fink M.]
825. Thirty years of publication and continuing. [Editorial] J ECT 30: 1-2 [McCall WV, Kellner CH, Fink M.]
826. Celebrating 80 years of inducing brain seizures as psychiatric treatment. JECT 2014; 30:90. [Fink M.]
827. Revive flurothyl inhalation treatment in psychiatry? Psychiatric Times March 19, 2014 [Fink M,
Shorter E]
828. The seizure, not electricity, is essential in convulsive therapy: The flurothyl experience. J ECT 2014;
30:91-93. [Fink M.]
829. The chemical induction of seizures in psychiatric therapy: Were flurothyl (Indoklon) and
pentylenetetrazol (Metrazol) abandoned prematurely? J Clinical Psychopharmacology. 2014; 34(5):602-7.
[Cooper K, Fink M.]
830. Convulsive and non-convulsive treatments in psychiatry. In: S. Bloch, S. Green, J Holmes (Eds.):
Psychiatry: Past, Present and Prospect. New York: Oxford University Press, 2014.
831. Obituary. Turan M. Itil. Neuropsychopharmacology 2014; 39:3133-3134

2015
832. Electroconvulsive therapy versus pharmacotherapy for bipolar depression. Am J Psychiatry 2015; 172(3)
295-6. [Kellner CH, Fink M.]
833. Reply. [Comment on Wachtel L: Recognition of neuroleptic malignant syndrome and delirious mania as
malignant catatoniain an autistic man with prompt relief with ECT.] Acta Psychiatr Scand. 132:320

61

�834. Seeing the King’s frenzy as catatonia. Acta psychiatr scand 132(6): 500-501.
835. Book Review. Le Bihan, Denis. Looking Inside the Brain: The Power of Neuroimaging. Princeton U
Press. AAAS Science Books &amp; Films.

2016
836. Catatonia is a systemic medical disorder. Acta psychiatr scand. 2016; 133(1): 250-1. [Fink M,
Fricchione G, Rummans T, Shorter E.]
837. Bearing Witness: Personal and poetic descriptions of seizure therapy. J ECT 2016; 32(1): 13-16.
[Fink M.]
838. Optimizing ECT technique in treating catatonia. J ECT 2016; 32(3):149-150. [Fink M, Kellner CH,
McCall V.]
839. Barbara Fish: In Memoriam. Neuropsychopharmacology 2016; 41(13): 3118.
840. Hyperthermia for Major Depressive Disorder? JAMA Psychiatry. 2016 Oct 1; 73(10): 1096. 2016.1627.
[Fink M, Shorter E.]

2017
841. Katatonie: Často Sevyskytující Klinický Syndrom Rozpoznatelný a Léčitelný. Catatonia: A Common
Systemic Clinical Syndrome, Recognizable and Treatable. Čes a slov Psychiat 2017; 113(2): 84–93.
842. Does persisting fear sustain catatonia? Acta Psychiatr Scand 2017; Nov; 136(5):441-444. [Fink M,
Shorter E.]
843. To define melancholia, follow the path of catatonia. Bipolar Dis 2017;19(5);401-

2.

844. Electroconvulsive therapy for self-injurious behavior in autism spectrum disorders: Recognizing
catatonia is key. Current Opinion. 2017 Dec 18 [Epub ahead of print]. [Wachtel LW, Shorter E, Fink M]
845. Book Review. Electroshock as Means for Social Control. Sadowsky, J. Electroconvulsive Therapy in
America: The Anatomy of a Medical Controversy. JECT 2017; 33:144-5.
846. ECT for catatonia and melancholia: No need for ambivalence. Psychiatric Times 2017; Sep: 16-17F.
(Kellner CH, Fink M).

2018
847. ECT for Self Injurious Behavior in Autism: A New Indication. Psychiatric Times. 56 (2): 6-9. [Wachtel
LE, Kellner CH, Fink M.]
848. Book Review: Electroconvulsive Therapy: Revival in German speaking Countries. JECT 34:70-71.
849. The Madness of Fear: A History of Catatonia. NY: Oxford University Press. [E. Shorter, M. Fink]
850. Electroconvulsive therapy for self-injurious behavior in autism spectrum disorders: Recognizing
catatonia is key. Current Opinion. 2018; 31(2):116-122 [Wachtel LW, Shorter E, Fink M]
62

�851. Induced seizure therapy (ECT): Effective and safe, but stigmatized. Scientific American Psychiatry. DOI
10.2310/7800.13068 08/17
852. A useful example of pharmaco-electroencephalogram science. J Clin Psychopharmacology 38(6): 552554. (Invited Commentary).

2019
853. Electroshock Therapy and Catatonia: A Productive Synergism. JECT 2019; 35(4):219-221.
854. Catatonia: A Recognizable and Treatable Systemic Syndrome. In: Oxford Textbook of
Neuropsychiatry, Chap 36; 437-445. NY: Oxford University Press, 2019
855. Book review: Semple, David. Pragmatic Guidance for EEG Interpretation. 2nd edition. Amazon Digital
Services LLC, JECT 35(4):e60-61.2020

2020
856. Expanding the catatonia tent: Recognizing electroconvulsive therapy responsive syndromes. JECT:
2020 Oct 27. doi: 10.1097/YCT.0000000000000729
857. A protocol for a prospective descriptive prevalence study of catatonia in an acute mental health unit in
urban South Africa. BMJ Open. Zingela, Z, Cronje J, Fink M, Van Wyk, S. BMJ Open 2020;10:e040176.

doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2020-040176
2021
858. Random Controlled Trial of Sham ECT Therapy: A Historical Note. JECT 2021 Mar 4. doi:
10.1097/YCT.0000000000000759. Online ahead of print. PMID: 33661180
.

63

�64

�Internet, Web-Based Articles
1998
W.01 Is catatonia a subtype of schizophrenia?
http://www.mhsource.com/whatsnew/mfin-cataton.html
W.02 EEG monitoring in ECT: A guide to treatment efficacy.
http://www.mhsource.com/pt/p980570.html with Richard Abrams
1999
W.03 Pediatric ECT: An update.
http://www.mhsource.com/pt/p990963.html with Carmel Foley
W.04 Electroshock. An effective treatment for mental illness.
http://www.electroshock.org
W.05a The use of ECT in bipolar disorder (Consumer)
http://www.mhsource.com/bipolar/ect2.html
W.05b The use of ECT in bipolar disorder (Professional)
http://www.mhsource.com/bipolar/ect1.html
2000
W.06 Pediatric ECT . A Review, June 2000.
http://www.electroshock.org/archives/adolescent_ECT_review.htm
W.07 NMS is best treated as catatonia.
http://www.electroshock.org/archives/NMS-catatonia_review.htm
W.08 ECT 2000.
http://www.longislandpsych.org/arch/ECT/ECTframe.html
W.09 ECT 2000.
http://www. mdvista.com/library/journal/psychiatry/electroconvulsive_therapy_2000.htm
2001
W.10 ECT is effective in bipolar disorder.
http://www.BMJ.com/cgi/content/full/321/7272/1302
W.11 Treating bipolar affective disorder.
http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/322/7282/365/a&gt;
W.12 Neuroleptic malignant syndrome and malignant catatonia: Effective treatment,
http://www. mdvista.com/
2002
W.13 Insulin coma therapy.
65

�http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/nash/filmmore/ps_ict.html
2005
W.14 The social sources of psychopharmacology.
http://media.snow.utoronto.ca:8080/ramgen/extra4/BE2005/BE2005-April29-5.rm
2009
W.15 ECT in treating status epilepticus.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.yebeh.2009.06.022
2011
W.16 The race to Patent bio-Tests for Schizophrenia and Depression.
http://www.psychiatrictimes.com/schizophrenia/content/article/10168/1994367

Updated April 15, 2019

66

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                <text>&lt;span&gt;Max Fink, MD, Professor of Psychiatry and Neurology Emeritus, Stony Brook University, was interviewed by Lorraine Botti on March 18, 2018. The location was Special Collections in the Melville Library at Stony Brook University, where his archive is housed. In the interview, Dr. Fink discusses: the circumstances which brought him to Stony Brook University in 1972 including his appointment by Dr. Stanley Yolles; his administration of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) services; the Second World War and Sigmund Freud; psychoanalysis vs. ECT then and now, and its effect on suicide; and catatonia verification and treatment.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt; &lt;/span&gt;</text>
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                <text>Stony Brook Medicine's YouTube Channel published this video in 2019: &lt;a title="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_dxp3N12uAY" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_dxp3N12uAY"&gt;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_dxp3N12uAY&lt;/a&gt;</text>
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                    <text>May 17, 2017

A Boy from the Bronx: A Recollection
Max Fink, M.D.

Arline Alda’s “Just Kids from the Bronx” enticed me to recollect the first 20 years of my
life.1 The personal stories of her friends and those of her husband Alan Alda of childhoods spent
in Bronx apartment houses and public schools described the rich lives of European immigrants
first to the city and their spread to the outer borough of the Bronx with their farms and parks and
unimproved acres. Her 19-year old brother Adolph came from New York to shepherd us across
the Atlantic on the SS George Washington. We joined my mother’s families the Gottliebs and the
Lowenthals in a cluster of apartment houses on Fifth Avenue just north of Central Park. The
park, bicycle paths, lake and boat pond were our playgrounds.
After my father received the New York State license to practice medicine, my parents
travelled along the newly developed Pelham Bay Park elevated train line, along the southeast
corridor of the Bronx, stopping at one exit after another, walking the streets near each station,
seeking an apartment suitable for a doctor’s office. A five story apartment building at 1201
Elder Avenue just 50 yards from the elevated train station offered a six room ground floor
apartment. The corner store was a pharmacy and soda fountain and a luncheonette with
newspapers and magazines on the other side. 2 The dual track train stood on steel columns along
Westchester Avenue, over trolley car tracks that offered a busy and noisy transportation hub.
Multi-story brick houses with honey locust trees filled the avenue.

PS 77 elementary

school3 was two streets to the North and East on 172 Street and Ward Avenue, with the James
Monroe High School just one street to the North. My parents joined the reformed synagogue on

�Elder Avenue and 172 Street.4 This enclave became a vibrant Jewish community that sustained
my father’s practice. Other practitioners settled in the neighboring streets and the need for
hospital facilities led community physicians to establish the two-story Hunts Point Hospital and
then a few years later a much larger Bronx Hospital, both offering facilities for practitioners to
treat their patients.5
My mother’s brother Max Lowenthal established his office and home on Washington
Avenue, a few streets from the Bronx Hospital. His home was on a large lot offering a
playground for our family visits. His oldest son Charles was a Scoutmaster and both my brother
and I were active Boy Scouts.
In time my parents rented an apartment (#3) in the same building as our home. Melvin
and Ruth Muroff, lifelong friends lived in Apartment #2. (Apartment #4 was the office of our
dentist Dr. Heyman.)
In 1928, my father’s mother Dvora Grunwerg migrated and was established in Apartment
#5. She occupied the first two rooms leaving the large living room with windows facing the
elevated railroad as a play area for my brother Sidney and myself. We adapted to the screeching
brakes of train halts and noises of the doors and motors every few minutes, day and night. The
living room was our playground, with Lionel electric trains on the floor, chemical experiments,
chess and marble games on tables. My grandmother adhered to orthodox Jewish practices and
tolerated our noises and arguments.
My father’s office windows faced the street. Although Elder Avenue was lightly
travelled, my friends and I were admonished to keep the noise levels low. My father parked his
car in front of the building entrance, a notice that he was in his office. His open “office hours”

�were 12 to 1 and 6 to 8 each day. My brother and I were expected to join him for dinner each
day at 5:30.
The office telephone was monitored at all times so early in my life I learned to answer the
ring with ”Dr. Fink’s office” and record the messages. When my father went to a movie house
or a play or opera in the city, he sought an aisle seat after notifying the usher that he was
available for calls.
I had a mutt dog called Pal. He developed seizures, often vomited, and more often
whimpered and cried for long periods. My father had various medications in his office and I
soon learned that the pink capsule (secobarbital, Seconal) would quiet Pal nicely. One night,
when my parents were at a movie house, Pal was very upset. I fed him two capsules and went
back to reading and listening to radio music. Not hearing from Pal, I found him under the dining
room table, unconscious and not responding. Panicked, I called my father and blurted that he
should come home quickly for an emergency. After a hurried drive through the broad streets of
Southern Boulevard, over the trolley tracks, he rushed in and when I showed him the “dead” dog,
he listened and examined and opined that the dog would soon recover. My chagrin was an early
lesson in the need for examination before ringing a panic button.
During the financial depression of the 1930s a barter system was in place. I was often
sent to the grocer, butcher and fish shops, pharmacy and laundry, bringing home packages after
my mother had called. I rarely needed cash money except to use the train or trolley systems.
By 1936 the developing Spanish Civil War and the anti-Jewish restrictions in Germany
became daily family concerns as my parents sought to bring Jewish relatives and school
classmates to America. To obtain a visa the immigrants needed evidence that they would not

�become wards of the government. My parents established bank accounts in the names of each of
the relatives with a joint owner, often using me as the citizen.6
PS 77 and the James Monroe High School were well regulated. Boys wore white shirts
and dark shorts or knickerbocker pants (knickers) clustered just below the knee; girls wore white
midi-blouses and dark skirts. While the halls were noisy between classes, hall “monitors”
maintained order. Being a “monitor” was an “honor” and despite my small size, I was an active
hall monitor.
Desks bound to the floor filled classrooms. I was short and usually sat up front and did
not realize until I took eye tests for a driver’s license at age 16 that I was near-sighted. My first
pair of glasses were a revelation.
I surely was a “nerd” and in the practice of the time I skipped grades four times,
graduating from elementary school at age 12. I qualified for the prestigious Manhattan high
schools, but my parents refused permission saying that the James Monroe High School was just
four streets away and required no travel.
The school had four program “tracks” and I was soon established as college bound on
the academic track. I studied German to meet the language requirement and became an editor of
the monthly Plaudermäulchen (“chatterbox”) and wrote each issue’s crossword puzzle.
I was favored by Ms. Sweet, teacher of English literature and head of the Arista, the honorary
academic society. Tall and lean, always well dressed, she was an enthusiastic reader of murder
mysteries, sharing them with students. When she learned that I wanted to go to medical school,
she sent me to the coach of the football team, Mr. Wiedman who offered me a position as a
“team manager.” I kept records of the games, team equipment, medical supplies, and monitored
travel arrangements for off-site games. At the end of the game season I arranged a team dinner,

�once at a New York City retaurant on Times Square. At the school graduation I was awarded an
athletic letter M, a note in my college application that may have supported my college
admission as a “well rounded student.”
I graduated high school in January 1939 at age 16 and enrolled in New York University’s
College at its Bronx campus for its Feb-Sep program.7 I lived at home and used the trolley line
to come to school. By the second year I established myself as a library assistant in the Gould
Memorial Library and a research fellow in the biology programs under Carl Sandstrom and
Horace W. Stunkard.8 I soon found niches in the Library and Biology Buildings in which I could
leave a cot and some clothes and I often remained on campus for days on end.
As an editor of the Heights Daily News, the college’s 4 to 8 page newspaper, I spent a night each
week at the printshop in Fort Lee, New Jersey, editing page proofs and setting type for headlines.
I wrote stories of campus events and visiting lectures.
The aroma of print ink settled in my clothes and led me to work from time to time in the
art book multi-color print shop of Martin Jahoda. Martin was émigré relative of my father’s
medical school classmate Julius Halpern who fled Vienna with his wife Frieda and daughter Eva
on March 12, 1938 (the day that Hitler was welcomed into Vienna). The family lived nearby on
Elder Avenue as he studied for the New York State medical licensing examinations. I coached
him in English and as a gift he gave me a Leica camera that was compact and easily fit my
trouser’s pocket. I used it throughout my medical school career.
My parents moved their home to Pelham Manor at 528 Manor Ridge Road before WW II.
I did not live at that home. My parents had supported the Elder Avenue Synagogue and they led
the organization of the Pelham Jewish Center in their village. It took many years of effort to
overcome the community’s restrictive covenants against Jews and blacks, the prevailing Nimby

�attitude of Westchester County communities at the time. The Center and Synagogue opened on
the Esplanade in 1953.
My brother Sidney was born in 1927. He followed the same trajectory in the same public
schools that I attended. He graduated Columbia College in 1948 and Columbia’s College of
Physicians and Surgeons for his medical degree in 1952. His residency training in medicine at
Montefiore Hospital was followed by years of research as a Damon Runyon Fellow. He
specialized in gastroenterology and by 1959 he left the Bronx for a career in community
practice.9
I recall our Victrola, a large mahogany box that played 10- and 12-inch vinyl records.
My parents and then I collected records, mostly symphonic and operatic. My parents had been
well versed in opera during their education in Vienna. Radio music dominated our living room
as we avidly followed the news, hours of symphonic and operatic music, and the stories of
Manchu the Magician, the Lone Ranger and Jack Armstrong, the All-American Boy and other
“soap operas” for boys.
What else do I recall of my experience in the Bronx? During childhood, cars and trucks
were few, much if not most traffic was horse-drawn wagons, leaving manure on the streets.
White-clothed Sanitation sweepers kept the streets clean; but we were accustomed to playing ball
in littered streets.
The Bronx River flowed three streets west of Elder Avenue. “The mud flats” of its
banks, the Morrisania Farms with milk cows and chickens just to the north. The Bronx
Zoological and Botanical Parks a quarter mile north, well within walking distances, were our
playgrounds. We played stickball, practiced skills with marbles (immies, steelies, aggies), tossed
and collected Goudey Indian and World War I Air Ace Cards, and built carts using 4-wheel

�roller skates. On week-end afternoons we took the train to New York City to visit the Museum
of Natural History with its dioramas and Saturday afternoon films like Nanook of the North and
the conquest of the North and South Poles by Admiral Peary and Roald Amundsen. I learned to
swim at the Castle Hill pools and ride horses at Pelham Bay Park.
Speaking of Indian cards, in 1990 my daughter Linda was teaching at Middlebury College. She
and Martha went on a shopping trip leaving me to wander US Route 7 alone. A bookshop
showcase contained Goudey Indian Cards of 1936 vintage. Nostalgia led me to buy three for $5.
For the next decade I bought, bartered, and exchanged cards at ephemera shows until I had a full
set of 216 cards in good to excellent condition. These have been a prize collection in my library
and are now at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry in Portland.
I received my letter of admission to New York University Medical School on December
6, 1941 the day before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. That summer I began my studies at
Bellevue Hospital and was inducted into the Army Specialized Training Program (ASTP) for my
medical school years. Because Bellevue faculty made up one of the Hospitals sent overseas, we
were taught by a very junior faculty. I participated in many research protocols and was
encouraged to undertake procedures as obtaining blood and spinal fluid, set fractures, deliver
babies, and do minor surgery.
On graduation in June 1945 I started an internship at Morrisania City Hospital in the
Bronx. In April 1946 I went on active military duty, was trained in neuropsychiatry at the army
School of Military Neuropsychiatry in San Antonio and served 20 months stateside. At age 24, I
was suddenly discharged in November 1947 with the end of the war and troop demobilization.
Having been in school continuously since childhood I elected to spend the next six months as a
ship’s Surgeon on the Grace and American Export Lines. On a Grace Line cruise to South

�America I met Bertie and Harry Gross of Great Neck, and met their daughter Martha when we
returned at the end of the cruise to Pier 57 in NYC. We began our courtship and Martha and I
married in September 11, 1949 after her graduation from Barnard College in June.10
Throughout medical school days I lived at Elder Avenue, often taking the subway to the school.
My internship at Morrisania City Hospital from July 1945 to June 1946 and my residencies at
Montefiore and Bellevue Hospitals kept me within the borough. On January 2, 1952 I joined the
staff of Hillside Hospital on the eastern edge of Queens. I had already established a base at
Martha’s parents home in Great Neck in 1949 and thereafter my connection to the Bronx was
limited to visits to my father’s Elder Avenue office until his death in 1965 at age 67.
My mother Bronia was my father’s assistant when he opened his office. After my brother and I
spent our days in school my mother took part in community services, especially during the war
years. She organized a storefront child care center on Elder Avenue, nurtured it to become an
affiliate of the Federation of Jewish Philanthropies. She developed centers at Clason Point and
then at Bronx River Housing. During the war years she was chairwoman of the local rationing
board. She was a well known community leader.
Bronia’s medical education was interrupted by my birth during her fourth year at the
University of Vienna. After the war, when Sidney and I were well along in our schooling she
sought to enroll in a New York City medical school to continue her medical education, but was
refused admission. With her experience as a community leader, she turned to training in social
work, graduating from the Columbia University School of Social Work in 1956. Thereafter she
worked at the Lenox Hill Hospital until retired by age at 65 (1967); then at the Brandywine
Nursing Home where she worked for an additional 12 years,

�My uncle Max Lowenthal had three children. His daughter Irma was very close to my
mother and after her children were grown, she too was active in Bronx projects. She married a
physician Henry Fleck. She was born in Poland in 1919, emigrated in 1921, and died in 2004 at
age 84. Her obituary describes her extensive efforts in enhancing Bronx culture.11
Our families were educated and nurtured in the Bronx. It was a happy environment with
little to anticipate the riots and burnings and the white flight of the 1970s.12 During the years of
the economic depression, a barter economy and volunteer community efforts encouraged child
care and welfare for the poor. It was a nurturing community.

1

Alda, Arline. Just Kids from the Bronx. New York: Henry Holt &amp; Co., 2015.

2

The luncheonette was managed by the Muroffs who were lived next door neighbors. Their son Melvin, 2 years
older than I, became a lifelong close friend. A graduate of the Menninger Foundation Institute in Topeka, he later
practiced clinical psychology in Scarsdale, New York. He and his wife Blanche were loyal friends and supporters
of my research as members of the Board of the International Association for Psychiatric Research.
3

4

Now redesignated Public Schools 195 and 196, at the junction of Ward Avenue and 172 Street.
My brother and I obtained our Jewish education and celebrated our Bar Mitzvahs at this center.

5

By 2015 neither hospital, nor the Morrisania City Hospital were still to be found.

6

My parents became citizens in 1928, and I was designated as a citizen at the same time.

7

For students who completed high school admission in February an intensive summer program allowed students to
join the sophomore class in September.
8

My research problem was to study the impact of light and darkness on the mitosis diurnal cycle in the ependymal
layer of the 48 to 72 hour chick. Others had studied th 24 to 48 and 72 to 96 hour cycles. We found no changes in
mitosis rates.
9

After a period of research at Montefiore Sidney began a clinical practice in Paterson, New Jersey with a group
headed by Irving Selikoff, an eminent researcher in pulmonary diseases,. He moved to an academi position in
Chicago, then at the Veterans Hospital in Providence. He married Eleonor Engelman, a student at Barnard College.
They had 3 children Michael (now in Chicago working for more than 25 years as an analyst at United Air Lines);
Deena on the faculty in Mathematics and Computer Science at New York University’s Courant Institute; and Bert, a
publicist for Rogers &amp; Hammerstein Music studios. While in Providence Ellie died; Sidney joined the US Air Force
as medical officer, where he met and married nurse Nesta Hignett, moved to the Veterans Hospital in Hampton
VA. After her death he retired to Hampton community.

�10

Martha died suddenly on March 31, 2016. Her ashes are under a Japanese Cherry tree on our lawn in
Nissequogue. We had been happily married for 67 years. We have 3 children born between 1951 and 1958.
Jonathan is Professor and VP for Research at Portland State University; Rachel is Professor of Biology at Mount
Holyoke College, and Linda is Professor of Ecology at Sweet Briar College.
Jon married Nina DeLange in Phoenix and they have a daughter Laurel and a son Andrew. Laurel
graduated Arizona State University and obtained the Master’s degree at the University in Brisbane, Australia.
Andrew is completing his sophomore year at University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada.
Rachel married Tom Dennis, a Professor of Astronomy/Physics and has Rose Dennis who graduated Mt
Holyoke College on May 15, 2016 and Hieu Dennis who is completing his 2 nd year at Union College.
Linda married the Monarch Butterfly scientist Lincoln Brower who taught her during her career at Amherst
College. They do not have children.
11

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/26/nyregion/irma-fleck-84-who-battled-decay-in-the-bronx-is-dead.html?_r=0;
http://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1971/01/12/83198899.html?pageNumber=26;
http://www.nytimes.com/1986/09/17/opinion/l-a-way-for-hay-fever-victims-to-fight-back-763486.html;
http://www.nytimes.com/1989/06/07/opinion/l-violence-of-old-men-vs-the-idealism-of-youth-what-tocquevillesaid-279689.html
12

Mahler J. Ladies and Gentlemen, the Bronx Is Burning: 1977, Baseball, Politics, and the Battle for the Soul of a
City. NY: Farrar, Straus, Giroux,2006.

Appendix 2: The Forgotten Merits of Diagnostic Tests

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                    <text>Seventy Years an Experimentalist in Neurology and
Psychiatry

Max Fink, M.D.

Professor of Psychiatry and Neurology Emeritus,
State University of New York at Stony Brook.
First Publication in Archives: May 28, 2017
Updated April 18, 2021
11 Buttonfield Lane
South Hadley, MA 01075
Tel.

631.637.1730

fink.max@gmail.com
maxfink55@gmail.com
max.fink@stonybrook.edu
max.fink@stonybrookmedicine.edu
max.fink@sunysb.edu
max.fink@optimum.net
Metrics: April 18, 2021
Pages: 100
Words: 38,107

The ultimate court of appeal is observation and experiment, and not authority.
Thomas H. Huxley

1

�Introduction
Inducing seizures to relieve severe behavior disorders-- electroshock, ECT -is a much prejudiced treatment that is undergoing a renaissance after eight decades
of experience. Usage is increased to varying degrees worldwide. But raucous
attacks by public critics and psychologists claiming treatments cause brain damage
and memory losses are ever common. But assured safety and remarkable efficacy,
even guides to specificity in illnesses, brings the intervention within a successful
medical tent. Introduced for the relief of the imagined Kraepelinian diagnosis of
schizophrenia, recent decades has defined catatonia (and its varieties of mutisms,
manias, motor rigidities) and melancholia (depressive psychoses) as more specific
systemic disorders that are rapidly and effectively relieved.
How was the treatment discovered? And why was it rejected by the
professions? Why the public stigma in the face of efficacy and specificity? How has
the practice and the science of the treatment evolved?

The author, well on his way for full training in conventional neurology and
psychiatry is asked to oversee the seizure therapies in hospitalized severely
psychiatric ill. He takes on the task of improving the science and increasing public
and professional acceptance are highlighted in this personal story of an
experimentalist physician.

These pages cite my education as a physician with qualifications in
neurology, psychiatry and psychoanalysis. From the beginning, I studied patients,
their physiology and symptoms, and applied different interventions, often in a
Random Controlled Trial. When I entered the profession, research studies in man
was an accepted practice. In recent decades, bars to such studies have been
increasingly applied, leading to focus on studies in animals and other surrogates.
Over my professional career my interests focused on the treatment of induced
seizures (electroshock, ECT), the effects of substances that altered brain functions
(psychopharmacology, EEG), and the systemic behavior syndromes of catatonia and
melancholia. The records of my studies are archived at the Stony Brook University
Library. 1

2

�Contents
Introduction for Readers
Book One: Inducing Seizures as Treatments

2

Ending Insulin Coma
Optimizing ECT Procedures
The EEG as Index of Efficacy
Modifying seizures: Muscle relaxants and sedatives
Are subconvulsive treatments effective?
Are chemical induced seizures as effective as electrical?
Is Isoflurane anesthesia a replacement?
Acetylcholine and Anticholinergic Drugs
Neuropsychological Tests and EEG Slowing

9

11
13
15
16
17
17
18

The differences Electrode Placements make, Again
Multiple ECT. MMECT
ECT in Systemic Medical Illnesses
Optimizing Treatments
ECT in Schizophrenia
Clozapine and ECT
Seizures and Brain Fluphenazine
CORE Study: ECT in Depressed Inpatients
Persisting Stigma: Memory Loss and ECT

19
20
21
23
24
25
26
26
28

Creation of Induced Seizures as Therapy
Immediate Rejection by the Profession
First APA Task Force onECT
Out-Patient ECT Commission
Stigma persists: Public Joins Attack
Church of Scientology and Malpractice Legal Suits
Media Attacks: Madness with Jonathan Miller
Active Defense: A Beautiful Mind

30
31
34
34
35
36
36
38

Book Two: After ECT Research Hiatus, Renewed Studies

Book Three: Electroshock in the Public Eye

3

�Book Four: The Enigma: How do Seizures Affect Behavior?
Seizures as systemic reflexes
Neurophysiologic adaptive theory
Cholinergic theory
Neuroendocrine hypothesis
Conferring in the search for mechanism

40
41
42
43
46

The Teaching Case
Catatonia as a type of Schizophrenia?
But Catatonia is not Schizophrenia
In contrast, Catatonia is Treatable
Is NMS a Form of Catatonia?
The Drive to Official Definition
Sedative Verification Test
Many Faces of Catatonia
Delirious mania
Toxic serotonin syndrome
Pervasive Refusal Syndrome
Toxic encephalitis: NMDAR Receptor
Self-injurious behavior in Autism
DSM Classification Debates
Catatonia Textbook, ACTA Supplement

50
51
52
53
54
56
56
57
57
59
59
60
62
62
64

What is next?
Dexamethasons Suppression Test
Melancholia Textbook, History

66
66
67

EEG Introduced to Hillside Hospital
EEG in Psychopharmacology
Grey Walter Analyzer
Digital Computer analysis of EEG
IBM 1800 analysis system
Lessons learned: Putative Drugs Classified
Association-Dissociation Controversy
Pharmaco-EEG Paradigm

69
71
71
71
73
74
76
78

Book Five: The Road to Catatonia

Book Six: Melancholia: Medical Model of Diagnosis

Book Seven: Studies in Electroencephalography

4

�Book Eight: A Medical experimentalist is Created
Medical School Experiences 1942-1945
Neurosyphilis and CSF
Osteomyelitis, Barbiturates
Interneship
Penicillin in Empyema
Residency
Percutaneous Carotid Angiography
Face-Hand Test

79
79
80

Early Life
Family Affairs
Dalliance with Psychoanalysis
Military Career, Ship's Surgeon
Perigrinations
Books Published, Edited

85
87
87
89
93
93

Book Nine: Biography

Appendices

81
82
83

94

5

�Book One: Inducing Seizures as Treatments
My academic arc in electroconvulsive therapy began unexpectedly on
January 2, 1952 as I enrolled for the fifth year of residency training in neurology and
psychiatry at a hospital reputed to use classic psychoanalytic principles to treat
hospitalized severely ill. I arrived on a clear winter day with another new recruit, to
meet the Directors of this 170-bed multi-building Hillside Hospital caring for
voluntary psychiatric in-patients, for up to a year, mainly at public cost.
That morning I was assigned to the electroshock and insulin coma treatment
services. In my previous years, I had no experience with either treatment.

I received my M.D. degree from New York University School of Medicine on
June 12, 1945, followed by nine-month interneship and 20 months service in the US
Army Medical Corps. During the succeeding four years I studied in neurology and
psychiatry residencies, attended a school of psychoanalysis, and sought a final year
in psychoanalytic psychotherapy at an inpatient hospital in the Long Island
farmland, with accredited training psychoanalysts on its faculty.

I accompanied the Associate Medical director to a 2-story building that
housed the electroconvulsive (ECT) treatment unit. One by one, five patients lying
on a wheeled stretcher under sheet restraints were brought into a treatment room,
a rubber bite-bloc placed between their teeth, two stimulating electrodes applied at
the temples, protected by two aides, a seizure induced with currents delivered from
a Medcraft alternating or a Reiter polyrhythm current device with the energy set
according to estimates of what was needed to induce a full grand mal seizure.

As the electric currents were applied, the neck and back arched, the body
became rigid, followed by rhythmic muscle movements and breath holding. The
patient became cyanotic with light blue lips. After a minute, the muscles relaxed,
deep breathing followed, cyanosis waned, and color returned as the patient was
moved to a recovery room, cared for by aides for 15 to 20 minutes until able to get
off the stretcher and walk to the ward for shower, dressing and breakfast. Durations
of the elicited seizures varied in length from 30 seconds to a few minutes,
occasionally requiring termination by intravenous injections of amobarbital.

Observing a full grand mal seizure in each patient jarred me. The previous
week and for years before I had been taught by my neurologist teachers that
seizures were dangerous to patients and must be stamped out. Every teacher had
emphasized the need to fully inhibit seizures to avoid tooth, limb, and spine
fractures, tongue-biting, confusion, injury from falls, and death. Much was made of
the newly developed anticonvulsant phenytoin (Dilantin).

6

�And now, we were deliberately inducing grand mal seizures! This antithesis
has plagued my professional life and the lives of neurologists who, to this day, are
unable to accept the evidence that benefits in behavior accrue to repeated induced
seizures in severely depressed, manic, catatonic, delirious, and psychotic patients.
As I learned how to treat patients safely I realized the remarkable benefits of
inducing seizures, and such treatments became an interest for the remainder of my
professional life.
After introduction to ECT that first morning, we crossed the hall to the
insulin coma treatment unit, a well-lit air-conditioned suite with a large nursing
staff. Filled with cries, coughs, grunts, and groans of patients in various stages of
stupor, coma, drowsiness and confusion, and some suffering a seizure.

They had come to the treatment unit in loose-fitting pajamas at 6 in the
morning and had been injected subcutaneously or intravenously with measured
doses of insulin. For the next three to five hours they were repeatedly tested for
vigilance and response to commands as they lost consciousness; their tendon and
pupillary reflexes disappeared, breathing became stertorous, and intense sweating
soaked the bedsheets. After a measured hour, the stupors were ended by 10%
glucose solution administered either by nasogastric tube or by intravenous injection.
The change from unconsciousness to consciousness and to talking with the aides
occurred rapidly, within 10 to 30 minutes. On awakening, each patient was taken to
shower, dress, and within an hour was eating breakfast. Most were famished and
ate everything put before them.
Insulin coma treatments, like the ECT sessions at the time, were unsafe.
Fractures of teeth and limbs occurred and confusion persisted for hours after
treatment. During 1/5 of the ICT treatments, at least one unscheduled seizure
emergency occurred each morning. For the patients who had shown little change in
behavior during the course of insulin comas, seizures were induced electrically in
the midst of the coma. This combination of ECT and coma was common for the
severely psychotic patients, an implicit recognition that the seizure was the
therapeutic feature of the coma treatments.

Occasionally, consciousness did not return despite repeated doses of glucose.
Stupor persisted with sweating, fever, elevated blood pressure, and rapid heart
rates. We had no understanding of why a state of persistent coma occasionally
occurred nor how to relieve it. Many experimental means were tried. Relief from
the stupor occurred slowly over days of intensive nursing care. Two patients died in
stuporous coma during the six years that I managed the service.

By early afternoon, the ICT and ECT treated patients were in individual and
group treatment sessions, participating in occupational activities, playing musical
instruments and games, and meeting with relatives. I frequently tested their skills
in chess and checkers, finding the skills of many better than my own despite their
morning seizure or coma. It was remarkable to see a patient in coma, unresponsive
7

�to verbal, sensory, or painful stimulation and an hour later chatting with staff,
drawing, and playing games. Older patients, though, were more often confused and
fatigued, spending a good part of their post-treatment day in their rooms or their
beds.

For the next three months, I supervised both the ECT and ICT services, with
ECT three times weekly and ICT every morning. My afternoons were spent in
individual therapy sessions with patients, meeting families, attending staff
conferences about individual patients and classes with attending physicians.

By mid-year I had learned that ECT effectively reduced suicide thoughts,
relieved negativism, aggression, depressed and manic moods. Of the hospital
populations, the patients treated with electroshock improved the most. They
became more cooperative and responsive, no longer expressing morbid thoughts
and threats of self-harm, sleeping and eating better, and interacting more normally
with their families, other patients, and staff. The outcomes with insulin coma were
less well defined, and the risks much greater, but yet, greater percentages of
patients so treated were rated improved than after psychotherapy.

ECT treated patients typically improved rapidly; many returned home, with
few transferred to the local Creedmoor State Hospital for lack of improvement. By
contrast, few insulin coma treated patients returned home after a year's residence;
most continued in chronic care. A 5-year follow-up study of 314 patients admitted
to the hospital in 1950 reported a mean hospital duration for ECT-treated patients
of 5.0 months, for psychotherapy-treated patients 6 months, and for ICT-treat
patients 6.5 months. With ECT, 76% were rated as recovered or much improved
compared to 53% for psychotherapy and 33% with ICT. Admittedly, the selection of
treatments and the diagnostic labels were not random but dictated by the opinions
and beliefs of the Attending physicians and by the preference for trials of
psychotherapy before assignment for ECT or ICT. 2
The teachers used social and symptom guidelines for diagnosis and
treatment. The younger, more literate, and better educated patients with phobias,
obsessions, compulsive rituals, and anxiety states were assigned a diagnosis of
psychoneurosis and valued as participants in psychotherapy; the more aggressive,
over-active, and psychotic patients were labeled schizophrenic, with ICT or ECT the
recommended treatments; while the elderly, poorly educated patients, often
immigrants, were seen as depressed and referred for ECT.

8

�Ending Insulin Coma Therapy
The introduction of Largactil (chlorpromazine) to Hillside Hospital in the fall
of 1954 set in motion the demise of insulin coma therapy. Developed in France as a
sedative, to reduce excitement and psychosis of the psychiatric ill, it first underwent
safety and efficacy trials at various New York State hospitals. At an open meeting
organized at Creedmoor State Hospital in Queens in 1954, I heard one researcher
after another -- Herman Denber, Nathan S. Kline, Sidney Malitz, Sidney Merlis,
Anthony Sainz, and John Whittier -- report reduced excitement, aggression, and
mania, lesser disorders in thought, fewer injuries to patients and staff members,
fewer fires set, fewer mattresses trashed, and fewer windows broken with
chlorpromazine use. At the end of the sessions representatives of the Smith, Kline
and French pharmaceutical company offered 25mg samples for clinical trials and I
enrolled.
As the dosing and risks of chlorpromazine were poorly known, the Hillside
hospital administration decided that referrals for this experimental treatment were
best prescribed and supervised by the ECT/ICT physicians. For the first trials we
selected the most disturbed and least cooperative patients in one study unit.
Patients became more responsive, less aggressive, less manic, and more cooperative.
Soon, nurses from other units asked to enroll their patients. Initial reluctant staff
attitudes changed quickly and our enthusiasm for chlorpromazine added to the
voices encouraging its use from France and Canada.
But soon one patient and then another developed jaundice. Other study
centers reported similar toxicities. Our patients were examined for systemic liver
disease, but no explanation for the jaundice was found. Our initial enthusiasm for
chlorpromazine trials was inhibited, but the strength of the benefits encouraged
continued trials. Within a year, such toxic reports became less frequent (there had
been a contaminant in the initial batch, it turned out) and soon motor rigidity,
tremors, and then tardive dyskinesia (delayed abnormal rhythmic movements of
mouth, tongue and facial muscles) dominated discussions of its risks.

These motor signs were the fore-runners of the Parkinsonism and tardive
dyskinesia that are hallmarks of chronic chlorpromazine use. Similar motor effects
were soon reported for successor neuroleptic drugs and motor inhibition became a
marker of these agents. Decades later, the "atypical neuroleptics" were developed
and promoted for their lesser motor effects with disregard for their lesser clinical
efficacy. The NIMH-sponsored large clinical trial known as CATIE (Clinical
Antipsychotic Trials of Intervention Effectiveness) undertaken in the 1990s
randomly assigned ambulatory out-patients either to the atypical neuroleptics
olanzapine, quetiapine, risperidone, ziprasidone or to the typical neuroleptic
perphenazine. The atypicals did not match the beneficial effects or costeffectiveness of perphenazine.
9

�The EEG profile of chlorpromazine showed dose-related changes of reduced
beta fast frequencies, increased theta slow frequencies, and occasional bursts of
slow waves and spike activity. These rhythms heralded the seizures that became an
acknowledged risk of the drug’s use.

We had begun with 50mg doses but rapidly increased single dosing to 200mg
and daily dosing to 1800mg. We learned that 1200 mg daily was effective and well
tolerated in 80% of our subjects. These experiences led us to undertake two
random controlled trials, one compared chlorpromazine to insulin coma and
another comparing the effects of chlorpromazine, imipramine, and placebo in
patients with a broad range of behaviors.

The Random Controlled Trial: A compelling motive for the comparison of
chlorpromazine and insulin coma was the risks posed by the high doses of insulin.
Seizures occurred in more than 10% of the sessions, and delayed spontaneous
(“tardive”) seizures often occurred late in the day or night, requiring additional
intravenous or gavage dosing with glucose. For patients whose psychosis was
responding slowly, electrically induced seizures were added at the height of the
comas to augment the changes in behavior.

A prolonged coma was a much feared risk, the patient not becoming alert and
oriented for many hours despite extensive dosing with intravenous and gavaged
glucose. Many explanations were considered and many interventions tested, but we
did not find an effective treatment or method of prevention. We depended on
intensive nursing care, repeated dosing with glucose, and monitoring until recovery.
Two deaths in prolonged coma occurred in the five years that I supervised ICT, a 2%
mortality rate.

Sixty patients referred for ICT were randomized to receive either 50 insulin
coma treatments or oral chlorpromazine (0.3 to 2.0 Gm/day; median 0.8 Gm/day)
with both treatments given for a minimum of three months. Chlorpromazine
treatment was as effective as insulin coma but with greater ease of use, greater
patient comfort, lesser risks, and lesser expense— clearly favoring chlorpromazine
as a replacement for ICT. More than half of each sample improved sufficiently to
return to their homes. 3

These findings led to the closing of the Hillside Hospital's insulin coma unit in
1958, followed swiftly by the closing of other units throughout the nation. Within a
decade the treatment had disappeared from American hospitals. A few units
continued to treat patients with ICT as exemplified by the report that the 1994
Nobelist John Nash had received ICT in 1961 at Trenton State Hospital. 4

The treatment also persisted for decades in Russia and China, and was
brought to Israel by Russian emigres. My review in 2003 of what was known about
insulin coma treatment, the lesser efficacy of ICT in treating psychosis and its
10

�increased efficacy with augmented electrical seizures led me to conclude that the
spontaneous random seizures were the basis for ICT’s reported efficacy in relieving
psychosis. ICT, to the extent it had therapeutic value, was best considered a less
efficient and more riskful form of induced seizure therapy. 5

Optimizing ECT Procedures
The EEG as Index of Seizure Efficacy
Since seizures were the core process in both ECT and ICT how can one
record and understand the brain events that were central to the treatments? The
answer seemed to lie in electroencephalography, but such was not available at the
hospital.
In 1771 the Bolognese physician Luigi Galvani had demonstrated that an
electric stimulus caused a living frog muscle to twitch and contract. He observed
electric currents from living muscles by the movements of a magnetized
“galvanometer” needle. His experiments connected the newly discovered
phenomena of electricity to living tissues. Similar reports by Giovanni Aldini and
Benjamin Franklin strengthened the conviction of electricity in living tissues. 6

A century later, in 1875, the physiologist Richard Caton recorded electric
oscillations from the exposed brain of a living animal, securing the connection
between brain functions and electricity. But these currents were too small to be
recorded through the skull and could only be demonstrated in an exposed brain.
Then, in 1929 Hans Berger, a Jewish hospital psychiatrist in Jena Germany adapted
the device that was developed to record the electrical activity of the heart to record
electric oscillations from electrodes on the intact human scalp. Rhythms varied with
changes in vigilance, sleep, body physiology, and the effects of systemic drugs. In his
third report Berger described changes in the EEG under the influence of cocaine,
scopolamine, morphine, chloroform, and sleep. The electrical changes associated
with insulin-induced hypoglycemia (as in insulin coma therapy) and the chemical
and electrical induction of seizures were next charted, as these treatments were
increasingly applied in the severe mentally ill.
Hillside Hospital lacked an EEG laboratory. I sought training in recording and
interpreting the EEG at the Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City supported by a
fellowship of the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis. 7 By the end of 1953
an EEG technician had been trained, a laboratory established, and developed a
protocol for the study of the changes in EEG associated with ECT. An application to
the National Institute of Mental Health funded a five-year study under Grant
MH-927 "Altered Brain Function Following Electroshock" in the summer of 1954. The
support established a team of researchers to study the treatments. For the next
11

�decade, the physicians, psychologists, and technical staff were centered in a
Department of Experimental Psychiatry. 8

The EEG brain rhythms in alert normal adults are filled with 8-to-12 Hz
(alpha) frequencies with amplitudes of 40 to 80 microvolts (µv). Patterns vary
with age, during day and night, and are altered by drugs and disease. After head
injury and intracranial bleedings, the rhythms slow with increasing amounts of
theta (4.5 -7 Hz) and delta (2-4 Hz) frequencies and the amplitudes increase from 50
µv often to 150 and 200 µv. As brain pathology improves, normal EEG rhythms
return.
During my EEG education I was shown records with high voltage slow waves
with “spikes” appearing in one-to-three second bursts with longer runs of lower
voltage slow waves as evidence of an epileptic seizure. We found similar records on
inter-treatment days during the course of ECT. The pre-treatment records of our
psychiatric ill did not differ from those of healthy individuals, with older patients
showing slower rhythms than did the younger. In the minutes and first hours
immediately after a seizure, EEG voltages increase, frequencies slow, and burst
patterns appear. In ensuing days, the changes after each treatment persist for
longer periods. After 4 to 10 treatments, slow waves persist throughout the day,
then for many days and in some patients for weeks thereafter.
It was technically unfeasible to record the actual seizure as our instruments
became "blocked" by the electrical stimulus. 9 But we could examine the
“interseizure” record, the changes in the resting EEG record on days between
treatments.

Brain electrical rhythms slowed and amplitudes increased during the ECT
course. After treatment ends, more rhythmic, regularized alpha frequencies return.
The changes induced induced by electricity and by the chemicals Metrazol or
flurothyl are not distinguishable, arguing that the EEG records during treatment are
related to the seizure and not to the seizure-inducing agent.
We concluded that progressive slowing of inter-seizure frequencies was
necessary for beneficial behavior effects. The patients whose inter-treatment
rhythms changed very little did not recover from their illness. 10

Although it was customary to describe the rhythms in non-quantitative
descriptive terms, I sought more reliable indices, measuring the frequencies and
amplitudes by height and width of each wave, using calipers and ruler, one wave
after another, in 10-second epochs , up to 60 seconds for each sample, with an
average of 600 waves measured at baseline and 350 to 450 waves at the end of a
course of treatment. By comparing numbers of treatments and degree of slowing
for each patient, slowing occurred earlier and to a greater degree in patients
exhibiting symptom relief than in the patients whose behavior changed slowly or
failed to improve. EEG frequency slowing and amplitude increases became markers
12

�of the brain changes that underlie behavioral improvement. The rate and amount of
change varied with electrical dosing and the number and frequency of treatments.
We concluded that EEG change was necessary for the clinical changes to take place
and marked the physiological changes that are the basis for the treatment response.
This lesson became the critical observation of the ECT process and became the core
of my studies to optimize and understand the convulsive therapy process.
That the changes in EEG rhythms with ECT were similar to those in epilepsy
and after head trauma was often used to justify an anti-ECT prejudice voiced by the
public, by patients, and by psychiatrists and psychologists encouraging beliefs that
seizures “damaged the brain.” We thought otherwise, concluding that the EEG
changes induced by the seizures were necessary markers for the clinical benefits -without persistent EEG slowing, recovery of illness did not occur.

The patients referred to hospital for ECT are very ill, unable to function at
home or at work, sad and unhappy, expressing thoughts of suicide, strange ideation,
and occasionally with aggressive manic behaviors. 11 Almost all have been treated
by a cascade of medicines, psychotherapies, vacations, diets, and much else before
the patient was exposed to electroshock, widely conceived as hazardous and life
threatening. The patients met today’s diagnostic criteria for major depression,
bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia. The quickest resolutions of illness occurred in
the severely depressed, suicidal, catatonic, manic, melancholic, and delirious
patients. The least benefits, were in the withdrawn, apathetic, poorly motivated,
thought-disordered patients who today meet the criteria in the standard diagnostic
system for schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. 12

Modifying Seizures: Muscle Relaxants and Sedatives

Electroshock treatments were “unmodified” -- without sedation or muscle
paralysis, allowing the full grand mal seizure to develop in each treatment. For
anxious patients, amobarbital was injected to sedate and relax. We also interrupted
the longer seizures by injections of amobarbital.
The body movements, EEG seizure patterns, and changes in physiology are
similar for each treatment. Indeed, the “seizure” has the same form and is readily
recognizable in all mammals. It is an inherent pattern that occurs both
spontaneously and when stimulated by electricity, by chemicals, and by disease.
What is the function of such a universal response? In natural environments a
seizure puts the subject at undue risk of predators and one would expect that after
generations the behavior would be extinguished by natural selection. But the
biology persists. Does the seizure serve a useful purpose? What is it? 13

Fractures of teeth, vertebrae, and long bones were unfortunately common.
Many forms of physical restraint and chemical inhibition were tested. Curare,
extracted from South American plants, prevented both the tonic (increased
muscular tone, stiffening of the body muscles) and the clonic movements (rhythmic
13

�movements of the stiffened musces) of the seizure. 14 But curare was unstable. In
some patients curare effectively blocked the motor movements and in others, the
effects were small and a full seizure occurred. A dose on one occasion might
effectively modify the seizure, but in the next, the same dose would fail to relax the
patient. On occasion, paralysis persisted after the seizure and it was necessary to
ventilate oxygen through a mask until natural breathing returned. We discontinued
curare use and depended on sheet restraints alone to prevent fractures.
Spine x-rays were taken in 50 patients before unmodified seizures and
repeated in the week after the last treatment. In seventeen patients a compression
fracture of lumbar vertebrae 4 or 5 or both was recorded. Surprisingly, these
fractures elicited little complaint from the affected patients. Such compression
fractures were accepted as a cost of the treatments.

In the spring of 1953 a new synthetic muscle relaxant suxamethonium
chloride (succinylcholine) was introduced. Limb paralysis occurred within 30 to 60
seconds of intravenous injection, dissipating within a few minutes of its application,
making it an ideal agent for ECT. In our first experience we had not pre-sedated the
patient, succinylcholine was injected, and when muscular twitchings (fasciculations)
and a weakened knee jerk were seen, the seizure was induced. Tonic arching and
clonic movements were much weakened. Spontaneous breathing returned quickly
and the patient was moved to the recovery room. We injected our second patient,
induced a seizure, and then we heard cries of “I cannot breathe, I cannot breathe”
coming from the recovery room. Oxygen was administered by mask only to have
the same experience with the next patient.
Thereafter, we induced amnesia in every patient with amobarbital or
thiopental before the succinylcholine injection. As more physicians studied this
method of muscle relaxation, “modified ECT” was broadly accepted -- sedation by
barbiturate, oxygenation by mask, injection of succinylcholine, and seizure induced
when motor fasciculations and diminished ankle or knee jerk were recognized.
Although my initial experience was in a hospital setting, most treatments were
administered in office settings, such as in my office in Great Neck, where I treated
patients in the early evening hours assisted by a nurse.

“Modified ECT” raised questions. What was the role of the preliminary
sedative -- to induce sleep, reduce anxiety, or block memory of the procedure?
After the 1960s and 1970s, as “anesthesia” became the province of organized
anesthesiologists, psychiatrists administering a sedative and the muscle relaxant
were no longer tolerated, effectively ending ECT in independent psychiatrists' office
settings.
New sedation agents were studied. Benzodiazepines raised seizure
thresholds, reducing treatment efficacy and outcomes. Methohexital offered short
duration of action, safety and efficacy. New anesthetic agents – propofol, etomidate,
14

�ketamine, isoflurane –were tested. Propofol raised seizure thresholds, and the
enthusiasm among some practitioners for minimal energies to induce seizures led to
ineffective treatments and poor outcomes. Etomidate became fashionable for a time
but the sedation was slow in onset and injection sites often became inflamed. Intramuscular ketamine usefully sedated excited delirious patients. An intramuscular
injection in a patient restrained in bed would quickly sedate so that the patient
could be moved to the treatment room and succinylcholine safely administered.
By the 1980s “modified ECT” had become the universal standard, but not
universal practice. In some countries, as in India, the expense of the additional
chemicals and the belief in the need for an anesthesiologist led either to the
inhibition of treatments or continued use of “unmodified” treatments. 15

Are Subconvulsive Treatments Effective?

Were the benefits of electroshock and insulin coma inherent in the changes
in physiology associated with seizures and coma or responses in the patient’s panic
and fear? What was the role of electricity and the seizure? To address these
questions, we induced sleep using amobarbital, muscle weakness by
succinylcholine, and controlled the dosage of electricity at levels that did not induce
a grand mal seizure. These methods reliably elicited “subconvulsive” non-seizure
“sham treatments.”
Of 24 patients in whom seizures were induced, 17 responded clinically and
were discharged from the hospital; of 27 patients treated with subconvulsive sham
currents, only 4 responded. Nineteen of the non-responders went on to convulsive
treatments and 16 became responders. The EEG recordings of the subconvulsive
treatments failed to show characteristic slowing. We confirmed that subconvulsive
treatments were clinically ineffective and supported our belief that the therapeutic
benefit was inherent in the seizure and not in the passage of electricity alone. 16
These findings ran parallel to those of a well-designed study conducted by George
Ulett in St. Louis that also confirmed the seizure as essential to the treatment’s
benefit.

The results of our study were published in my 1979 textbook Convulsive
Therapy. That year the British psychologist Timothy Crow challenged the profession
to prove the need for the seizure. His challenge elicited multiple UK government
supported studies presented in an all-UK conference in September 1979 in
Leicester, and in a published appraisal edited by Robert L. Palmer. No study
supported efficacy of non-convulsive treatments, reconfirming the critical role of
the induced seizure. 17

15

�Are Chemical-induced Seizures as Effective as Electrical?

In 1959 flurothyl (Indoklon), a new seizure-inducing chemical agent was
proposed as a replacement for electrical induction. Hexaflurodiethyl ether, a
volatile congener of the inhalant anesthetic diethylether, is both anesthetic and
seizure-inducing. After a few inhalations the subject loses consciousness; additional
breaths elicit a full grand mal seizure, usually within a few minutes.
Four research teams – Joyce and Iver Small at University of Indiana, Albert
Kurland at the Maryland Psychiatric Center, Björn Laurell in Sweden, and I and my
associates at Hillside Hospital compared the effects of flurothyl and electrically
induced seizures. Seizures were readily induced, with similar motor, seizure and
interseizure EEG patterns. Both were clinically effective. Flurothyl seizures were of
longer duration. Laurell reported lesser retrograde amnesia with flurothyl. In our
study, 15 patients received unmodified flurothyl seizures and 12 unmodified ECT.
The clinical benefits, behavior patterns, fracture rates, and degrees of EEG slowing
were the same.

For lack of an identifiable advantage over electricity, the induction of
seizures by flurothyl fell by the wayside. The drug’s high cost and persisting ethereal
aroma in the treatment room were deterrents. The smell was unpleasant, objected
to by both patients and staff members. Further, the ease with which a seizure was
induced frightened the professional staff as the treatment room soon was suffused
with an ethereal aroma. Installing an in-wall exhaust air conditioner reduced the
smell and mitigated the fears, but could not eliminate them. No advantage for
flurothyl seizures was seen and we abandoned the method.18
Decades later, the pre-occupation with memory loss led to widespread
reduction in treatment efficacy because many practitioners shifted to unilateral
electrode placement, ultra-brief currents, and minimal dosing. Increasing reports of
treatment failures sent me to re-assess the experience with flurothyl as a potential
non-electricity seizure induction method. In the first quarter of the 21st Century,
when repeated hospital site procedures for renal dialysis and chemotherapies and
radiation for cancers are widely accepted, anesthesia sessions using flurothyl could
well achieve the therapeutic advantages of induced seizures without the fright
associated with electricity and the words “electric shock.” The review showed that
flurothyl-induced seizures were clinically effective, that the effects on cognition and
memory were less, encouraging a reassessment of flurothyl seizures. 19 Alas, I failed
to entice any clinician to undertake such reassessment.

16

�Is Isoflurane anesthesia therapy a replacement for ECT?
In the 1980s, Gerhard Langer and his colleague Greta Koinig in Vienna
induced repeated sessions of isoflurane anesthesia in depressed patients believing
such anesthesia sessions could replace ECT-induced seizures. Isoflurane is an
inhalant anesthetic that quickly induces stupor, inhibition of EEG rhythms, and a
flat-line EEG. Their report that six sessions on alternate days relieved severe
depressive illness and was an effective replacement for ECT prompted my visit to
the clinic in Vienna in 1983. I observed the feasibility of inducing isoelectric (“flatline”) EEG periods with the anesthetic and decided to replicate this experience.

With the collaboration of Stony Brook anesthesiologists, isoflurane
anesthesia sessions were undertaken in six patients who had been readmitted with
recurrences of severe depression after earlier courses of ECT. In 21 of 26 anesthesia
sessions, an isoelectric “flat-line” EEG lasting between 5 and 12 minutes was
recorded. We did not observe reductions in depression rating scale scores, nor
persistent changes on memory tests, nor characteristic changes in the inter-session
EEG. After these failures, the patients were treated with conventional ECT with
clinical recovery in five of the six. Isoflurane EEG suppression was deemed not an
effective alternative for the seizures of ECT. 20 Periodically, this technology prompts
interest and is re-evaluated. The studies have been poorly controlled and the
reports convey authors’ enthusiasm without evidence of persisting behavioral or
physiologic effects.
Role of Acetylcholine: Anticholinergic Drugs and EEG and Behavior
In the 1950s little was known of the physiology of the slow rhythms in EEG
after induced seizures other than that their presence was necessary for clinical
benefit. As the significance of EEG slow-wave activity was recognized, the chemistry
of seizures was studied. George Ulett and LaVerne Johnson in St. Louis reported that
anticholinergic atropine and atropine-like drugs blocked both post-seizure EEG
slowing and the anticipated behavioral recovery after ECT. Herman Denber
reported that injections of the chemical diethazine, another anticholinergic agent,
reduced EEG slow wave activity after ECT. We replicated the finding for diethazine
and also found that the antiparkinson agent procyclidine and various experimental
anticholinergic drugs known as the JB-series also reduced post-ECT slow wave
activity.
When anti-cholinergic drugs were introduced late in the course of ECT, when
mood and thought disorders were relieved, the EEG reversal was accompanied by
behavioral worsening – patients no longer expressed denial language and
increasingly complained of the recurrence of their symptoms. A day later, when
EEG slow-wave activity had again returned, symptom relief was again expressed.
We concluded that EEG slowing is a consequence of increased brain cholinergic
17

�activity. Puzzling over the brain effects of repeated seizures led me to consider a
cholinergic hypothesis for the recovery with ECT.

Free acetylcholine and acetylcholinesterases were elevated in the
cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of epileptic patients. CSF acetylcholine levels increased
during ECT. In cats subjected to graduated head trauma, the amount of free
acetylcholine and cholinesterases in the CSF increased with the severity of the
trauma.

I imagined that induced seizures, like cerebral trauma and epileptic seizures,
altered cerebral permeability, increased free acetylcholine and cholinesterase levels
in the brain, slowed EEG frequencies and increased amplitudes and rhythmic bursts.
I pictured these biochemical changes as the basis for the behavioral effects we were
seeing with ECT. 21
Study interest in acetylcholine waned as interest in brain neurotransmitters
shifted to epinephrine, and then to dopamine and serotonin, as pharmacologists,
excited by their ability to measure these neurotransmitters in animal brains tracked
the effects of each of the new psychoactive moieties, that were then enthusiastically
welcomed by clinicians and the public. At this juncture, half a century later, I find
little interest in acetylcholine in clinical psychiatry or epilepsy.

Neuropsychological Tests and EEG Slowing

Immediately after a seizure, the patient awakens in confusion, poorly
oriented as to location, date, or month, and often unable to recall the names of the
attendant personnel. Commonly, the recovery is complete within an hour. The
duration and severity of a patient’s errors vary with the number and frequency of
seizures, the sedative and electricity doses, but most important is patient age -elderly patients are confused longer. With recovery to mental health, orientation
normalizes and patients return to home, school and work. We tested the responses
on the Face-Hand Test and found normal responses in the weeks after the last
treatment.

With increasing numbers of treatments, denial test scores and the changes
with amobarbital paralleled scores on EEG measures, as earlier research had
suggested. Persistence in denial was more often scored in older patients, in the less
well-educated, and in immigrants with English as their second language. Scores on
the Rorschach test were loosely correlated with the treatment outcomes but the
specificity and predictability of the Rorschach criteria was low. Social attitude was
tested by the 10-item California F-Scale, a measure of prejudice and
authoritarianism that became of considerable interest in the wake of the NaziFascist eras. The patients with high authoritarianism scores were more likely to
show benefits from ECT. 22
18

�Book Two: After an ECT Research Hiatus, Renewed studies
During a four-year sojourn at the Missouri Institute of Psychiatry an ECT
facility was not open to me -- psychopharmacology and quantitative EEG were the
focus of our studies. Soon after I returned to New York in 1966 to direct studies of
opioid abuse at Metropolitan Hospital, I received a letter from Richard Abrams, an
Army medical officer scheduled to join the college medical residency program the
following July, asking if I would meet him at a December conference of the ARNMD
in New York City. He had compared the clinical benefits and changes on memory of
ECT using non-dominant unilateral or bilateral electrode placements at a military
hospital. He had administered seizures three times or five times weekly for 20
treatments in 10 subjects and reported no difference in efficacy nor in cognitive
effects between treatments of the two electrode placements. He wanted to continue
such studies and asked for my support and collaboration. I was still interested in
understanding the mechanism of electroshock and agreed to support his studies.

New York Medical College’s Department of Psychiatry lacked an ECT
treatment unit at any of its clinical sites. The department chairman, Alfred
Freedman, referred me to Lothar Kalinowsky, a member of the teaching faculty, who
was treating his ECT patients at Gracie Square Hospital (GSH), a private hospital
facility on East 76th Street in Manhattan. Kalinowsky was an early student of ECT,
having witnessed its first applications in Rome in 1938 when he was studying with
Ugo Cerletti and Luigi Bini, the developers of electroconvulsive therapy. He had
published a leading textbook on the somatic therapies in 1946. He agreed to be a
consultant to our work, arranged for GSH Medical Board approval of the study and
for the collaboration by the clinicians who treated their patients in the hospital.
Abrams and I asked: What is the optimal placement of electrodes in inducing
seizures? We randomized patients to seizures induced either with non-dominant
unilateral or with bitemporal electrode placements, measuring clinical, cognitive,
and EEG changes at weekly intervals. And, could the treatment course be shortened
by applying multiple treatments in one sitting? Recognizing that most patients
recovered from a melancholic depression after 6 to 10 seizures, Paul Blachly, an
Oregon physician, had reported that multiple seizures in one session were as
effective as the same number of seizures spaced over many days.

The Differences Electrode Placement Makes, Again 23

We tested 76 patients with a mean age of 63.4 years, 43 treated with bilateral
and 33 with unilateral placements. By diagnosis, 60 patients were endogenous
depressed and 16 reactive (neurotic) depressed. At the time, unilateral placement
was considered less efficient in generating seizures and indeed some patients in the
sample required additional seizures during their treatment course.
19

�We found bilateral ECT to be clinically more effective than unilateral ECT,
with better and earlier outcomes regardless of age, number of treatments, or
coincident medications. The memory tests during the treatment course changed
less in the unilateral treated patients than the bilateral, varying with the task
selected. On auditory tasks, the patients receiving bilateral treatments showed
greater decrements than those receiving unilateral treatments; on a visual task,
however, performance was unimpaired by either treatment. 24

EEG frequency slowing was greater after bilateral placement than after
unilateral. An asymmetry was also observed in EEG slowing, accentuated on the
right side with right unilateral electrode placement, and on the left side in
bitemporal-treated patients. Although we did not understand the significance of
either the degree of slowing nor the sidedness, these findings confirmed that the
degree of EEG slowing was related to clinical outcome. The lesser EEG changes and
asymmetry of unilateral ECT were signs of lesser physiologic changes--and lesser
benefit compared to bilateral ECT. 25

Can Multiple ECT Treatments Per Session (MMECT) Shorten the
Treatment Course?

In 38 patients we applied either 4 or 6 seizures within a single anesthesia
session. Different placements – bitemporal, non-dominant unilateral, or anterior
frontal -- were tested. Only one patient achieved clinical remission after one session
through bilateral electrodes, though we thought the benefits were accelerated in
several others. The degree of EEG slowing was not enhanced, however, and the
asymmetries were the same as we found in our single treatments. Post-ictal sleep
among the MMECT patients was prolonged with greater disorientation and clouding
of consciousness especially among the older patients. Neither we nor the
experienced clinicians whose patients we treated were convinced that multiple
treatments in a single session were an effective modification.
We confirmed Richard Abrams’ experience that unilateral electrode
placement could elicit effective relief with lesser effects on cognition, but at a price
of lesser efficacy. Seizures induced through unilateral electrode placement, even
with the maximal energies of alternating higher energy currents, were less effective
than those developed through bilateral placements. The physicians at GSH,
experienced practitioners with extensive clinical practices, were not surprised by
our results. Many, including Renato Almansi, David Impastato, Lothar Kalinowsky,
and William Karliner, were emigres from Europe who previously had each tested
different electrode placements, electric currents, and dosing schedules and had
concluded, based on their clinical experience, that unilateral placements were
inefficient, requiring more seizures for relief and entailing higher early relapse
rates.
20

�ECT in Systemic Medical Illnesses.
In 1972 I accepted an appointment at the Stony Brook Medical School to
teach psychopharmacology and develop an ECT Service at University Hospital. As
the responsible clinician in the choice of treatments in an academic general hospital
I explored ECT in patients with systemic medical disorders and psychiatric
symptoms. We successfully treated mentally retarded adolescents, pregnant
women, patients with brain tumors, brain aneurysms, cardiac pacemakers,
malignant catatonia, anemia, Parkinsonism, delirium, and pseudodementia.

ECT in Adolescents. ECT for children and adolescents was broadly
interdicted by child psychiatrists as a matter of faith. They believed that ECT
permanently damaged the developing brain. They did not ask for ECT consultations
nor would they consider prescribing psychoactive drugs until the 1990s. Gabrielle
Carlson, the Stony Brook Director of Child Psychiatry, would not allow her residents,
many of whom had been trained in ECT while on the adult service, to consider ECT
in any of their patients. The adult service, however, admitted adolescent patients
over age 13. We successfully relieved adolescent patients in delirious mania,
suicidal depression, malignant catatonia, and psychosis induced by LSD and
cannabis. Young patients tolerated the treatments easily and the relief of psychosis
was rapid with almost all returning home and to school.

Mentally retarded patients are not protected from disorders in mood or
psychosis by their condition, but when they suffer such illnesses, ECT is interdicted
by beliefs that inducing seizures would further damage their brains. As our
experience with adolescents became known, MR patients were referred for
treatment and we described positive outcomes with remarkable improvements in
their quality of life. A 14-yr-old mentally retarded boy with persistent self-injurious
behavior (SIB), unresponsive to social and medication treatments was referred for
treatment. He was admitted wearing helmet, glove, and camisole restraints to keep
him from injuring his head, monitored by full-time aides for continuing protection.
With parental consent a trial of ECT was begun. Within two weeks the restraints
were no longer needed and he was allowed the freedom of the hospital unit. Over
the next half year, continuation ECT sustained him in his community residence
without the recurrence of his self-injurious repetitive behaviors. Decades later, Dirk
Dhossche, a graduate of the Stony Brook University residency training programs
and a participant in the catatonia studies, and Lee Wachtel, Director of the
Neurobehavioral Unit of the Kennedy Krieger Institute of Johns Hopkins University,
would identify SIB as a form of catatonia in autism, relieved by ECT. 26
ECT in Pregnancy. Many clinicians feared ECT during pregnancy,
anticipating damage to the fetus by the electric currents and by the mother’s
seizure, inducing miscarriage. But as fetal malformations were increasingly
21

�associated with psychoactive drug use during the first two trimesters of pregnancy,
ECT was increasingly ventured. We simultaneously monitored the maternal and the
fetal heart rates during each treatment. As the seizure in the mother unfolded, we
could hear the rapid increase in her heart rate from 70 bpm to the 110s while that of
the fetus ran at its own steady rapid rate of 110 to 130 bpm. The fetal heart rate did
not increase during the seizure, showing only a small transient increase during the
post-seizure recovery. After more than a dozen such monitored seizures, we no
longer requested fetal monitoring and routinely accepted pregnant psychotic
patients for ECT. We learned how to treat patients in each pregnancy trimester and
optimally position a large pregnancy for proper oxygenation and anesthesia. The
benefits of ECT were not limited by pregnancy and is now an accepted treatment.
Pseudodementia. Confused elderly patients with poor memory, poor
orientation, and poor self-care are considered demented and commonly labeled to
be suffering Alzheimer’s disease. In some patients, however, the behavior is not the
result of a structural brain defect but the consequence of a melancholic depressive
illness labelled "pseudodementia." Both the mood disorder and the dementia signs
disappear with effective antidepressant treatments. All patients admitted to my
psychiatric ward suffering “dementia” were carefully evaluated and many treated
for melancholia.

This lesson was brought home to me by a 58-yr-old depressed, often mute,
staring, and posturing woman who had been diagnosed as suffering from
Alzheimer’s disease at two prior hospital centers. For eight years she had been
continuously cared for in her home by her husband and daughters. When Helen was
admitted to University Hospital with acute pneumonia, she was confused,
disoriented, and depressed. A trial of antidepressant medications offered
temporary relief but a full course of ECT resolved her dementia. She returned home
to care for herself and her family. She relapsed, however, and monthly continuation
ECT sustained her for years. Each relapse was marked by mutism, staring and
repetitive picking at pictures and wall signs. When these symptoms were
recognized as signs of catatonia, treatment with lorazepam extended the periods of
her relief and only occasionally was ECT required. She lived for another decade,
caring for her home and family, and taking part in community affairs. 27

As we could not distinguish pseudodementia from a structural dementia by
our examinations, we offered medications, especially the older tricyclic
antidepressants, finding good relief in about a quarter of the trials. An 85-year-old
man with a 2-year progression of dementia requiring continuous nursing care was
admitted for evaluation. Among the test findings he exhibited a positive
dexamethasone suppression test consistent with melancholic depression. ECT was
offered and accepted. Within three weeks he became oriented and able to care for
himself. Continuation treatment with imipramine sustained his benefit and on one
clinic visit he appeared well-dressed, accompanied by a well-dressed mature
woman, declaring that they were to be married that week.
22

�Sadly, in the ensuing years since I left active service the prejudice against ECT
is so strong that my recommendation among consultations for senile dementia were
frequently rejected. The risks of ECT and of tricyclic antidepressants are small
compared to the potential gain to a more normal mature independent life.
Delirium. Many psychiatric consultations in a general hospital are to
evaluate delirium, the common confusional and disoriented syndrome associated
with systemic diseases, trauma, anesthesia, and surgery. After successfully relieving
patients in delirious mania with ECT, we successfully treated deliria in post-surgical
patients, those with abnormal systemic hormonal and fluid balances, and in alcohol
withdrawal. We often found signs of catatonia in delirious patients, justifying the
recommendations for ECT or high doses of benzodiazepines.
Systemic medical risks. Many authors ascribe undue risks for ECT in
patients with systemic illnesses. Brain lesions, tumors, and vascular abnormalities
are considered “absolute contraindications” for ECT on the fear that the seizure
would increase cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) pressures leading to cerebellar herniation
and death. But the CSF pressures do not rise during our modified treatments. We
reported safe treatment in a patient with a growing meningioma and in another
patient with a large arteriovenous malformation. 28 Treatment of mentally ill
patients in atrial fibrillation found conversion to normal sinus rhythm to occur and
led us to recommend ECT with anticoagulation treatment as safe. 29

Optimizing Treatments.

Anesthetics. After the hiatus from the ECT studies at Hillside Hospital in the
1950s, we again evaluated ways to optimize our treatments. The sedation and
amnesia associated with the anesthetics etomidate, propofol, and ketamine, which
were similar to that of methohexital, sometimes proved valuable. We again found a
special use for ketamine in delirious patients – an intramuscular injection sedated a
very disturbed patient within a few minutes, allowing us to move the patient from
the ward room to the treatment room, and successful treatments followed without
need for additional anesthesia. The induced seizures were more robust and their
durations longer with ketamine.
Neither etomidate nor propofol offered better amnesia than methohexital.
Propofol raised seizure thresholds and shortened the duration of seizures. In
elderly patients its use elicited seizures of poor quality. The rise in threshold
associated with propofol is useful, however, in treating adolescents since their
seizures are often prolonged even at minimal electrical dosing.

Seizure durations. We studied the varying durations of monitored seizures
by EEG, heart rate, and motor movements. In such recordings EEG durations were
generally greater than 40 seconds, and arbitrarily considered “prolonged” when
23

�greater than 180 seconds. We often used intravenous diazepam to end seizures that
ran over 150 seconds. Measured durations of EEG were longer than that of the
motor seizure and both were commonly longer than the duration of the heart rate
increase. We augmented seizure duration by injections of theophylline and caffeine.
Although both agents lengthened seizure durations, such use had no observable
benefit in treatment outcome and we discarded their use.
How best to select energy to induce an optimal seizure? Concern for the
cognitive side effects led to popular use of ever lower energies, just sufficient to
elicit a motor seizure, often measured as 10 to 30 seconds. Were these seizures
“adequate” for clinical benefit? We evaluated our recordings and identified a
pattern of a slow build-up of amplitudes, onset of slow wave bursts mixed with
spike activity, sudden ending in an electrically silent period. Seizures less than 40
seconds did not show these characteristics. For a number of years, clinicians were
confused about seizure duration and efficacy. Some considered a series of short
seizures, with added durations greater than 25 seconds “adequate” but such short
seizures were clearly ineffective. Adequate seizures are best defined when greater
than 40 seconds in duration with the full elicited EEG pattern.

ECT in schizophrenia.

The role of ECT in treating schizophrenia is confusing. Early I used the
guidelines for diagnosis that labeled patients who were persistently psychotic, with
language and speech abnormalities, episodic excitement and aggressive behavior as
meeting the Kraepelinian criteria for schizophrenia that were adopted in the official
American Psychiatric Association DSM classifications. We had no test to identify or
verify such diagnoses so the treated patients were highly varied in their syndromes.
The report of the 1978 APA Task Force on ECT offered little guidance, citing
promising reports from clinicians with wide experience and the failure of organized
clinical trials. I was invited to write several reviews on the role of ECT in
schizophrenia, each time offering ambivalent opinions in the report. 30 No
consensus could be reached because the diagnosis of schizophrenia was itself
ambiguous, not distinguishing among long-term, chronic hospitalized patients and
short-term acutely ill in ambulatory settings.

The types of schizophrenia identified as paranoid, disorganized, undefined,
and residual (each best viewed as variations of “hebephrenia”) were unresponsive
to ECT. The single form of schizophrenia that was responsive was the catatonic. But
as described later, this form was erroneously identified as schizophrenia, and is best
appreciated as a uniquely identifiable, verifiable and treatable disorder.
The presence of mood disorder in conjunction with schizophrenia confuses
the matter. A melancholic psychotic illness is difficult to distinguish from
schizophrenia and the insecurity is commonly arbitrated with the label of “schizoaffective” illness. Except for neurosyphilis, some hormone and vitamin deficiencies,
24

�catatonia and melancholia, all other psychiatric diagnoses are “in the eye of the
beholder” and are not test verifiable. By contrast, the diagnoses of systemic medical
illnesses have come to depend more and more on verification tests. The “medical
model of diagnosis” is rejected in psychiatry – indeed the DSM classifications,
including the DSM-5 of 2013 specify that no tests are known and none are
applicable and that the diagnoses are best made by the association of symptoms
recorded in interviews, illness course, and family associations. In studies of
catatonia and melancholia, my associates and I, however, have argued that the
search for verification tests is essential to the development of a psychiatric
science. 31

Clozapine and ECT. A patient’s slow responses to chlorpromazine or
fluphenazine is often augmented by concurrent ECT. When clozapine was first
tested for the relief of psychosis, it was associated with an acute blood dyscrasia and
withdrawn from the formulary. At the behest of clinicians who believed they saw
unique beneficial properties in its use, however, prescription of clozapine was
reinstated, but limited to patients who had failed at least two prior medication trials
and whose serum clozapine levels could be tested weekly. We did not see a
particular clinical benefit for clozapine alone in our patients. When we augmented
clozapine treatment with ECT, the augmentation was occasionally useful.
Such combined treatments was encouraged , however, by the EEG of
clozapine. With clinical doses the EEG pattern becomes filled with bursts of slow
waves, and the risk of overt seizures at high dosages. Such physiologic effects
justified a clinical trial. We treated psychotic patients with clozapine and then,
when the results were poor, augmented the treatment with ECT. We thought the
synergy of the two treatments might be clinically useful and considered a proper
clinical trial.

The faculty at Hillside Hospital had supported clozapine use in therapyresistant psychotic patients. Many patients, however, were poor clozapine
responders and they constituted a large population in their clinic. After I resumed
an affiliation with Hillside Hospital in 1997 for the CORE studies I raised the
question of augmenting clozapine with ECT. I obtained financial support from
NIMH for a random-assignment study of ECT in clozapine-treatment failures. Half
the patients who had not responded to at least eight weeks of serum-level
monitored clozapine treatment continued with ECT augmentation and half
continued clozapine alone. A 40% reduction in PANSS positive symptom scores
without change in negative symptoms was recorded in about half the patients.
What was missing in this study was treatment by ECT alone after withdrawal of
clozapine. Intensive statistical manipulation of the ratings found minimal statistical
advantages. 32

25

�Brain concentrations of fluphenazine. Was the increase in response of
patients whose neuroleptic treatment was augmented by ECT seizures due to
elevated brain concentrations of the neuroleptic agent? Studies by Tom Bolwig of
Copenhagen had reported an increase in permeability of the blood-brain barrier
after induced seizures in rats and in humans. We measured the brain
concentrations of fluphenazine in rats treated with electroconvulsive shock but
were unable to record a difference. 33

The CORE Study of ECT in Depressed Inpatients.
In 1992 the psychologist Harold Sackeim of Columbia University applied for
NIMH support for a multi-site study of continuation medications – placebo,
nortriptyline, and the combination nortriptyline and lithium -- after ECT (using
unilateral electrode placements) among unipolar major depressed patients. The
NIMH consultants reviewing the application asked why he did not consider
continuation ECT instead of placebo, since high relapse rates with no continuation
medication were well documented. He demurred insisting on the placebo treatment
arm. The reviewers, however, were unwilling to support such a study of
continuation medications alone. The chairman Jonathan O. Cole argued for support,
however, agreed to by the members provided a parallel study could be developed
comparing continuation ECT with continuation medication of combined lithium and
nortriptyline.
With Cole’s encouragement I enticed Charles Kellner (Medical University,
Charleston SC), Teresa Rummans (Mayo Clinic, Rochester MN) and John Rush
(University of Texas, Dallas TX) to collaborate in a multisite collaborative study with
the criteria for selection of patients, outcome evaluations, and combined
medications identical to the Columbia University Consortium study. The single
distinction was the CORE use of bilateral electrode placements at a minimum of 1.5
times the measured seizure threshold while the Columbia group used unilateral
electrode placements with dosing set at 1.5 to 2.5 times the measured seizure
threshold in their treatments.
Patients meeting the clinical criteria for unipolar depressed patients were to
be identified by an interview with a trained social worker using questions from a
standard behavior rating scale. Initially, patients labeled bipolar depressed were
excluded from the study, although many were treated with the same protocol after
rejection from the study. The outcomes of the two subtypes did not differ, so we
designed a second study treating both unipolar and bipolar depressed patients
randomly assigned to bitemporal, bifrontal, and right unilateral placements. Both
CORE studies were funded in 1997 by NIMH. 34
In Columbia’s CUC study the six-month relapse rates were much as
anticipated: 80% for placebo, 62% for nortriptyline alone, and 36% for the
26

�combined lithium and nortriptyline. In the CORE study, the relapse rate for lithiumnortriptyline was 39%. With Continuation-ECT 32% relapsed, 22% dropped out of
the study, and 46% continued in 6-month remission. We were disappointed with
these ECT results and realized that the C-ECT treatment schedule had been
arbitrarily set, less effective than what clinicians reported as necessary in
ambulatory treatment schedules.
When patients relapsed and we were able to induce seizures on clinical
criteria alone, almost all patients sustained their remission with ECT as needed, like
the treatment of diabetes or heart failure. To sustain an ECT benefit we needed to
be flexible and introduce treatments when symptoms recurred. This lesson had
been learned by practitioners in the early decades of ECT practice; and summarized
in the review by the 1996 ACT ECT Task Force. (We foolishly erred in the CORE
study based on our desire to be comparable to the CUC study.) 35

Much was learned, however. Seizures induced with unilateral electrode
placements (RUL) are inherently inefficient. The lesser immediate (and transient)
memory-loss effects associated with a unilateral electrode are a poor justification
for outcome inefficiencies and the increase in the number of seizures and anesthesia
sessions. The benefits of bifrontal ECT are slightly inferior to bitemporal ECT but
can be justified by their ease of application.
ECT is as effective in patients with bipolar depression as in unipolar. The
common belief that ECT is less effective in bipolar depressed patients is false, a
consequence I believe of the pharmaceutical industry’s marketing drive to establish
a place for inefficient “mood stabilizers” and anticonvulsants separate from the
prescription of lithium and antidepressants in psychiatric disorders, and the
unwillingness of research leaders to recognize ECT as effective and safe.
ECT rapidly reduces suicide preoccupations in melancholic and delusional
depressive illnesses. In the more severely ill, those with high ratings on suicide
assessment (item 3) in the HAMD24 rating scale, the suicidal self assessments were
reduced 60% with six treatments within two weeks, justifying ECT as the primary
treatment in patients who require special protections for suicide risk.

Delusions in depressed patients identify a population of ECT-responsive
patients. In the 1970s, Alexander Glassman and his colleagues at Columbia
University reported that delusional depression did not respond to blood-level,
monitored imipramine treatment. They did respond to ECT, however. While the
overall ECT remission rate for the major depressed in the CORE study was 84%, the
rate among the psychotic depressed patients was much higher, at 95%. The
common policy of first treating psychotic depressed patients with medications,
especially the use of less effective serotonin targeted antidepressants, with or
without atypical antipsychotic drugs, cannot be justified. Like the use of RUL
treatments, the insistence that psychotic depressed patients be subjected to one or
two medication trials before ECT is questionable in its efficacy and its ethics.
27

�The Persisting Stigma: Memory Loss and ECT
The argument that memory loss is a critical risk in all induced seizure
treatments persists, however, encouraged by the constant singing of a “memory
loss” mantra by psychologists and by some in the laity. At this writing, more than
half a century after the initial studies, the use of unilateral electrode placement
persists despite compelling evidence of its lesser efficacy in the studies sponsored in
the UK in the 1960s and the more extensive NIMH-supported studies by the
Columbia University Consortium (CUC) and the 4-hospital Consortium for ECT
(CORE) that clearly showed that seizures induced through unilateral electrodes
were clinically less effective, lowered recovery rates by 40% and increased the
mean number of treatment sessions from 7 to 10.5. 36 Physicians are applying
unilateral electrode placements knowingly offering patients lesser effective
treatments that increase risks of treatment failure and higher relapse rates.

What is the impact of ECT on memory? Patients who come to this treatment
are severely ill, often with long periods of poor self-care, poor sleep, weight loss, and
preoccupation with the self, the body’s discomforts, and little attention to work or
family. They are then advised that they will need anesthesia, and electricity will
course through their heads. They are warned, verified by the consent that they (and
often members of their family) are asked to read and sign that explicitly states that
they may lose memory, become confused and disoriented. They are then given a
chemical intravenously that puts them to sleep, electrodes are pasted on the head,
and a grand mal seizure is induced.
Every seizure disrupts the brain’s physiology and chemistry. Awakening is
slow, with confusion and disorientation persisting for some minutes in all subjects,
much longer in the elderly and brain compromised. Most patients since the 1960s
have first been treated with brain toxins – every “psychoactive” pill, whether
antidepressant, anxiolytic, or neuroleptic or whether the alcohols, marijuanas,
opioids or sedatives that are publicly attractive -- induces persistent changes in the
brain’s electrophysiology that is measurable by the EEG. Responses to questions in
the first hours after a treatment are slow, deliberate, and confused. And, it is
fashionable nowadays, and surely by the psychologists and nurses who test for
memory effects, to fire questions, one after another before treatment and again as
soon as the patient’s eyes are open.
Where are you?
What is my name? What is your name?
Where do you live?
How much is 23 times 11?
What is today’s date?

28

�And on, and on.

When tests are repeated after many hours, the answers are slow but now
correct. But after a series of treatments the errors may persist for days, especially in
the elderly and in the chronically ill who have been the most brain-altered by an
extensive potpourri of medicines.
When specific neuropsychological tests are presented before treatment and
again a week, a month, and 6 months after the last treatment, the recovery of
cognitive functions is progressive so that in time the recovered patient functions as
well, often better than during the illness. In batteries of more than 20 tests,
psychologists have generally found that the normal functions have returned with
only personal memories still offering errors. Of course, psychologists have
prominently carried the “memory loss, memory loss” mantra against ECT by
attention to these singular test data, not relating their test measures to the clinical
changes and benefits in the patients.

I have repeated psychological testing in all my ECT studies, at Hillside
(twice), New York Medical College, and Stony Brook. I am often surprised by the
quick return of functions with recovery after the illness. In the elderly I am not
surprised by the patients who, in the hours after a treatment, speak poorly,
recognize a relative hesitantly, and soil themselves. For the many who recover,
these deficits disappear, and they return to pre-illness activities. Patients and family
members are satisfied; so much so, that they insist on ECT when the illness recurs.

Slow recovery is common in the repair of any illness. Think of the pains and
discomforts in the long rehabilitations after a fracture, after major surgery, after
acute trauma. The recovery after electroshock is the same slow and repair quality of
major surgery. Shouting “memory loss, memory loss” is the same as shouting
“painful walking, painful walking” after hip surgery.

What is to be made of the anti-ECT positions of psychologists, psychiatrists
and psychotherapists? The slander that infected ECT from the immediate post
World War II period persists and frightens practitioners so that they do not realize
that by offering inadequate treatments they are encouraging ongoing negative
attitudes. The enthusiasm of the ECT practitioners for non-seizure treatments and
the scalp tickling of the “brain stimulation” movements (encouraged by payments by
sponsoring industrial companies) thrives on the falsehood that these treatments “do
not affect memory."
My personal experience lead me to conclude that memory effects are
transient and no more limiting than the pains and blood loss after surgery. The most
realistic and best documented reviews of the cognitive data are to be found in
Richard Abrams’ textbook. 37

29

�Book Three: Electroshock in the Public Eye
Creation of Induced Seizures as Therapy
Was the mark of Cain that prejudices the use of inducing seizures to relieve
emotional illnesses deserved? The carnage of the First World War released
inhuman attitudes and tolerance, even enthusiasm, for attacks on human bodies in
the name of treating the severe psychiatric ill. Prolonged sleep for days on end was
accompanied by pneumonia and death; comas and seizures induced by insulin led to
prolonged coma and death; lobotomy, especially the ice-pick variety, was associated
with seizures, hemiplegia, and death. Skills in neurosurgery encouraged open brain
surgery and electrode placement and stimulation by deep brain stimulation, leaving
many with permanent brain lesions. Although electroshock had none of these risks,
it was lumped together since the practitioners of one were called upon for all.
The first inductions of seizures by chemicals did not go well. Ladislas
Meduna, at a state hospital in Budapest, induced seizures by injecting the irritant
camphor-in-oil into patient muscles. Few injections resulted in a seizure, all were
painful and irritated the tissues. He next tested the intravenous chemical
pentylenetetrazol (Metrazol), which, although more efficient, failed often enough
that patients became extremely anxious, frightened, and refused further treatment
after experiencing panic induced by a partial seizure. Despite panic and pain, the
occasional fracture, the immediate confusion, the relief occasioned by many of the
first patients encouraged its continued use. In his review of his experience, Meduna
reported half his patients improved sufficiently to leave the hospital. 38

In May 1938 two Roman physicians, Luigi Bini and Ugo Cerletti, devised a
more assured and less frightening method using electricity that quickly replaced
chemical inductions and has since become the principal method of inducing seizures
worldwide. Although the inductions were still frightening to both patients and
clinicians, they aroused little public concern. They were better accepted within
medical practice, and less feared than insulin-induced comas, prolonged sleep, or
leucotomy.

The names “electroshock” and “shock therapy” added to public concerns but
did not stop the practice. That the treatment relieved the suicidal depressed, the
hopelessly psychotic, and the uncontrollable manic encouraged widespread use in
the world’s sanitaria and physicians’ offices. This success occurred at the time when
the leaders of psychiatry were enthusiastically following the flag of psychoanalysis,
promising cures for the psychiatric ill after months and years of “talk therapy”
catering to the walking wounded. Psychiatric leaders committed themselves to the
psychology of the mind, separate from the functions of the body and the brain.
Every report of relief of an emotional disorder by fits and the repeated highlight of
another Freudian therapy had failed or required a new therapist stimulated
defensive attacks by psychiatry’s leaders that electroshock did not help the patient
30

�“understand or resolve his conflicts.” The benefits of inducing seizures were
considered transient and, furthermore, damaging to the brain and antithetic to
psychoanalysis since seizures extinguished personal memories.
ECT Immediately Rejected By the Profession

Immediately after the end of World War II, American psychiatric leaders
formed a select political society, the Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry, that
issued its first broadside on “Shock Therapy” on September 15, 1947. The handbill
complained that electroshock’s widespread use in office practices offered only
temporary relief. The benefit was considered inferior to the psychoanalytic
understanding of life’s experiences and the resolution of conflicts that were the
basis for a patient’s distress. I had studied psychodynamic theory at New York’s
William Alanson White Institute and had undertaken a personal analysis for five
years. I saw no challenge to a “biological explanation” of a patient’s history and
symptoms and the reality that “somatic” treatments relieved my patients. No matter
how I presented my experiences of rapid relief induced by repeated seizures, I was
met by disbelief. In the 1970s romanticizing Freud became fashionable for
Hollywood and Broadway, accompanied by images of Frankenstein’s monster, the
electrified man, as the frightening alternative.
Public reports of an excessive use of ECT in children in Massachusetts in
1970 sharpened the attacks. State legislators frantically proposed laws to prohibit
ECT. Milton Greenblatt, the director of the state’s mental health program, argued
that legislative restrictions would interfere with accepted medical practice and
negotiated the tabling of the proposed legislative bills until the actual experiences
could be studied. He commissioned a survey of ECT in Massachusetts to be
conducted by Fred H. Frankel, Professor of Psychiatry at Boston’s Beth Israel
Hospital and an expert in hypnosis treatments.

The 1973 review of practices in Massachusetts did find hospitals where ECT
use was excessive, seizure inductions haphazard, and medical care facilities
inadequate. Greenblatt issued medical guidelines to standardize ECT practice. His
report and the regulations satisfied both legislature leaders and the practitioners,
markedly improving clinical practice, becoming a national model for treatment
facilities. The resolution encouraged a broader acceptance of the treatment and a
reference source for establishing treatment facilities.
First American Psychiatric Association ECT Task Force (1975)

Early in my career in psychiatry, at annual meetings of the American
Psychiatric Association (APA) I joined the Section on Brain Function &amp; Behavior
where ongoing arguments on how to optimize ECT were active. Discussions on ECT
were also featured as clinicians assembled annually at the Electroshock Research
Association, Society of Biological Psychiatry, and similar associations dedicated to
lobotomy, insulin coma, and carbon dioxide therapy. When Milton Greenblatt
31

�deflected the drive of the Massachusetts legislature in 1970 to interdict the use of
ECT, he organized the survey of ECT and also asked me to edit a special number of
his journal Seminars in Psychiatry on the scientific status of ECT. 39

Legislative restrictions against the use of ECT and lobotomy with specific
interdiction in persons under age 18 surfaced again in 1972, this time in California.
In response, psychiatrists led by Dr. Gary Aden applied for court relief from
legislative interference in accepted medical practice. The court agreed that the
legislative restrictions of medical practice were unacceptable. The legislature
responded by using the state’s power to monitor health and safety to limit the
number and frequency of treatments, restrict guidelines for consent, require
extensive reporting of treatments, and prohibit its use in persons under the age of
18. The regulations forced many patients in need of treatment to go out of state as
California physicians abandoned the treatment. These regulations are still in effect
in 2021 and severely limit ECT use, especially in adolescents. The same restrictions
were adopted in Texas in 1993 and in other states to a lesser degree.

Requests for professional support by California psychiatrists led the
American Psychiatric Association to establish a Task Force on ECT in 1975, and
appointed Fred Frankel of Boston as its chairman. I was an appointed member. The
report published in May 1978 described whom to treat, how to assure safe
procedures and effective treatments, and discussed concerns about cognition and
memory and how to minimize these effects.
A query about ECT practices had been sent to 20% of the Association’s
membership. Responses were received from 75% of those canvassed. Was ECT an
appropriate treatment for any of 11 different psychiatric diagnoses? The responses
showed widespread confusion as to whom to treat. ECT was considered useful for
patients with major depression (86%), less so for manic excitement (42%), and
marginally for schizophrenia (25%). About 22% of the responding practitioners
had used or recommended ECT in the prior 6 months. Featured in this confusion
was the inadequacy of the official psychiatric classification schemes, their use
providing poor descriptions and inadequate diagnoses and not assuring optimized
treatment plans.

The Task Force members were experienced in clinical care and most
procedural questions were readily resolved. A thorny issue was endorsement of
treatments using unilateral electrode placement. At a committee vote, I and another
clinician member could not recommend the use of unilateral placement, arguing
that its inefficacy necessarily led to increased numbers of seizures with attendant
anesthesia risks, lengthened hospital stays, higher costs, and potential for increased
morbidity. The reported lesser effect on cognition was transient, not justifying the
inefficacy of the treatments and prolongation of illness.

32

�When the Task Force report was submitted to the APA Board of Trustees for
publication under its imprimatur, the policy leaders insisted nevertheless that the
unilateral form of treatment be endorsed (along with the bilateral), to support the
practices and beliefs of some members.
How best to assure consent? Patients referred for ECT are severely ill,
depressed, psychotic, delirious, and suicidal, often mute and negativistic, raising
questions as to their competency to understand the risks and benefits of proposed
treatments and to consent freely. Can a patient so ill as to be referred for seizure
therapy properly evaluate the risks of memory losses described by psychologists
and in the public press? Medical practice treats patients by voluntary consent, the
patient appearing at the physician’s office and choosing whether to follow the
physician’s prescriptions. Can the same rules apply for electroshock?

The Task Force members recommended a lengthy printed description of the
procedure with detailed risks to be read by and to each patient, to be signed
voluntarily, and properly witnessed. The form would name the treating personnel,
and specify the maximum number of treatments under the consent.

I was conflicted in this discussion. My father was a general medical
practitioner; I had seen his interactions with patients and their families, and how
they respected him and readily accepted his recommendations, including his
insistence for an independent second opinion in complex diagnoses. I experienced
the same deference when I took over his practice during his holidays and again
when I opened a community office in Great Neck for consultations in neurology and
psychiatry. In the Task Force discussions, I was one of two physicians who, at first,
did not see the need for a written “contract”, but agreed before submission to the
APA.
ECT was viewed as a surgical procedure (since it uses anesthesia) with a
potential for harm that must be specifically consented to by the patient. Patient
autonomy would be respected by describing the anticipated benefits and risks
before treatment and treating only those who voluntarily agreed. Further
protection was to be achieved by a family member also reading the descriptions,
discussing the procedures and risks, and witnessing the patient’s signature.

Exceptions to voluntary consent were recommended for those with mental
deficiency or dementia. These were considered to be the family and community
responsibility. State-mandated procedures for judicial authorization for treatment
on an incompetent patient’s behalf were supported by the task force.

The recommendation of a signed, voluntary consent for treatment was the
main benefit of the Task Force Report. The text was considered an “official” action
of a national association and served as a guide for the opening of new ECT treatment
centers throughout the nation in the post-1978 years. I was often invited to visit
33

�and organize new treatment units based on the Task Force Report. The
recommended procedures were sufficiently conservative to be widely adopted.

The Task Force report was distributed at the May 1978 APA annual meeting
in Miami with each task force member presenting an aspect of the report to a large
audience. I was the spokesperson for the technical recommendations. The report
was generally accepted and praised. The concept of a written consent was argued
but accepted. The note accepting treatments through unilateral placements,
however, met strong protests from practitioners, notably New York’s Lothar
Kalinowsky. Much of his criticism was directed at me as the spokesperson. The
practitioners, themselves extremely well experienced with bilateral and unilateral
electrode placements, argued that treatments through unilateral electrode
placements were so inefficient as to put patients at risk of prolonged illness and
suicide, poor outcomes, longer courses of treatments, and higher relapse rates.
Out-Patient ECT: Association for Convulsive Therapy Commission
Post-World War II, ECT patients had been increasingly treated as outpatients
in doctor’s offices, both for their treatment courses and continuation treatments.
But as ECT in the 1980s demanded collaboration of a qualified anesthesiologist,
ECT became a hospital-based procedure. The prescription of a fixed number of
treatments, usually 6 to 10, became commonplace. Such courses had been sufficient
with the high energy, bilateral placement seizure inductions favored by the early
office practitioners and those treating patients at Gracie Square Hospital. When
patients showed signs of relapse, ambulatory continuation treatments were readily
undertaken. During the 1970s, with repeated public and professional attacks on
ECT, physicians often negotiated a fixed number of treatments for a course. The idea
that the length and frequency of an ECT course could be prescribed in advance, even
agreed to in the patient-signed consent, was widely accepted as recommended by
the ECT Task Force of the American Psychiatric Association in its 1978 report. The
treatment image became one of a specifically effective treatment, much like a
prescribed antibiotic for an infection. But ECT treatment for depression or mania or
even catatonia is more like that of insulin for diabetes: an acute fixed schedule is
prescribed and is immediately effective but open-ended continuation dosing is
necessary for sustained relief.
When ECT was re-introduced in the 1980s, many clinicians thought that
psychoactive medications would sustain ECT relief. After a course of ECT patients
were prescribed psychoactive medications, often in unique combinations of
polypharmacy, and while success was common, relapse became an increasing
burden.

In 1987, Thomas Aronson and colleagues from the Stony Brook out-patient
treatment facility reported greater than 50% relapse rates within 6 months for my
ECT-treated delusional depressed patients regardless of continued medications. I
34

�was chagrined and saw the need for continuation ECT. Our ECT Service treated
patients three days a week, so we set aside one day (and later two) for out-patient
treatments. We no longer asked patients to consent to a fixed number of treatments
but asked their consent for continued observation and treatment “as needed”
beginning as in-patients and continuing in our ECT out-patient clinic for six or more
months.

How best to prescribe and manage continuation treatments was widely
discussed in the journal Convulsive Therapy and at meetings of the Association for
Convulsive Therapy (ACT). That Association established a Task Force that surveyed
usage, evaluated risks, and recommended guidelines, publishing their conclusions in
1996. I chaired the group and published a report that became a guide for
continuation treatments. 40

The Stigma Persists: The Public Joins the Attack

The popularity of psychotherapy and psychotropic drugs in the 1960s led to
a sharp decline in ECT use. But as medication treatments increasingly failed and
families asked what else could be done, ECT use resurfaced. The shadow of
lobotomy and patient and psychologists' complaints of memory loss encouraged
persistent attacks against ECT, and as these became more strident, my public
support for the procedure brought me much public criticism. Burton Roueche’s
exaggerated description of a government economist’s memory loss in the 1974 New
Yorker article “All About Eve” brought Marilyn Rice to public attention. She
instituted a malpractice suit against the psychiatrist who administered the
treatments complaining that she had not been warned that her memory would be
affected and that she would be unable to work. 41 She went on to develop and lead
the public action group Committee for Truth in Psychiatry that launched further
attacks on ECT. She frequently appeared at public forums to challenge ECT use,
proclaiming her persisting loss of memories. (The Court supported the physician
defendant.)
After Marilyn Rice died in 1992 the Committee for Truth in Psychiatry was
led by Linda Andre, who made the same claims after her treatment course following
a suicide attempt by drug overdose. She was a vivacious, well-spoken, and
attractively dressed woman who attended public meetings and paid particular
attention to meetings in which I presented my work. She challenged speakers and
attended the 1992 international ECT meeting in Graz, Austria to voice her
opposition to the treatment. The international audience was surprised by her
personal attacks. She attended my public lectures and protested my presentations
at annual Continuing Medical Education psychiatry training sessions in various
cities. On one occasion, when the floor was opened to questions, she attacked me as
dishonest and paid to lie about the effects of ECT. She walked up to the podium
offering me a tray containing a pig’s head surrounded by dollar bills.
35

�Church of Scientology and Malpractice Legal Suits
In the 1960s, the national political and social movement of Scientology led by
the futurist Ron Hubbard opportunistically attacked psychiatry with special
attention to the prescription of psychotropic drugs in children and adolescents and
the brain effects of ECT and lobotomy. The members and their children
demonstrated with shouts and anti-ECT posters in the halls and at entrances to
American Psychiatric Association meetings and other sessions at which ECT was
discussed. On occasions when its members arranged for complaints to be aired on
TV talk shows, I was asked to defend the treatment but refused to take part. The
hosts delighted in challenging professionals on their incomes and on the damage
that had been done to the patients who complained bitterly about memory losses.
Yet, many patients spoke well, encouraged by the host whose mission was to
support the “poor” patient and to castigate physicians for damaging patient’s brains.
The Church of Scientology also encouraged and financed malpractice suits
against practitioners, asserting that patients had lost memories of long periods of
their lives, particularly the most personal family memories. I appeared as a witness
for the defense on numerous occasions with Peter Breggin, John Friedberg, and
Harold Sackeim as expert witnesses for the plaintiffs.

The cases were weak and my defense of the practitioners was successful in
every instance except that of Peggy Salters in South Carolina in 2005. She had been
given ECT as an outpatient with 13 treatments in 19 days. The physician deemed the
patient suicidal, but failed to offer her hospital protection. She complained that her
memory was so damaged that she could no longer work. While I did not believe that
the patient had suffered compensible damage, the physicians had not followed
standard practice in protecting the suicidal patient nor in justifying almost daily
treatments. I deem the judgment for the patient correct.
Media Attacks: BBC-PBS Madness with Jonathan Miller.
In 1990 I received a call from a London TV production company asking if I
would help with the presentation of convulsive therapy in a planned 5-hour
BBC/PBS documentary on the history of treatments of the mentally ill to be titled
Museums of Madness. The producer, Jonathan Miller, had impressive qualifications
as a Cambridge University graduate in neurology and the son of a psychiatrist. He
had acted in the original cast of the successful Broadway play Beyond the Fringe
(1960-64), directed performances in theatre and opera, and written and directed a
popular 13-hour BBC production The Body in Question (1979). While playing on
Broadway he attended Saturday morning Grand Rounds in Neurology at the
Neurological Institute with H. Houston Merritt.
36

�I met with Miller and Grace Kitto of Brook Productions and agreed to their
filming of my patients and the treatment procedures at University Hospital. I
arranged that they return again three weeks after the first filming to record the
patient’s progress and that I see the frames of my patients before they were aired.

For filming on May 17, 1990 I selected patients with different diagnoses who
were early in their course of treatment. SK, an 18-year old delusional psychotic man
who had been in repeated treatments for more than two years; EF, a 60-year old
psychotic depressed woman who was posturing, repetitive in speech, and unable to
care for herself; ET, a melancholic depressed woman with a history of mania and
excitement; and JF, an elderly man who had been depressed, lost much weight, and
careless in his self-care. Appropriate consent for filming was obtained for each
patient. The filming of interviews and treatments went smoothly.
The team returned three weeks later for follow-up filming. Patient SK was
better oriented, EF answered questions without repetitive speech or acts, ET smiled
and was friendly and better oriented, while JF assured us that while he could not
recall why he was being treated, he felt well and was ready to go home. Asked about
memory, he thought that his memory was as good as it ever was. The treatments
were not painful at all, he said, and surely less uncomfortable than seeing the
dentist.
On October 15, 1990 on my way back from meetings in Berlin, I visited the
Brook Production Studios in London to review the print. The presentation of the
patients and the treatment were very well done and I was pleased. My concept of
neuroendocrine dysfunction as the basis for the disorders that are relieved by
seizures was well presented.

Many months later, when the series was aired in the U.S., Miller’s voice-over
set a very different tone:
‘The administration of an electric shock through the skull is a comparatively
crude assault on the brain.
‘. . . as machines were invented to whirl, swirl, shock, rock, and douche the
patient back to sanity, the sick brain was treated to a series of traumatic assaults
presumably in the hope that its distorted parts would be jolted into place.
‘. . . the treatments resulted in violent convulsions with serious bruising . . .
fractures of limbs and spine . . . and other atrocious consequences.
‘. . . despite its understandably sinister reputation, ECT, Metrazole and
insulin have much more in common with the whirling chairs and rotating cradles
which they superseded, in that they were addressed to the brain as if it were a
single undifferentiated organ.”

37

�Miller’s failure to find a positive thread in the histories presented by the
patients left many viewers with a bad taste, and the series was not presented again.
In a recent biography of Miller, the author Kate Bassett makes much of Miller’s
conflicts with his father, a leading forensic psychiatrist, as the basis for his negative
attitude to medicine. Whether this relationship contributed to his views of
psychiatry or not, he was among many creative writers who saw psychotherapy and
psychoanalysis favorably, indulged by themselves, friends and family members,
seeing electroshock treatments as hazardous, ineffective, and not acceptable in their
social class.
An Active Defense: A Beautiful Mind: The Nobelist John Nash and Insulin Coma.

A call from the biographer Sylvia Nasar in 2001 asking whether I had
experience with insulin coma therapy made me aware of the life history of John
Nash, the 1994 Nobelist in Economics. A brilliant mathematician, Nash had
successfully completed his doctorate at Princeton University, publishing a thesis on
game theory that was reputed to revolutionize economics. While teaching at MIT in
May 1959 he became delusional, overactive, impulsive, and fearful, meeting criteria
for delirious mania. He was treated in Boston’s McLean Hospital by psychotherapy
and chlorpromazine. Aware that his statements led to his incarceration he hid his
beliefs and was discharged to the community. He left his teaching position and
returned to Princeton.

The paranoid psychosis persisted and he fled to Europe and sought to give up
his American citizenship. Returning to Princeton in 1971 floridly delusional, he was
admitted to Trenton State Hospital. His Princeton colleagues implored the Medical
Director that Nash was a potential Nobelist and warranted the most effective
treatment. Insulin coma treatment, although discarded elsewhere, was still in use.
It was the most heavily staffed service, and in response to his colleagues’ pleas, Nash
was assigned for treatment in that unit. He responded by relief of his overt
delusions but the director suggested the follow-up treatment be ECT. Nash’s wife
and colleagues refused that “brain-damaging treatment” and he was continued on
medication with chlorpromazine. Nash did not recover and did not return to
productive work; he remained cared for by his wife and attended lectures at
Princeton.
Nasar’s biography A Beautiful Mind was to be the basis of a Hollywood film
and she wanted advice on the actual experience of the treatments that Nash had
been given. I described my experience at Hillside Hospital, noted that seizures
occurred in more than 10% of the coma sessions. The film highlighted the seizure,
and I was pleased by the portrayal of the illness and the treatment in the film.

I reviewed my experience with insulin coma and concluded again that the
central therapeutic events were the incidental seizures, not the coma or an effect of
insulin, or any other aspect of the treatment. Like injections with camphor and
38

�Metrazol, insulin coma was best viewed as an inefficient form of induced seizure
therapy. As the originator of ICT, Manfred Sakel insisted that the comas selectively
destroyed sick brain cells leaving only healthy cells. He argued that the seizures
were incidental, irrelevant side-effects. But experienced clinicians welcomed the
seizures and often added ECT during coma sessions for the poorly responsive. I
realized that the efficacy of insulin coma therapy lay in the occasional grand mal
seizure, that ICT is best seen as an imperfect form of induced seizure therapy. 42

39

�Book Four: The Enigma: How Do Seizures Alter Behavior?
Seizures are Inherent Reflexes
Grand mal seizures are patterned reflexes seen in our species, indeed in all
mammals. Seizures that occur spontaneously constitute the debilitating disease of
epilepsy. Ladislas Meduna’s 1934 discovery that inducing seizures in the
psychiatric ill relieved both abnormal thoughts and the peculiar and repetitive
motor behaviors of schizophrenia was a remarkable and still unheralded discovery
in the history of medicine. By 1938 electric currents had been shown to
immediately induce a seizure with minimal pain and less risk than Meduna’s
chemical methods, and the electrical induction of seizures -- electroshock -- quickly
became a widely accepted treatment of the psychiatric ill.

The induction of a bilateral grand mal brain seizure is the central therapeutic
event. A patterned EEG of a minimum duration of 30-40 seconds is the principal
marker of an adequate treatment. An increase in hypothalamic-pituitary hormones
in the blood and cerebrospinal fluid is another marker. No characteristic of the
induction stimulus itself, whether chemical or electrical, is essential for clinical
benefits. Attempts to treat patients by subconvulsive electric or magnetic currents
or by non-seizure inducing anesthesia (isoflurane) dosing have been unsuccessful in
eliciting behavioral benefits.
Although many patients report immediate changes in mood, motor activity,
and thought, repeated seizures over many days or weeks are typically necessary for
lasting clinical benefits. Attempts to sustain the clinical benefits by psychotropic
drugs are occasionally successful, but for persistent benefits repeated seizures are
best.
How do seizures alter behaviors? We do not know. My thinking on this
question has evolved over the years. Early in my career and with the hubris of the
novice I combined physiological and psychological features in “a unified theory of
the action of physiodynamic theories.” That construct was re-labeled the
neurophysiologic-adaptive view a few years later. I argued that the changes in
behavior, toward greater denial of illness, was facilitated by altered brain
physiology. 43

My studies with anticholinergic compounds showed me that drugs that
inhibit brain acetylcholine reversed the mood benefits of ECT. The elevated levels of
brain acetylcholine associated with recovery in mood and thought seemed sufficient
to justify what in 1962 I described as a cholinergic theory. I argued that seizures
increased the brain levels of acetylcholine and cholinesterases, and that these
changes altered neuroendocrine functions, mainly of the hypothalamic-pituitaryadrenal and hypothalamic-pituitary-thyroid axes. This hypothesis was consistent
40

�with the ongoing enthusiasm for changes in the brain transmitters that were
thought the basis for the changes in behavior associated with psychotropic drugs.

As chemist’s skills improved and concentrations of endocrine hormones in
the blood could be measured, my interest focused on vegetative signs in psychiatric
illnesses. Attention to the TSH hormone response to TRH and abnormal thyroid
physiology was quickly followed by interest in adrenal hormones and the
dexamethasone suppression test in depressive illness. Not only were thyroid and
cortisol abnormalities markers in the psychiatric ill, the abnormalities normalized
with effective treatments. I sought to confirm these reports in our patients treated
with ECT at the Northport Veterans Administration hospital in Eastern Long Island.
When Jan-Otto Ottosson also saw merit in a neuroendocrine image of ECT, we
formulated a neuroendocrine theory that we published in 1980.44 After forty years,
I believe this theory remains the most viable explanation for the efficacy of induced
seizures in patients ill with melancholia. While this theory may not be applicable to
the benefits in other psychiatric illnesses, it is a pointer that warrants greater study.
The Theories

The behavior changes induced in the psychiatric ill by the bizarre technology
of repeatedly inducing grand mal seizures is puzzling and has encouraged a plethora
of theories, some based on brain and body physiology and chemistry, and some on
magical thinking. My ruminations and their origins have evolved with my
experience.
Neurophysiologic-adaptive theory. At Bellevue Hospital in the 1940s my
teachers were much interested in anosognosia, the failure of awareness or the active
denial of a deficit in motor functions (as in post-stroke) or denial of sensory loss (as
in denial of blindness), as I described in Chapter 1. Special attention was paid to
how humans perceived multiple stimulations as when two pinpricks or finger
strokes were simultaneously applied to different body parts.

Even in patients with brain functions compromised by trauma, age, infection
or tumor, a single sensory stimulus may be readily perceived but the perception of
two simultaneous stimuli varies with the subject’s alertness and vigilance. The
errors are evidence of compromised brain functions, of the syndrome loosely
described as the “organic mental syndrome.” After head injury, stroke, brain tumor,
aging, infection or repeated seizures, only one stimulus is reported (extinction), or
the second stimulus is perceived at another body site (displacement), or pointed into
space before them (exosomesthesia). Under the influence of injected amobarbital,
perception errors and the expression of denial language increase. These reports
became the basis for the Face-Hand Test.
During the course of electroshock, errors increased with numbers of
treatments. The greater the degree of EEG change, the greater the perceptual
errors. Among the scientists at Bellevue, Edwin Weinstein, Louis Linn, and Robert
41

�Kahn proposed “denial” as the mechanism for the relief afforded depressed patients
by electroshock. They catalogued a “language of denial” making it possible to score
the number of denial terms in an interview transcript. When amobarbital was
injected at a fixed concentration and a specified rate, the number of expressed
denial terms increased, especially in brain compromised patients.

I studied the expression of denial during ECT by weekly amobarbital and EEG
tests and recording patient responses. As EEG slow wave activity increased with
more seizures, so did expressions of denial in those patients who showed the
greatest relief of depressed mood., I adopted this explanation of the changes in
behavior during ECT as an increase in denial. Depressed patients commonly
complained of insomnia, anorexia, fatigue, weakness, and loss of interest in daily
activities. After treatment, the complaints are relieved and when asked what is
wrong, they deny their earlier complaints. Since the connection between denial and
improvement had been proposed by my teachers, and as EEG and sedation tests
verified their proposition, I adopted denial as an explanation. 45 I did not seek
greater understanding of physiology until years later.
Such an explanation was applicable in the patients with melancholic and
psychotic depression, but was not relevant for the response of those in delirious
states, catatonia, mania, or psychosis. These states are marked by disorientation
and confusion, mutism and negatism, hyperactivity and disorders in thought that
needed broader explanations than the simplistic denial of symptoms. Their
responses required another explanation.

Cholinergic theory. My interest in the effects of psychoactive drugs on the
EEG led me to study the effect of drugs on the ECT process. A colleague, Herman
Denber, interested me in studying the behavioral effects of diethazine, an
experimental anticholinergic drug that blocked acetylcholine stimulation. The
chemical was a new moiety created in industry with the hope that it might have
clinically favorable psychoactive properties. He was unable to identify a clinical
benefit, reporting that patients became more disorganized and irritable. I tested
diethazine to our improving ECT patients, those with signs of denial and recovery
from a depressive state and with high degrees of EEG slowing. The slow waves were
blocked and the records became filled with low voltage fast rhythms. Patients
became irritable, anxious, agitated and again depressed, a reversion to their pretreatment states. We inferred that the relief of depressed mood with ECT was
related to increased levels of acetylcholine in the brain.
George Ulett and his colleagues at Washington University had administered
atropine, a potent anticholinergic drug, during the ECT treatment course and
reported that it blocked EEG slow waves and elicited pre-treatment behaviors in the
patients. Similar reversal of mood was also reported after injections of the
experimental anticholinergic JB-329 (Ditran) and its congeners, supporting the
connection between brain cholinergic levels and mood.
42

�Much interest was shown in acetylcholine in neuroscience research in the
1950s. Free acetylcholine and acetylcholinesterases were elevated in the
cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of epileptic patients. CSF acetylcholine levels increased
during ECT. In cats subjected to graduated head trauma, the amount of free
acetylcholine and cholinesterases in the CSF increased with the severity of the
trauma. Again, hubris allowed me to picture the physiologic consequences of
induced seizures as similar to those of head trauma. 46

I imagined that induced seizures, like cerebral trauma and epileptic seizures,
altered cerebral permeability increasing free acetylcholine and cholinesterase levels
in the brain, slow EEG frequencies and increase amplitudes and rhythmic bursts. I
pictured these biochemical changes as the basis for the behavioral effects we were
seeing with ECT.
My focus on acetylcholine as the critical agent in treatment followed the
happenstance finding that anticholinergic agents reversed the seizure-induced EEG
and behavioral changes. But study interest in acetylcholine waned as interest in
brain neurotransmitters shifted to epinephrine, and then to dopamine and
serotonin, as pharmacologists, excited by their ability to measure these
neurotransmitters in animal brains tracked the effects of each of the new
psychoactive moieties, that were then enthusiastically welcomed by clinicians and
the public. At this juncture, half a century later, I find little interest in acetylcholine
in clinical psychiatry or epilepsy.

The Neuroendocrine Hypothesis. When I was asked in 1977 to supervise an
acute treatment unit and its ECT facility at the Veterans Administration hospital in
Northport, much academic interest was being shown in brain peptide hormones in
the psychiatric ill, particularly those of the thyroid, adrenal, and pituitary glands.
The Nobel Prize for Medicine that year was awarded for the demonstration of
peptide hormones in the brain and for the radioimmune assay that measured their
presence.

Hormone changes in our patients became measurable by thyroid and adrenal
function tests. These glands are instrumental in maintaining the daily wakefulness
cycle, the response to fear and stress, and monitoring sleep and other bodily
functions. The TRH stimulation test, the release of TSH to an intravenous bolus of
TRH, was blunted in a quarter of the severely depressed patients. After a course of
ECT, we did not find the changes in TRH levels that we had hoped would help us
decide whether the treatment course was successful.

Cortisol derived from the adrenal gland was a useful marker. Serum cortisol
levels were unusually elevated in institutionalized depressed patients, an
observation in the 1970s that led an Australian psychiatric team under Brian Davies
and Bernard Carroll to study cortisol functions in their patients. They developed the
dexamethasone suppression test (DST) as a measure of adrenal function. Their
reports are filled with extensive observations of hormone functions and psychiatric
43

�illness but the note that particularly stimulated my interest was their experience
with ECT in melancholia.

In five melancholic patients the cortisol measures were deemed abnormal
(elevated and not suppressed by the steroid dexamethasone) before treatment.
After ECT the clinical features of melancholia remitted and the cortisol measures
normalized. Then two of the patients relapsed, again exhibiting signs of melancholia
with abnormal cortisol functions. Second courses of ECT resolved the clinical
illness, again normalizing the cortisol measures. Carroll described an additional
seven patients in whom treatments had not resolved the depressive illness nor
normalized the DST. The test, it seemed, was a marker of illness severity and of
treatment response.

At the Northport hospital a research fellow Yiannis Papakostas confirmed the
relationship between severity of depression, abnormal DST, and the response to
ECT that Carroll had described. The test was difficult to perform and the end-point
criteria needed more careful study, but the changes in the neuroendocrine tests
with improvement in melancholia led to more detailed studies of the response to
ECT.
Seizures, both in epileptic fits and in those induced in ECT, released the
pituitary adrenocorticotrophic hormones (ACTH) and prolactin into the CSF and
blood. By 1978 attention was directed to the association of the contributions to
behavior of the products of the hypothalamus, pituitary and adrenal glands, (HPA
axis) in melancholic depression and the response to ECT. At the 1978 New Orleans
NIMH Conference on ECT, I described my experience with the DST, supporting
Bernard Carroll’s experience. At the same conference Jan-Otto Ottosson
independently supported the same endocrine findings. Melancholic psychotic
patients have abnormalities in functions of the HPA endocrines, and these return to
normal after recovery.
I described a “neuroendocrine” hypothesis for ECT in Convulsive Therapy:
Theory and Practice and cited what was known of the process:

“A theory of convulsive therapy must account for the significance of the
seizure but disregard the mode of induction, the direct actions of currents, and
the distinctions caused by various electrode placements. It must consider the
difference in response among patients with diverse psychopathologies and the
time, measured in days, needed for a favorable outcome. Biochemical
explanations must relate to changes in the brain rather than in the blood, urine
or other tissues. Psychological, personality, and linguistic considerations may
affect the behavioral response and should be considered, but these are probably
not central to the antidepressant efficacy of induced convulsions.”

And I described the hypothesis thus:
44

�“Hypothalamic dysfunction is a core process in endogenous depressive
psychosis. Convulsive therapy alters hypothalamic activity both by direct
stimulation of hypothalamic cells and by increasing the functional
neurotransmitter activity in the brain, thereby releasing substances, probably
peptide hormones, that alter the vegetative functions of the body and the
endocrine glands. Specific substances are released that modify mood and the
behaviors associated with mood disturbances. The biochemical events that
precede and accompany the seizure are the trigger for increased neurohumoral
activity. In ECT, the direct stimulation of electric currents augment but are not
necessary for the effects on hypothalamic functions.”
The mechanism was envisioned for patients with psychotic depression in
whom the efficacy of ECT was well grounded, inducing remission in more than 90%
of the cases. In the same chapter I discussed the evidence for ECT’s effect on mania,
catatonia, and schizophrenia. While the treatments were successful in mania and
catatonia, we lacked studies of endocrine changes to support a connection similar to
that with melancholia. In schizophrenia the efficacy of ECT was insecure, being
successful in acute illnesses and in catatonia, but ineffective in the more common
chronic ill with the hebephrenic forms of the illness.

In the 1980s I attempted a study of peptides in the cerebrospinal fluid during
ECT. Of nine patients with psychotic depression referred for ECT with mean scores
on the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale greater than 25, eight were nonsuppressors on the DST. I collected their lumbar CSF before ECT and then after
treatments number 6, 10, 12 and 14. The samples were collected within one day
after a treatment, and in five patients additional treatments were deemed necessary.
The frozen samples were shipped to Charles Nemeroff and Garth Bissette at Duke
University and to Huda Akil at the University of Michigan for analyses for the
peptides of the corticotrophin-releasing factor, somatostatin, and beta-endorphin.
The samples showed significant falls in levels of corticotrophin releasing factor and
ß-endorphin but a non-significant rise in somatostatin. 47
The findings were not encouraging to the neuroendocrine hypothesis. While
the hypothesis could be erroneous, our actual procedures did not meet the more
optimal criteria that would be used today. We made arbitrary choices in our
treatment mode. We used unilateral electrode placement with EEG monitoring of
seizure duration, selected sampling in mid-course of treatment, with varying
resolution of the illness and the DST, and were only able to test for a limited number
of peptides. The study demonstrated the complexity of studies of the ECT
mechanism. While I was interested in proceeding further, I lacked facilities for
chemistry. Instead, I was in a position to pay more attention to the clinical questions
of the ECT process that became the CORE studies undertaken between 1993 and
2005.

45

�Conferring in the Search for the Mechanism
Believing that it must be possible to understand the relief of certain
psychiatric illnesses by inducing seizures, I have participated and encouraged
discussions of possible mechanisms throughout my working life. Surely the
extensive experience that inducing seizures improves the behaviors and the lives of
many severe mentally ill must be a challenge in present day biology. What follows is
a chronological account of moments in this endeavor.

1972. The first encouragement came in convincing a committee at the NIMH
to support a symposium on ECT mechanism. The committee asked two leading
neurobiologists, Seymour Kety and James McGaugh, to join me in organizing a 1972
meeting in San Juan, Puerto Rico, titled Psychobiology of Convulsive Therapy.
Attention was focused at the meeting on the neurophysiology of seizures, the role of
changes in cognition, and the neurochemistry of catecholamines. 48
The panelists dedemed persistent changes in EEG recordings essential to the
behavior changes in the therapy. In the absence of persistent EEG changes, only
weak and transient behavior effects occurred.
Changes in memory were not essential to the behavior benefits. The
complaints of loss of recent memories were side-effects of the electricity, the
anesthetics, and the seizure. The changes were not central to the effects of seizures
on mood and thought.

Much interest was shown in newly discovered brain neurotransmitters that
“explained” the effects of psychoactive drugs on brain functions and behavior.
Changes in the neurotransmitters were considered an explanation of the behavioral
effects of repeated induced seizures as well. Seymour Kety cautioned, however,
that

“. . . there is no dearth of demonstrable biochemical changes which are
associated with electroconvulsive shock. Indeed, the difficulty lies not in
demonstrating such changes, but in differentiating between those which are
more fundamental and those that are clearly secondary, and also in attempting
to discern which of the changes may be related to the important antidepressive
or amnestic effects and which are quite irrelevant to these.”

In the 49 years since that meeting, the ECT literature has been filled with
correlations of brain and systemic increases of many biochemical and behavior
measures. But no study has offered a consistent association between
neurotransmitter functions and changes in mood and thought, either for induced
seizures or for any of the many psychoactive pills.

46

�1978. Continuing interest in ECT encouraged NIMH leaders to organize a
larger conference in February 1978 in New Orleans on “Efficacy and Impact” with a
larger panel of clinicians and scientists. In the six years since the San Juan
Conference interests had broadened to the safety of regressive ECT (intensive daily
treatments that were applied in chronic psychotic patients), the efficacy of different
electrode placements, changes in electric currents from alternating to brief pulse
currents, the clinical usefulness in patients with mania and schizophrenia, and the
relation to endocrine measures. At this conference I became aware that Jan-Otto
Ottosson had also been stimulated to examine the changes in neuroendocrine
measures, and we joined in publishing the neuroendocrine hypothesis for the
mechanism of induced seizures in Psychiatry Research in 1980. I was so impressed
with the relation of neuroendocrine changes to behavior that in writing my 1979
textbook Convulsive Therapy: Theory and Practice, I credited the neuroendocrine
explanation for ECT as the most viable.
1985. The hostility and controversies about ECT encouraged the NIMH to
hold a public Consensus Conference in October 1985. Although the panelists
included experienced practitioners, greater attention was paid to the critical
opinions and biases of lay and professional critics. The discussions were raucous
and were accompanied by shouting and hostility. The published reviews added
little to either the clinical or the mechanism interests, reflecting the continuing
rejection of and prejudice against the treatment in the public and the professions.

1986. Motivated by the circus of the Consensus Conference, Sidney Malitz
and Harold Sackeim organized a conference at the New York Academy of Sciences
in 1986. The presentations covered the broad issues of clinical efficacy varying with
diagnosis, results of biochemical, neurophysiologic, neuroendocrinologic, and
psychologic changes during the course of treatments, and mechanisms of action.
Jan-Otto Ottosson detailed the essential characteristics of an effective seizure and
treatment course; Bernard Lerer and Baruch Shapira looked at the impact of
seizures on neurotransmitters; and Robert Post and his NIH colleagues discussed
the anticonvulsant effects of seizures. They saw the anticonvulsant effects in mania
in the therapeutic stream, endorsing anticonvulsant medicines to treat manic
behaviors. Harold Sackeim and colleagues reported a rise in seizure thresholds
during the course of ECT treatments, arguing that the benefits of induced seizures
were in the anticonvulsant effects. Pierre Flor-Henry focused attention on the
theoretic lateralized changes in the non-dominant hemisphere as the basis for the
behavior change with seizures. These proposed mechanisms were no more exciting
than the presentations a decade earlier in the San Juan conference, and they
stimulated little further study.
1989. Still hoping that invited discussions might encourage study, and as
Editor of the journal Convulsive Therapy, I asked Harold Sackeim to invite authors
with an interest in the mechanism to write reviews for a special number of volume
5. An impediment to formulating a single hypothesis is the efficacy of induced
seizures across the broad spectrum of psychiatric disorders. Surely, no single
47

�mechanism can explain the diverse effects in melancholia, mania, catatonia,
delirium, and Parkinsonism. The same hurdles were described by Pesach
Lichtenberg and Bernard Lerer and by Sukdeb Mukherjee in discussing the relief of
mania. In a reprise of the debates on the merits of unilateral electrode placements,
Richard Abrams challenged the reported advantage for treatments induced in the
right hemisphere rather than the left, raising the importance of the details in any
induced seizure study seeking to understand mechanism. Charles Nemeroff and I, in
the midst of our collaborative studies of peptides in CSF, asked whether we
anticipated higher or lower levels of peptides as the basis for melancholic
depression and relief by ECT. We favored the image of lower levels of peptides
active in maintaining normal mood and suggested that the seizures might release an
active peptide that we named antidepressin. Our optimism in picturing an additional
peptide was generated by the increasing number of substances that were being
publicly characterized as altering mood, alertness, and cognition in the psychiatric
ill. But, nothing has come of it, another nagging consequence of my not having
developed skills in biochemistry.

1992. In editing a second edition of his textbook Abrams repeated the
diversity argument that the efficacy of induced seizures over many illnesses made
theorizing not particularly useful until a better understanding of psychiatric illness
emerged. He saw our understanding as similar to that of the peoples in the 18th
Century picturing burning as a process involving the imaginary substance
phlogiston. He concluded that we await the intervention of a modern Anton
Lavoisier, the French scientist who discovered oxygen, 20% of the air we breathe
and the basis for burning substances by their combination.

1998. The continuing challenge of mechanism led Charles Kellner, the
succeeding editor of Convulsive Therapy, to ask Bernard Lerer to invite opinions on
what was learned about the neurobiology of seizures. Lerer again complained of the
difficulty of seeking a single mechanism for a procedure with such a broad effect
among many disorders. Reviews by John Mann and Ron Duman were no more
useful. Nor was an explanation based on the anticonvulsant actions of seizures.
Studies of the brain neurotrophic factor, neuropeptides, TRH and related peptides,
and neuropeptide Y each fell to the criticism by Kety that the broad effects of
seizures on many brain chemicals made it unlikely that changes in any single
measure would be relevant to the mechanism. At best, any single measure would be
a marker of the breadth of the changes induced in brain biology.
2014. The present editor of the Journal of ECT, Vaughn McCall organized
another review of mechanisms. He asked Pascal Sienaert to organize the reports
that were published in June 2014. Each survey considered the main measurable
consequences of seizures – changes in the EEG and psychological tests,
neurotransmitters, neuroendocrines, and immune and cardiovascular systems. I
chose to remind readers that the central event was the seizure and not in any aspect
of electricity, by noting the equivalent efficacy and consequences of flurothyl
induced seizures to those induced electrically.
48

�Roger Haskett of the University of Pittsburgh discussed the neuroendocrine
hypothesis. Haskett had studied cortisol in melancholia and ECT in collaboration
with Bernard Carroll when both were at the University of Michigan in the 1980s.

In retrospect, the discovery of the changes in human behavior by repeated
inductions of seizures is a remarkable page in the history of medicine. As I read the
invited articles on mechanism submitted to JECT in 2014, I do not see a better
explanation than that of the impact of seizures on the hypothalamic-pituitaryadrenal and hypothalamic-pituitary-thyroid systems.

49

�Book Five: The Road to Catatonia
During my days in medical school and residency training I assume I observed
catatonic patients. Indeed I recall walking through hospital wards, dressed in the
short white coat of the student, with two 500 mg vials of Amytal sodium in one
pocket, a metal autoclave box containing a sterile syringe and needles, a tourniquet
and bottled water in the other, to sedate the excited and the manic and to relax and
obtain the cooperation of the negativistic and the mute. But during the decades of
clinical practice as a research physician in New York and St. Louis hospitals, I cannot
recall recognizing catatonia as a distinct syndrome. In my research positions, I had
little front-line responsibility to examine and treat the acutely ill.
It was during my visit to the Bakirköy Hospital in Istanbul in 1965 that I saw
nude women, standing in rigid Christ-like postures in hospital windows and rows of
posturing men as we went through the wards. Catatonia is a systemic disorder of
acute onset with mutism, posturing, rigidity, and stupor, and at other times as
intense excitement and delirium. Patients remained ill for months and years filling
long-stay hospital wards. Now, we have the technical means and the skill to
recognize and treat these patients successfully and rapidly. Turan Itil, my research
colleague at the MIP in St Louis, and I were visiting the Istanbul Bakirköy hospital to
supervise a study of a new neuroleptic, butaperazine. Our arrival was welcomed by
a patient band, colorfully dressed in 19th Century Turkish pantaloons and
multicolored shirts, beating drums and cymbals, and playing the baglama string
instruments -- an image of a mental hospital before the psychopharmacology era.
My enduring interest in catatonia was aroused in 1980, when I became
responsible for supervising the care of acutely ill patients and teaching students on
the in-patient unit at University Hospital at Stony Brook. My experience with a fully
restrained delirious woman and the resolution of her illness excited my interest..

The Teaching Case

On a morning in the Fall of 1987 I was teaching an expert class in ECT when a
patient from the medical service was referred for evaluation. A class of five
graduate physicians saw a restless, delirious and febrile 25-year-old woman in fourlimb restraints, nasogastric and urinary catheters and intravenous fluids running.
When alert, she was negativistic, posturing, rhythmically thrashing, alternating
mute and screaming. She was suffering the systemic disease of lupus
erythematosus, an acute autoimmune disease, being treated with intravenous
methylprednisone for the lupus and sedated with haloperidol and lorazepam. An
EEG had shown seizure-like activity and phenytoin was prescribed to block
spontaneous seizures. She was in an acute manic and catatonic delirium.

50

�Was she a candidate for ECT? The physicians, influenced by the severity of
her systemic illness, the restraints, parenteral feeding, and manifest weight loss,
thought not, that the treatment was likely to do her more harm. They demurred
even after I described the rapid relief with ECT in three patients with the same
psychiatric complications of lupus that had earlier been reported by Samuel Guze at
Washington University. Contrary to the class opinion, the severity of her excited
illness supported treatment with ECT since the treatment was remarkably safe even
in the most systemically ill patients.

With consent of her family and her physicians, a course of ECT was begun on
hospital day 28. Within 10 days and 7 treatments the delirium was relieved,
restraints were lifted and cooperation improved. But family and physician fears and
prejudices against continuing ECT forced me to stop her treatment, a decision that I
strongly objected. She regressed rapidly, again required restraints, and her family
now pleaded for further treatment. A second ECT series from days 68 to 90
resolved her catatonic illness. By day 100 she was discharged with medical relief of
lupus and without signs of catatonia or delirium, to remain well and report the care
of her family at one-year examination.
The severity and life-threatening nature of her illness, the rapid resolution
with ECT, and my realization of her behaviors as “catatonia” intrigued me. Gregory
Fricchione, then chief of Stony Brook’s Consultation and Liaison Service and very
experienced with catatonia, having developed lorazepam treatment while studying
at Boston’s Massachusetts General Hospital, had referred her for ECT after failed
treatment with high doses of lorazepam. For the next few years we studied
catatonia together. I became fascinated with the remarkable change from a
delirious and moribund woman to a recovering mother with relief of a syndrome
that I had hardly studied. I became interested in the story – how catatonia was
discovered and described in Germany in 1874, how another German psychiatrist
incorporated catatonia in his concept of schizophrenia that prevented much
progress in its study.
Catatonia as a Type of Schizophrenia

In 1874 Karl Kahlbaum, the director of a private sanitarium in Görlitz,
Germany, clustered peculiar motor behaviors of some of his patients into a single
syndrome of “Die Katatonie.” In a rich text of 26 clinical vignettes, he clustered
mutism, immobility, negativism, posturing, staring, grimacing, stereotypy,
mannerisms, and several other motor signs as a single syndrome. The underlying
illnesses that brought the patients for hospital care varied, with 12 patients severely
depressed, nine suffering from seizure disorders, three with neurosyphilis, and two
with tuberculosis. In a poignant final chapter of his book, Kahlbaum sadly notes that
he could offer no useful treatment except to hope for spontaneous remission, which
actually did occur in some cases. Death was all too common. 49
51

�By 1899 Emil Kraepelin, the German psychopathologist, teacher, and author
of numerous textbooks, having recognized the same signs, published dramatic
photographs of posturing and grimacing patients. He observed his chronic mentally
ill patients for many years and characterized two principal syndromes. The patients
with delusions, language difficulties, and hallucinations that began during
adolescence and progressed to dementia were suffering from dementia praecox.
Those with depressed moods alternating with mania suffered from manic-depressive
illness. Catatonia was seen in both groups. In later editions of his textbooks,
Kraepelin described catatonia as a marker of dementia praecox.
This association of catatonia with dementia praecox was accepted by the
Swiss psychiatrist Eugen Bleuler who renamed the illness as schizophrenia. His
approach was based on the beliefs of psychoanalysis, seeing catatonic symptoms as
accessory manifestations of Freudian complexes, thereby marginalizing their
importance in the diagnosis of schizophrenia for generations of psychiatrists,
sidestepping the analysis of psychiatric nosology and obscuring efforts to
conceptualize catatonia.

When official classifications of psychiatric disorders by the American
Psychiatric Association emerged in the 1950s, schizophrenia, catatonic type was the
singular recognition for catatonia. This characterization dominated the psychiatric
classifications during all of the 20th Century. It was this association that I was
taught.
But Catatonia Is Not Schizophrenia

Awareness that catatonia was not limited to patients with schizophrenia
came slowly. By 1973, after examining the records of 2500 hospitalized patients
with extended follow-up at the University of Iowa, James Morrison reported that
10% met criteria for catatonia at their index admissions. Re-examination of the
records of those patients at a later date found 40% had, at some point, recovered
completely after treatment with sedative hypnotics or ECT. Morrison argued that
these recovered patients could not be examples of schizophrenia, a disorder for
which treatments, at best, reduced the severity of symptoms but did not relieve the
illness.

A year later Richard Abrams and Michael Alan Taylor, two students from my
classes at New York Medical College, identified 55 patients with one or more
catatonia signs admitted to two wards at New York City’s Metropolitan Hospital
over a 14-month observation period. Only four patients among these satisfied the
research diagnostic criteria for schizophrenia, while more than two-thirds met the
criteria for affective disorders, usually mania. They reported the salutary effects of
treatments and a factor analysis of the data identified two factors, one associated
with mania and good outcome with treatment.
52

�That same year, Alan Gelenberg in Boston described eight patients who
became toxic and febrile with severe Parkinsonian motor signs after receiving high
potency neuroleptic drugs. He cited the cases as instances of “the catatonic
syndrome.”

In 1980, Stanley Caroff in Philadelphia, after describing 60 reported cases of
neurotoxic responses to neuroleptic drugs, labeled an acute onset lethal catatonia
syndrome with fever, autonomic instability, altered consciousness, stupor, and the
rigidity and posturing signs of catatonia as the “neuroleptic malignant syndrome”
(NMS), a label that was widely adopted. He ascribed the syndrome to excessive
dopamine blockade and prescribed dopamine agonists such as bromocriptine. In
time we learned that these treatments were ineffective, and they were replaced by
lorazepam and ECT, the effective catatonia treatments today.
In Contrast to Schizophrenia, Catatonia is Treatable.

In 1930 William Bleckwenn, an American physician in Wisconsin, reported
that catatonia could be relieved by injections of 2.0 or more grams of amobarbital
(Amytal). Mute, staring, stuporous and posturing patients responded to injections
by speaking, answering questions, and self-feeding. These changes were reported
and also shown in a black-and-white film that was instrumental in launching the
practice I was taught.

A second effective treatment of catatonia, inducing grand mal seizures, came
de novo into the world on January 2, 1934 when Ladislas Meduna, a Hungarian
neuropsychiatrist, injected camphor-in-oil into the buttocks of chronic psychiatric ill
at the Lipótmezó sanitarium in Budapest. By happenstance, the majority of his
patients exhibited the negativism, mutism, and motor abnormalities -- now
considered signs of catatonia -- that were then considered signs of schizophrenia.
His method of induction was inefficient, however, eliciting a seizure in only one
third of the subjects. Behaviors changed little but the few that did improve
sufficiently impressed him to continue.
Later that year he used a better method of intravenous injections of
pentylenetetrazol (Metrazol), which elicited fuller and more reliable seizures. The
changes in behavior were so remarkable that he reported his cases in 1935 and
again a year later at a meeting in Switzerland that canvassed experiences in new
treatments of psychosis from 22 countries, setting the stage for worldwide interest
in seizures as therapy. Three years later he published his experience with 110
patients, reporting relief in more than half, especially among those acutely ill with
catatonia.

A year after that, the Italian physicians Ugo Cerletti and Luigi Bini
demonstrated the same relief-inducing seizures using electricity rather than
chemical injections. These treatments were remarkably successful in relieving
53

�catatonia, so much so, that once clinicians caught on, it was possible for a
neurologist in 1981 to ask decades later, “Where have all the catatonics gone?”
Is NMS a Form of Catatonia?

Recognition of the neuroleptic malignant syndrome came slowly into
professional awareness. The occasional sudden death of a psychotic patient treated
with chlorpromazine or other potent neuroleptic drugs raised little intellectual
interest until the Caroff report appeared. After reading his description we at Stony
Brook recognized three patients treated with neuroleptics who met his criteria for
NMS. Repetitive motor movements, mutism, posturing, and negativism marked
each story. We discontinued neuroleptic medications and, following Caroff’s guide,
prescribed bromocriptine. One patient responded slowly, but two did not. ECT
brought quick relief. Although my curiosity about catatonia was not aroused until
we treated the woman in delirious mania described earlier, we did find other cases
of NMS. 50

At the height of the summer of 1976, a 23-year old agitated and aggressive
psychotic man under my care at the Central Islip Psychiatric Center was refusing
food and fluids and required restraint and sedation. Intramuscular haloperidol was
administered. The ward was incredibly hot, he became dehydrated, febrile, suffered
a seizure, became stuporous, and died within 12 hours. Neither physical nor
psychological post-mortem reviews suggested a compelling reason. In retrospect,
his acute death was an unrecognized example of NMS, the toxic syndrome
associated with haloperidol that was waiting to be discovered.

Another example of NMS was the death of Libby Zion, an 18-year-old college
student being treated for depressed mood with phenelzine. In the summer of 1984
she was admitted to New York Hospital febrile, agitated, and disoriented with
abnormal motor movements. Meperidine was administered, her agitation worsened
and parenteral haloperidol was added. Now in stupor, her temperature quickly rose
to 107oF and she died. Her family sued the hospital for malpractice and in 1993 I
was asked to review the records as an expert witness in the hospital’s defense. The
many initial diagnoses did not consider NMS, but by the time of the legal case her
experience was recognized as an example of neuroleptic-induced malignant
catatonia.

As NMS became increasingly recognized, various treatments were tested. By
1983 Gregory Fricchione described four cases in which high doses of lorazepam and
withdrawal of the neuroleptic relieved the syndrome. Case reports of lethal
catatonia secondary to neuroleptic use followed quickly, each affirming the
connection and citing relief with cessation of neuroleptic use and treatment with
benzodiazepines and ECT. The significant connection between malignant catatonia
and prior experience of catatonia was made by Denise White of South Africa who
described five patients in whom the catatonia signs preceded the administration of a
neuroleptic. In a second report a year later catatonia was presented as a precursor
54

�to the malignant state, raising the question as to whether the neuroleptic malignant
syndrome, malignant catatonia, and the non-malignant forms of catatonia were
manifestations of the same psychopathology.

The acceptance of NMS as a form of catatonia was slow, inhibited by the
different treatments offered. Stanley Caroff and his colleagues believed that NMS
resulted from the neuroleptic inhibition of dopamine activity and focused treatment
with dopamine agonists bromocriptine and amantadine. Because the fever, muscle
rigidity, and weakness simulated malignant hyperthermia, they augmented
treatment with the muscle relaxant dantrolene. Despite poor responses and
continuing deaths, many authors applied this prescription. An international debate
ensued, carried on for more than two decades, whether NMS was best considered an
abnormality of dopamine metabolism and treated with dopamine agonists or
malignant catatonia and treated with benzodiazepines and ECT. The debate argued
at meetings of psychiatric societies and in the literature with Stanley Caroff, Gregory
Fricchione, Steven Mann, Patricia Rosebush, Theresa Rummans, Michael Taylor,
Gabor Ungvari, Denise White, and myself as the protagonists. The debates
strengthened my interest in catatonia, as I viewed NMS as a form of malignant
catatonia.

Essential to the different views was the failure to recognize the signs of
catatonia. For many observers the essence of NMS was the fever, autonomic
instability, and muscle rigidity, encouraging belief in an overlap with malignant
hyperthermia. Interest in catatonia was minimal, blocked by the prevailing belief
that catatonia was schizophrenia, despite the reality that few NMS patients met the
criteria for the thought disorder, impaired speech, delusions, and hallucinations that
characterized schizophrenia. Further, treatments of NMS-classified patients with
barbiturates and benzodiazepines were considered to risk tolerance development
and dependence, beliefs that were substantiated by the FDA’s restricted prescribing
rules. Dosing was limited to a few milligrams of lorazepam, inadequate for the relief
of catatonia. Few hospitals had ECT treatment units so clinicians could not
prescribe this treatment--but all could prescribe dopamine agonists and dantrolene.

Then, in 1990, Michael Taylor presented a detailed argument distinguishing
catatonia from schizophrenia in a historical and clinical review of its 100-year
history. He described both retarded and excited forms of catatonia and detailed
effective treatments with barbiturates, benzodiazepines, and ECT. He connected the
motor signs to the pathophysiology of the frontal lobes, presenting catatonia as an
entity of many causes and many forms, thus challenging its consideration solely as a
form of schizophrenia. 51
Simultaneously, the neurologist Daniel Rogers from the Burden Neurological
Hospital in Bristol, England presented a similar challenge. Of the100 chronic
schizophrenic ill he had examined, many exhibited catatonia and Parkinsonism.
Their presentations, though, were similar to those that had occurred during the
1918 encephalitis epidemic, indicating that catatonia was not confined to
55

�schizophrenia. He described a systematic examination and a rating scale to identify
catatonia, defining catatonia within neurology practice. 52
Both Taylor and Rogers questioned the Kraepelinian dictum that catatonia
was a form of schizophrenia. Their doubts were consistent with my own that
catatonia was not a marker of schizophrenia. That led me to argue for an
independent status for catatonia in the illness classifications.
The Drive to Official Definition.

Was catatonia a singular identifiable disorder with common characteristics
and homogeneous pathophysiology, or a galaxy of psychiatric aberrations with
different pathologies? The 1980 DSM-III identified catatonia by the presence of at
least one of the five signs of stupor, negativism, rigidity, excitement, or posturing. My
Stony Brook colleagues culled the more detailed descriptions of catatonia signs by
Kahlbaum, Kraepelin, Taylor, Rogers, Rosebush, and Lohr and Wisniewski to
develop a 23-item list of identifiable signs scored on a 3-point scale and described a
systematic examination that could be used to derive a diagnosis.

Using that rating scale in 1994-95 we examined every patient admitted to
our ward for catatonia signs. In potential catatonia cases, prescribed neuroleptics
were quickly withdrawn, the effect of a single dose of intravenous lorazepam or
diazepam was tested, and the patients treated with high doses of diazepam or
lorazepam or with ECT. We next surveyed all patients admitted to the Psychiatric
Service and the Psychiatric Emergency Room of University Hospital during a 6month period using our rating scale. Of 215 patients examined, 9% had two or more
signs of catatonia.
In the next year, of 470 patients examined we admitted 28 patients with four
or more signs of catatonia to the in-patient service of University Hospital. Of these,
15 were affectively ill, 4 psychotic, 3 with NMS, and 6 with various systemic medical
illnesses.
A review of the University Hospital records for the 5-year period beginning
in 1985 with discharge diagnoses of schizophrenia, catatonic type (DSM 295.2)
identified 43 charts. Of these, seven patients were also charted or discharged as
affective disorder, five as organic affective disorder, and seven as schizophrenia.
Eleven had been treated with ECT, with full relief in eight, confirming again the
remarkable efficacy of seizures to relieve catatonia.
The Sedative Verification Test

Could the relief of catatonia’s signs with intravenous lorazepam confirm the
diagnosis? Since William Bleckwenn had rapidly resolved catatonia with injections
of amobarbital, intravenous amobarbital had been widely used to gain speech for
the mute, encourage feeding and toiletting in the negativistic, quiet the aggressive,
56

�and arouse the stuporous. In 1983 Gregory Fricchione recommended that
amobarbital be replaced by lorazepam and that the reduction of catatonia signs be
considered a verifying test for catatonia. As verification of catatonia in patients with
2 or more catatonia signs for 24 hours or longer, we adopted the criterion of a 50%
reduction in the catatonia rating scale score, if it occurred within 10 minutes of the
intravenous administrations of 1 to 2 mg lorazepam. The prescription of 3 mg/day
of lorazepam, increased rapidly by 3 mg increments to 30 mg/day became our
treatment protocol. Of 28 patients identified with catatonia signs, 23 recovered
with lorazepam dosing alone, 5 did not. Of the four who consented to ECT, three
recovered with 2 to 3 treatments, while one required 11 treatments. This
experience was published in 1996 and the protocol became our standard diagnostic
and treatment procedure; within a few years these methods were widely adopted
and central to the recommendations of the textbook of catatonia that Taylor and I
published in 2003. 53
The Many Faces of Catatonia.

Beginning with our recognition of NMS, Michael Taylor and I soon accepted
other syndromes such as delirious mania, toxic serotonin syndrome, pervasive
refusal syndrome, NDMAR encephalitis, Self-Injurious Behaviors in adolescents, and
several other labeled syndromes that exhibited multiple signs of catatonia that were
relieved by known treatments. We thought that the syndromes must have a
common pathophysiology since the signs were overlapping and the same
treatments were effective.

Delirious mania. Catatonia is recognized in a sedated form of stupor,
mutism, posturing, and negativism. It also is recognized in an excited, manic state.
Catatonia is more often recognized among manic patients than among those with
depressive moods or psychosis. Among the patients admitted to our psychiatric
facility so excited and overactive as to require physical restraint, we increasingly
recognized the signs of catatonia. Some vacillated between aggressive screaming
and posturing mutely, with peculiar repetitive movements. Others were febrile,
hypertensive and tachycardic. Some were delirious, all were confused and poorly
oriented. Many had been treated with haloperidol or other high potency
neuroleptics precipitating the malignant febrile form of illness. Some had seized
and anticonvulsants had been prescribed.

Many patients required four-limb restraints or were maintained in a padded
isolation room. We withheld neuroleptics, prescribed high doses of parenteral
benzodiazepines, and were often able to minimize the excitement. But the severity
of the fever often forced more immediate treatment with ECT. Daily ECT found
relief of excitement, delirium, and fever had occurred by the third day in almost
every case.

57

�Taking patients who are suffering a malignant systemic illness and subjecting
them to the risks of anesthesia and induced seizures is counter-intuitive. But the
fatality rate of febrile catatonia and the life-saving quality of daily ECT was
demonstrated in 1952 by Otto Arnold and H. Stepan. They had treated 18 patients
in their first clinic in 1947/48 with delayed treatments and 16 in their second
1949/50 with prompt treatments. Of the 18, 15 died and 3 survived; of the 16, 13
survived and 3 died, The lesson of daily or multiple seizures was learned, and I
applied their experience on numerous occasions .

The Stony Brook hospital unit consists of rooms around a circular core. From
the entrance to the ward it is possible to see the doors to 3 to 5 rooms. I often came
to the ward by 7 am, seeing a chair outside a room, with an aide watching the
patient inside. These were the patients under 1:1 observation and care, often the
most delirious and excited, or late adolescents with self-injurious behaviors. A 29year-old HIV infected man had become severely depressed, suicidal, and delirious,
refusing his HIV medications. In the ER, he was injected with haloperidol, became
agitated and febrile. On the ward he was in 4-limb restraints, 1:1 observation, and
parenteral fluids. After increased dosing with lorazepam with little response, we
induced his first seizure. That afternoon he was out of restraints, only to relapse
slowly. His temperature elevated and treatments were repeated on each of the next
two days, with complete relief, cooperation and full self-care.
A 20-year-old college student was admitted in delirious excitement. After 4
daily ECT sessions he was discharged to continue out-patient ECT for a total of 10
treatments. He completed his college courses. A 25-year-old musician in delirious
mania was relieved by 5 daily ECT sessions, fully recovered by a full course of 12
treatments. Four years later, he was re-admitted after returning from an overseas
working trip during which he had become exhausted. Again, daily ECT relieved the
syndrome and he remained well.
In a review of the hospital records I found 9 additional patients with
delirium, mania, and signs of catatonia who had responded well to ECT. These
experiences encouraged additional treatment of non-manic delirious patients and
led me to recommend that ECT was an effective treatment for delirium, regardless
of cause.

An interesting misconception developed in the 1980s as the label “bipolar
disorder” was popularized as a diagnosis after its delineation in DSM-IV. Depressed
patients with a single manic episode in their history were labeled as suffering from
bipolar disorder, neglecting possible catatonic features. The treatments for bipolar
disorder span the breadth of the pharmacy, applying atypical antipsychotics, mood
stabilizers, lithium, anticonvulsants, anxiolytics, sedatives, and antidepressants in
complex combinations with notoriously poor outcomes. As excited patients are
forcefully restrained, treated with haloperidol and other potent neuroleptics, they
rapidly develop seizures, fever, become mute, refuse fluids and food, become
dehydrated and die, sometimes with fever and inanition or by improper tube
58

�feeding. Recognizing catatonia in severely manic and delirious patients and offering
catatonia treatments is an unheralded aspect of the understanding of mania.
But delirious mania is still not recognized in the revised nomenclature of
DSM-5 published in 2013. In his critique What Psychiatry Left Out of DSM-5, the
historian Edward Shorter identifies delirious mania as just one of many illnesses
that are not recognized. 54 Michael Taylor makes the same observation in his
personal history as researcher and clinician titled Hippocrates Cried. 55

Toxic serotonin syndrome. A 59-year-old married woman was admitted to
University Hospital with a long history of treatment for mood disorder. Her most
recent prescription had been the sedative trazodone at bedtime. She developed
urinary incontinence and the serotonergic agent nortriptyline was prescribed.
Within five hours after a single 25 mg dose, she became fearful, tremulous, sweating,
tachycardic, hypertensive, incontinent of urine with explosive diarrhea. Four days
later, she exhibited seizure-like movements of her extremities and lost
consciousness. At the psychiatric emergency room she was mute, rigid, tremulous,
tachycardic, sweating, and hypertensive. The examination was consistent with NMS
and lorazepam [1mg q6h] was prescribed, relieving the motor and vegetative signs
within two days. She remained depressed and retarded, however, and responded
well to ECT with lorazepam as continuation treatment. She had not been exposed
to neuroleptic agents as her husband, a high school biology teacher insisted,
showing his daily record of her symptoms and all administered medications. Toxic
serotonin syndrome (TSS) is an acute change in mental status with systemic signs
following the addition or increase in dose of a known serotonergic agent to an
established psychoactive medication regimen. No effective treatment is known
other than withdrawal of the precipitating medications and supportive care. The
overlap in signs of toxic serotonin syndrome with NMS, and the successful response
to catatonia treatments, argues that toxic serotonin syndrome is best considered
and treated as a form of malignant catatonia.
Pervasive refusal syndrome. A syndrome described in the UK in 1991 meets
our criteria for catatonia and represents another face of the syndrome. Four British
girls between the ages of 9 and 14 suffered “a profound and pervasive refusal to eat,
drink, walk, talk or care of themselves in any way over a period of several months.”
They required nasogastric tube feeding and spent such prolonged periods in bed
that they “occasionally requiring manipulations of the joints under general
anesthetic to prevent contractures.” After extended hospital care and family and
individual psychotherapies they eventually recovered.
A report of an 8-year old girl who stopped eating and drinking after a viral
infection and who was hospitalized for more than a year before being returned to
her family in partial remission was brought to my attention by Donald Klein; did she
meet our criteria for catatonia, he wondered. We agreed and asked the report’s
authors whether not testing and treating for catatonia was unethical. The authors
59

�offered a complex rejoinder without explaining the failure to apply proper tests.

A decade later I was consulted by the Irish child psychiatrist Fiona
McNicholas about an 11-year old prepubertal girl who developed symptoms of
asthma, abdominal pain, and insomnia. She refused to attend school or to eat or
drink, became withdrawn and mute, and required nasogastric feeding and hospital
care. After many months, a video of her behavior was sent to me. Mutism,
negativism, and posturing confirmed catatonia. Lorazepam testing and treatment
was recommended. The parents refused medication treatments but participated in
family therapy. At first the girl took part but in time she refused. After 18 months of
hospital care, as the date for her scheduled return home was imminent, she began to
speak, eat and care for herself. Over the next six years she completed her schooling
and went on to University.
These cases are labeled “pervasive refusal syndrome.” Less than 30
additional cases are cited in the literature, with a 3:1 ratio of girls to boys. Each
reported case required prolonged hospital care. Similar cases are labeled “elective”
or “selective mutism.” The patients meet criteria for catatonia but it remains
difficult for many physicians to consider catatonia except in the shadow of
schizophrenia. The tragedy in each case is the availability of effective treatments
and the clinicians’ refusal to offer a proper diagnosis and effective care.

Recent descriptions of a “Resignation Syndrome” among Syrian refugees in
Sweden and a “Nodding Syndrome” among children in the wars in Uganda find
behaviors of withdrawal, mutism, loss of self-care, failure to feed that clearly mimic
catatonia mutisms. Both these syndromes should be considered forms of catatonia.
Such recognition would offer effective relief and bring these syndromes under the
catatonia umbrella.

Anti-N-Methyl-D-Aspartate Receptor Encephalitis. A 2008 case report in
the New England Journal of Medicine describes a 26-year-old woman admitted for
headache, behavioral changes, abnormal movements, and mutism of seven weeks’
duration. After extensive laboratory examinations a serum anti-NMDAR
encephalitis test was reported positive, supporting the presence of an autoimmune
disease. Throughout her illness she had been somnolent, mute, and negativistic,
with repetitive movements of her arms and mouth, but these were not recognized
nor treated as catatonia. An ovarian teratoma was found, surgically removed under
anesthesia, and the encephalitis syndrome resolved within a day. Was the removal
of the tumor or was the anesthesia the therapeutic agent? The rapidity of the
resolution and her course favor the probability that catatonia was relieved by the
anesthesia.

Another report described a 16-year-old boy with protracted stupor,
psychomotor retardation, mutism, posturing, stereotypical movement, refusal to eat
and drink, and episodic agitation. A positive blood test supported an anti-NMDAR
diagnosis. The presence of catatonia was not recognized and no consideration given
60

�to its treatments. Instead, haloperidol and other antipsychotic agents were
prescribed worsening the symptoms. After seven months of nursing care the illness
abated. The experience was trumpeted as a clinical lesson in the American Journal
of Psychiatry despite the failure to recognize catatonia or to consider its treatment.
The signs of catatonia were commonly described in a 2008 report of 100
cases of encephalitis with positive NMDAR serum tests, but neither catatonia nor its
treatments were discussed. Case reports now dot the literature with most patients
being female and with resolution after resection of ovarian teratomas when found.
But the syndrome is also reported in males.

Limbic encephalitis is an acute autoimmune neurological disorder first
described in the 1960s as a ‘paraneoplastic condition’ – self-poisoning systemic
changes induced by tumors. More than 80 different autoimmune disorders are
described in the medical literature. The pathophysiology is poorly understood and
the treatments are empiric and of limited efficacy.

The diagnosis of anti-NMDAR encephalitis depends on a positive serum or
cerebrospinal fluid antibody test. The recommended treatments are tumor resection
when found and non-specific immunotherapy (corticosteroids, intravenous
immunoglobulin or plasma exchange) or immunotherapy medications
(cyclophosphamide or rituximab). These treatments have not been demonstrated
to be effective and are associated with prolonged illness. My appreciation is that
these patients have a systemic illness of acute onset, with a positive chemical test,
with a high incidence of tumor, and frequently expressed as catatonia. These
characteristics assure the syndrome's definition within the medical model.
Treatments for catatonia, when applied, have successfully relieved the illness.
A heightened enthusiasm for this diagnosis is reflected in an editorial in the
British Journal of Psychiatry in April 2012 calling for laboratory tests for antiNMDAR encephalitis in “all individuals with a first presentation of psychosis, or
people with psychosis and features of autonomic disturbance, movement disorder,
disorientation, seizures, hyponatraemia or rapid deterioration . . . with the
possibility of antibody-mediated encephalitis in mind.” The recommendation
continues: “This assessment should include, as a minimum, a neurological and
cognitive examination and early serum testing for antibodies against the NMDA
receptor and voltage-gated potassium channel. All patients testing positive for
these serum antibodies should be referred to neurological centres with expertise in
managing these cases.”

The enthusiasm for this diagnosis is also illustrated by the rapidly increasing
case-report literature. The initial references to anti-NMDAR encephalitis cited in
Medline are in 2007. By July 2014, the number had increased to 230 citations. and
by February 2021 increased to 1588 with 83 with catatonia, and 19 with the
catatonia treated with ECT.
61

�As with patients with pervasive refusal syndrome, recognizing catatonia in
anti-NMDAR encephalitis offers effective treatment. It is reasonable to consider
catatonia in the differential diagnosis and offer its tests and effective treatments but
this is still too seldom done.

Self-injurious behaviors in mental retardation and autism. Patients
identified in the past as suffering from mental retardation are now often discussed
as examples of autism or autism spectrum disorders. Many exhibit persistent
repetitive movements, often screaming and hitting themselves. Such self-injurious
behaviors cause much damage. Restraints, antipsychotic medications, and
deconditioning procedures are poorly effective. Courses of ECT, however, markedly
reduce the repetitive behaviors and many young patients have been returned to
home and community. They do require continuation ECT, however. A benefit of the
success of these treatments has encouraged broader acceptance of ECT among child
and adolescent psychiatrists.

Other repetitive behaviors in children and adolescents are recognized as
obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) and Gilles de la Tourette syndrome (GTS).
These are commonplace among adolescents labeled as suffering autism or autism
spectrum disorders. A 2014 report describes an 18-year-old man with a 8-year
history of progressively severe GTS that responded rapidly to ECT. The scientific
literature is speckled with incidental relief of GTS and OCD with ECT that
encourages a more inclusive application of catatonia criteria to these syndromes
with the application of catatonia treatments.
The DSM Classification Debates: Where Should Catatonia be Classified?

The initial classification of psychiatric disorders published by the American
Psychiatric Association in 1952 was revised in 1968 and again in 1980. In each
version catatonia was singularly recognized as schizophrenia, catatonic type (295.2),
making catatonia signs markers of this broad class of psychosis and neglecting
evidence of catatonia among other disorders. The catatonia-is-schizophrenia
equation led physicians to prescribe neuroleptic drugs whenever catatonia signs
were recognized. Such treatments were not only unhelpful, but they often
precipitated a malignant neurotoxic state, worsening the illness, and causing death.
Only when the clinician distinguished the signs of catatonia were the patients
appropriately treated with barbiturates, benzodiazepines, and ECT. Taylor and I
argued that it was necessary to divorce Kraepelin’s marriage of catatonia to
schizophrenia and to recognize catatonia as a distinct, independent syndrome
warranting a home of its own.56
The 1994 revision (DSM-IV) retained the five types of schizophrenia and
added the independent class of “catatonia secondary to a general medical condition”
(293.89). I was pleased that an independent syndrome was recognized and hoped
that such a designation would increase its recognition and encourage the
62

�prescription of effective treatments. Indeed, over the next two decades, recognition
of catatonia increased and reports of malignant catatonia declined.

Another DSM revision was planned in 2008 with catatonia assigned for
consideration in the Psychosis Work Group. By this time an extensive literature
supporting catatonia as an independent entity had developed and a consortium of
catatonia scholars that I led asked that the catatonia type of schizophrenia (295.2)
be deleted and that catatonia be designated by a single code as a distinct, definable,
and treatable syndrome. The publication of DSM-5 in May 2013 deleted the class of
schizophrenia, catatonic type (295.2); continued the class of catatonia secondary to
a systemic medical condition (293.89); offered a class of “unspecified catatonia”
(781.89); and included a “catatonia specifier,” coded as xxx.x5, for ten principal
disorders including depression, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia types. (A
specifier is a label added to a primary diagnosis to indicate a subtype of the primary
diagnosis. It avoids a decision about which aspect of the behavior, the psychosis or
the catatonia, is the verifiable diagnosis.)

The divorce of catatonia from schizophrenia has led many psychiatrists to an
earlier prescription of effective treatments, lowering rates of chronic illness and
death. Many variants of catatonia with unique effective treatments are now
recognized. Once considered rare, catatonia is now reported in about 10% of the
populations admitted to psychiatric hospital units, assuring earlier recognition and
more effective treatments.

During these recent DSM deliberations the initial debates occurred between
classical scholars represented by Gabor Ungvari and the catatonia scholars
beginning with the work of Michael Taylor and Richard Abrams in 1970s. Ungvari
supported the Kraepelin image of catatonia as the abnormal motor signs found
among patients with chronic psychosis. He had treated hospitalized long-term
Chinese ill in Hong Kong with lorazepam and saw little benefit, but he had not tested
the benefits of ECT. Modern scholars, however, are recognizing catatonia in acute
treatment hospitals, finding many cases that meet the Kahlbaum criteria for
catatonia. When Kraepelin identified catatonia in his chronically ill patients, he
assumed that he was describing the same syndrome. The experience of the DSM-I to
DSM-III classifiers was with similar chronic hospitalized ill since their office
practices of psychotherapy did not accept catatonic patients – those with mutism,
negativism, and posturing, for example. By the time of DSM-IV’s publication in
1994, however, some scholars had identified the catatonia described by Kahlbaum.
Their experiences led to the addition of the special class of “catatonia secondary to a
medical condition.”
The connection of the catatonia scholars to the Psychosis Work Group was
through Stephan Heckers, the chairman of Psychiatry at Vanderbilt University. That
he accepted our picture of catatonia as an independent treatable syndrome is seen
in his retrospective review published at the beginning of 2015. After examining 339
hospital charts, two or more signs of catatonia were recorded in 300 patients with
63

�232 validated by positive relief with lorazepam treatment or ECT. The mean
lorazepam dose was 6 mg/day with 84% responding. ECT was applied in 20% with
42 of 45 (93%) responding.
Publication of a Catatonia Textbook and an ACTA Supplement

Taylor and I decided to summarize our experience with catatonia and
published Catatonia: A Clinician’s Guide to Diagnosis and Treatment, a 256-page text
in 2003. At the same time we presented our experience in a review in the American
Journal of Psychiatry.
We are clinicians, not laboratory scientists. We identify illnesses, use
verifying tests, and explore effective treatments. We recognize that inducing
seizures is a most remarkable and unique discovery in medicine, one that has been
unfairly stigmatized by the professions of psychiatry, neurology, and psychology, as
well as by the public. The science is poorly taught in medical schools and
psychiatric residencies, many of which have no facility for its use, thereby denying
relief to many of the mentally ill who they serve.

Since that publication we have explored catatonia further. A decade later it
seemed timely to bring our knowledge up-to-date and I published a review as a
supplement to the Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica. It is a biography of the syndrome,
how it was developed, its early exploration, the incorporation in schizophrenia, and
its rediscovery as a definable distinct entity. The essay reviews the arguments
about its classification, and the new forms that are recognized.
It also discusses an interesting association with animal tonic immobility, a
defense described in prey animals. Many catatonia signs – stupor, mutism,
posturing, repetitive behaviors – are characterisic of animals when they find a
predator in their neighborhood, and I suggest that catatonia is a relic of human
biologic history. Subsequently, I have argued that catatonia is an atavism, a relic of
the past when Homo sapiens was both predator and prey, with the defenses of flight,
fight, and dissimulation that are retained today.
How is catatonia best recognized and what is its place in the medical world?
We soon came to see it as a behavior syndrome, severe and occasionally fatal but
treatable, so much so that its resolution left no residual marks. Edward Shorter and
I discussed these many aspects of the syndrome and in the fall of 2016 resolved to
write its history. We organized our thoughts and decided that we could best assess
the syndrome as an atavism, a relic of the primitive stages of animal development
when fears encouraged defenses of freeze, flight, or fight. We formulated these
thoughts in an essay asking "Does persisting fear sustain catatonia?" in the Acta
Psychiatrica Scandinavica in 2017. 57
A proposal for a volume by Shorter and myself was accepted by the Oxford
University Press, and in July 2, 2018 the first copies of A Madness of Fear: A History
64

�of Catatonia with the deep blue cover image of Caravaggio's Medusa were published.
The text describes the 150 year story of a systemic medical syndrome, the
successful application of the Hunterian model of the identification of a systemic
illness. It joins neurosyphilis and melancholia as among the few behavior disorders
that is identifiable, verifiable and successfully treatable.

65

�Book Six: Melancholia and the Medical Model of Diagnosis
After publishing our text on Catatonia in 2003, MickeyTaylor and our wives
Ellen and Martha met for a celebratory lunch in Chicago.
"Well, what is next?"

We agreed that Melancholia was a discussable syndrome -- multiple forms
were widely recognized, each responsive to the tricyclic imipramine and to ECT,
and a verification test in the dexamethasone suppression test had been described.
Melancholia syndrome met our criteria for a medical diagnostic syndrome, parallel
to our image of the catatonia syndrome, and we both had successfully treated
melancholic patients. 58

Like catatonia, melancholia is not recognized as a clinical entity in any of the
American Psychiatric Association Diagnostic and Statitical Manuals, although it is
widely described in the clinical literature. Melancholia is accepted as a descriptor or
modifier for DSM diagnoses, not as a distinct identifiable entity, not accorded a
specific code. As a consequence its study is not well defined, not recognized in the
citation indices, and is poorly studied; it is buried in the Major Depressive Disorder
and Bipolar Disorder categories. The parallel with the catatonia story is uncanny. 59

During my Hillside Hospital experience, the treatment of severely depressed
patients, suicidal, anorexic, insomniac, mute and stuporous, with ECT was
remarkably effective. Often, inducing seizures daily resulted in complete relief in 24 days, with suicide risk, appetite, insomnia and withdrawal fully relieved. In our
RCT study of chlorpromazine and imipramine, we identified a population of
psychotic depressed patients that responded to both agents. 60

In my days in Missouri, we often identified melancholic patients but their
diagnosis and treatment was of no particular interest. In our studies of ECT at Gracie
Square, the clinicians recommended psychotic depressed, postpartum and partum
depressed for treatment without our particular attention to their identification.

The Dexamethasone Suppression Test: By the 1960s, chemists had
reported serum cortisol measures to be elevated in melancholic patients. By 1972,
the Australians Davies, Carroll and Mobray reported that a straighforward test, the
Dexamethasone Suppression Test (DST) was a marker of severe psychotic
depressive illness. Diurnal serum cortisol levels were elevated, and administration
of the steroid dexamethasone failed to suppress the elevated levels. One report by
Bernhard Carroll intrigued me. Five severely ill melancholic patients with abnormal
DST responded clinically to courses of ECT; their DST normalized. Two relapsed,
again with abnormal DST tests; re-treatment with ECT resulted in clinical
improvement, again with normalization of the DST. 61 Was the DST a marker of
melancholia and predictor of the response to ECT?
66

�I had been asked to supervise a psychiatric unit at the Long Island Northport
VA in 1972. I organized clinical trials of a potential psdychotropic drug flutroline,
which we found clinically ineffective. In 1968, the Fellow supervising treatments
Yiannis Papakostas, accepted the tasks of developing the chemical tests for cortisol
and TSH testing patients before and during the course of ECT.62 Of 20 unipolar
melancholic patients, 16 exhibited abnormal DST. Of the 14 treated with ECT, all
test normalized with recovery. These findings stimulated interest in cortisol as a
test of a specific form of depressive illness.

Over the next few years, numerous reports associating the DST and
depressive disorders, some finding a close association with severe depression and
psychosis, others finding poor relations. The APA TAsk Force on Laboratory tests
concluded that the test was not useful in identifying major depressive illness. 63 As I
and Bernard Carroll noted, a laboratory test with high specificity for melancholic
depression was applied to a broad class of "major depressive illness" that included
neurotic and characterological depressions, those unhappy with their social status
and lives. The patients with positive DST tests were the severely ill, often suicidal,
unresponsive to psychological therapies, but responsive to the more effective
antidepressant tricyclic medications and ECT. Never the less, the DST was rejected
as a test of a specific form of depressive illness; each variation of the DSM (-III, IV, 5) discarded all laboratory tests for the diagnosis of any of its hundreds of described
conditions.
Earlier I described my development of the CORE collaborative studies of
depressed patients treated with bitemporal ECT with continuation treatments
either lithium and nortriptyline or ECT. The study was an excellent opportunity to
test the DST and severe depressive illness, but the NIMH committee and managers
reviewing the study budget, rejected funding for the DST, justified by the APA Task
Force report. Never the less, we examined the rating scales of our depressed
patients for evidence of the loss of pleasure in all, or almost all, activities or lack of
reactivity to usually pleasant stimuli at baseline. Of 489 patients in the CORE study,
311 (63.6%) met criteria for melancholic features. The overall remission rate was
68.1%, with higher rates (78.7%) for those who did not meet the melancholia
specifier criteria and 62.1% of (or more) of six cited vegetative signs of
melancholia. The specifier is added on the basis those with melancholia specifier
(42). We concluded that the approximation of "melancholia" in our patients was a
poor substitute for the DST.64
After our meeting in Chicago, a flurry of letters, interim reports, literature
searches, led to our publication in the Spring 2006 by Cambridge University Press
of our melancholia textbook. 65 We described the century-old experience, defined
the syndrome by psychopathology and laboratory tests, treatments by medication
and ECT, and argued for its recognition as a distinct entity in psychiatric
classifications. The book was well presented but was priced very high, the
advertising minimal, and the distribution disappointing.
67

�Increasing interest in melancholia led to an international conference in
Copenhagen of authors who had studied melancholia, also in 2006.66 By the
conference end, melancholia was defined as an identifiable mental illness, the DST
was agreed as a defining test, and ECT as a definitive treatment. The argument for a
unique identity among behavior illnesses was again made. Discussions with
members of the DSM-5 panel for depressive illnesses were strongly made, but again
ignored in DSM-5 in 2013.
Disappointed with our failure to convince clinicians about the unique
qualities of melancholia, both Taylor, in his book Hippocrates Cried 67, and I, joining
with Edward Shorter, described the story in Endocrine Psychiatr that we published
in 2010.68

At this editing in March 2021, melancholia iremains buried among the
diverse illnesses coded as major depression and bipolar depression. Like catatonia,
the illness needs efforts to identify its biology, to bring it out of its burial, much as
was successfully done for catatonia.

68

�Book Seven: Studies in Electroencephalography (EEG)
EEG Introduced to Hillside Hospital 1953
Electrical rhythms from the intact human scalp were first described in 1929
by Hans Berger, a German psychiatrist. Within two years, in his third report, he
described the changes associated with morphine, scopolamine, and other
psychoactive drugs. Spontaneous seizures and the rhythms of the inter-seizure EEG
in epilepsy were next described. Would EEG recordings distinguish effective from
ineffective treatments in the induced seizures of ECT? Could the EEG identify a
successful course of treatment? Were the seizures induced by pentylenetetrazol the
same as those induced by electricity or by insulin?
While I had seen electroencephalograms of patients as a medical student and
a resident at Bellevue Hospital, I had no technical experience with the procedure.
Reports of recordings during epileptic seizures induced by Metrazol, the chemical
used by Meduna to induce seizures in schizophrenic patients, had dotted the
literature since 1938 followed by similar descriptions for insulin coma and for ECT.
During each procedure EEG frequencies slowed, amplitudes increased, and sharp,
spike-like waves appeared. Missed and partial seizures induced little or no change
in the EEG. Greater slowing of frequencies and increases in the duration and
amplitudes of slow waves and spike activity marked more intense seizures. The
altered rhythms persisted for weeks and, in a few patients, for months after the
treatment course ended.

I sought training in recording and interpreting the EEG. As my residency at
Hillside was to be completed in December 1952, I applied for a fellowship at the
Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City beginning January 1953. (By this time, too,
after five and half years of postgraduate medical training I opened a private-practice
community office in neurology and psychiatry, which I did in the summer of 1953 in
Great Neck, Long Island. )
With Hans Strauss and Mortimer Ostow I learned how to apply scalp
electrodes, maintain the EEG recorders, and interpret the records. The Medical
Director Joseph S.A. Miller, established an EEG Service with a Grass
electroencephalograph purchased with a $5,000 grant from the Dazian Foundation
obtained by Dr. Israel Strauss, the Founder of the Hospital. By the end of 1953 I had
appointed and trained an EEG technician and developed a protocol for the study of
the changes in EEG associated with ECT. An application to NIMH funded a five-year
study under Grant MH-927 "Altered Brain Function Following Electroshock" in the
summer of 1954.
Hans Berger had recorded rhythmic frequencies of 4 to 16 Hz. The more
common 8-12 Hz waves were labeled alpha waves, the faster (&gt;13 Hz) as beta, and
the slower labeled as theta (4.0-7.5 Hz) and delta (&lt;4.0 Hz) waves.
69

�At first the changes were measured from baseline crossing to baseline
crossing by a ruler to estimate mean frequencies. The peak amplitudes were
measured for each wave using calipers. In our first study of the changes after
induced seizures, the technician Hannah Mosquera and I measured the height and
width of each wave in 10-second epochs for 60 to 120 seconds in artifact-free
samples for each weekly recording. We scored the records as low, medium and high
degree changes. As the recordings were done weekly, we had six to eight records
for each subject. Progressive slowing of frequencies and increased amplitudes
marked treatment courses. In later records, bursts of slow waves with sharp spike
activity were seen. The best clinical recoveries occurred in patients with high
degrees of slowing and amplitude increases and we concluded that the EEG changes
were necessary for the recovery of the patients.

EEG recording became the center of my research interest, studying changes
during the hospital course of patients treated with ECT and ICT. We were unable to
record the actual seizure as our instruments were "blocked" by the electrical
stimulus. But we could examine the interseizure record. Treatments were given on
Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays with EEG recordings done on a regular schedule
for each patient on Tuesdays or Thursdays. These records showed varying degrees
of progressive slowing with increasing numbers of treatments.
The grand mal seizure was the central feature for changes in behavior and
the beneficial behavior effects. With increasing numbers of seizures the EEG
rhythms slowed and the amplitudes increased. The patients whose inter-treatment
rhythms changed very little did not recover from their illness. Those with greater
degrees of slowing had the better clinical evaluations. The development of slow
rhythms and higher amplitudes were markers associated with recovery.

Necessary, but not sufficient. Some patients with these rhythms did not show
beneficial behavior changes. At the time, we were treating a wide range of illnesses.
Many would meet criteria for major depression, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia
in modern classifications. The schizophrenic patients, except those with the
catatonic form of the illness, showed the least benefit with treatment. The
specificity of seizure effects depended on psychopathology. Diagnosis became a
critical process by which patients with high likelihood of benefit could be selected
for treatment.
For the next four decades I reported on the EEG effects of ECT and ICT; then
the changes accompanying many new psychoactive drugs introduced after 1954. I
developed methods to quantify EEG changes using digital computer methods;
classified psychoactive drugs by their EEG characteristics; and developed and
defended the contentious concept of the "Association of EEG and behavior with
psychoactive drugs in man." 69

70

�EEG in Psychopharmacology
By 1954, the first clinical tests of chlorpromazine found it to be very effective
in reducing aggression, excitement, and paranoid thoughts. The EEG profile of
chlorpromazine differed from amobarbital and ECT. Imipramine (Tofranil, IMI), our
next new agent, was also distinguishable from chlorpromazine. Were these
differences related to their differing behavior effects? And how were the changes
related to behavior changes?
While the changes in EEG during ECT were easily seen and readily measured
by ruler and calipers, the changes accompanying the chemical agents were more
subtle, the changes much smaller. We looked for a more sensitive quantitative
measuring instrument and EEG quantification became an interest.

The Grey Walter Frequency Analyzer. During World War II the English
physiologist Grey Walter at the Burden Neurological Institute developed an
electronic frequency analyzer to measure the degree of EEG slowing to assess the
severity of head trauma. A single channel record, electronically filtered to minimize
movement artefacts, was sent through a bank of 24 electronic filters, each tuned to
respond to individual energies from 3 Hz to 33 Hz. The premise of its military
medical use was that increases in slow-waves were signs of brain dysfunction
following trauma.
In 1957, George Ulett at Washington University described his use of a Grey
Walter device to measure the effects of atropine and scopolamine on the postseizure EEG. He quantified the changes in brain electrical energy as mm pen
deflections within each frequency band and reported that both anticholinergic
chemicals reduced the percentage time and the magnitude of high amplitude EEG
slow waves induced by seizures.

I visited Ulett in St Louis and was impressed that the device did measure the
drug-induced EEG changes. I received funding from NIMH and Ulett built a device
for my studies at Hillside. We obtained the instrument in the autumn of 1959 and
used it in various studies, most prominently in the CPZ-IMI-PLO random assignment
study. While CPZ enhanced the amplitudes and slowed the frequencies, imipramine
increased the percent time of fast frequencies, distinguishing the brain effects of
each agent.
EEG Analysis by Digital Computer. In 1960, at the dedication of the Brain
Research Institute at UCLA, scientists from the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology presented the analysis of a short EEG segment using digital computer
programs. Ten seconds of analog electrical activity were digitized and then
measured by two statistical programs labeled power spectral density and period
analysis.
71

�The Walter analyzer was inherently unstable and sensitive to room
temperature. It required daily calibration. I was impressed that digital computer
analyses would be within the future for the analysis of psychoactive drug effects.
Central to my move to St. Louis was my request for funding to explore digital
computer analysis methods for medication studies. In early 1963 I approached the
computer center at Washington University to establish a laboratory for EEG analysis
at the Missouri Institute of Psychiatry. Donald M. Shapiro, a doctoral candidate in
digital computer processing, agreed to develop the computer programs. In the
autumn of 1964 an IBM 1710 digital computer system with a central processor
based on the IBM 1620 was installed at the MIP.

Over the next few years Shapiro developed signal processing programs to
record EEG on digital tape, filter electrical noise, digitize the analog measurements,
file the numeric values in the computer memory, and keypunch the data on Hollerith
cards for statistical analysis. After examining different analysis programs, we
concluded that the baseline cross and power spectral analysis gave us the best
measures of medication effects. Some years later, we compared the relative merits
of these analysis methods, concluding that the methods offered useful analogous
measurements.

IBM-1800 Analysis System: In 1966 I moved to New York Medical College to
study opioids and their antagonists, hashish, and marijuana, and to renew my
studies of ECT. Donald Shapiro joined me, and in 1967, with NIMH funding we
leased an IBM-1800 computer system that he programmed to quantify taperecorded EEG records. The programs for both power spectral density (Fourier) and
period baseline cross analyses were developed and applied. This system was
complex and while more stable than the Grey Walter frequency analyzer, also
required constant maintenance. Yet, we were enabled to quantify the EEG changes,
identify drug-related patterns, predict their clinical uses, suggest effective dosage
ranges, and relate the EEG changes to behavior. We also measured the time course
of single dose effects and related them to drug and metabolite plasma levels.
Following the introduction of chlorpromazine, then its congeners, and then
different agents related to imipramine, came a flood of putative psychoactive drugs
from industry laboratories. Psychopharmacologists were busy testing their effects
on physiology and behavior in animal species. How to find new chemical entities
with defined behavioral effects in man became researchable and fundable
questions. Testing drugs in mice and rats identified animal toxicity. Phase-1 human
toxicity trials in volunteers guided clinical use and safety. But what measures could
be markers for antipsychotic, antidepressant, or anxiolytic potential? While a broad
science of animal pharmacology catalogued the physiologic and behavioral effects of
known psychoactive agents, did such studies predict the effects of new agents in
man and in patients with different behaviors?
72

�Pharmacologists developed simple motor tests in animals responding to
known chemicals, and then brought to human trial those agents that matched the
pre-clinical response profiles of known drugs. Scientists at each pharmaceutical
company tested their chemicals in rabbits, mice, rats, cats, guinea pigs, and
occasionally in monkeys and chimpanzees. But their predictions did poorly when
tested in the clinic. Although proposed agents matched known active agents in the
pre-clinical animal trials, many failed in the clinic. Human trials became necessary
to identify the association between the tests in animals and in man. Clinicians in the
NIMH supported ECDEU program studied different physiology measures as markers
for the effects in patients.
In the Hillside CPZ-IMI-PLO trial, we had distinguished the EEG, physiologic,
psychologic and behavioral effects of the active agents, seeing each as profiles of the
classes of antipsychotic and antidepressant agents. We tested amobarbital and
amphetamine, then the new compounds megimide and fenfluramine. The novel
anticholinergic diethazine very rapidly desynchronized the slow waves developed
during ECT. Study of this compound and other experimental anticholinegic drugs
led to our hypothesis of a cholinergic basis for the clinical effects of induced
seizures.

Soon, the flood of psychoactive agents that were being prescribed in diverse
patterns to our hospitalized psychiatric patients elicited complex baseline EEG
patterns. The effects of each agent persisted for days and weeks, absorbed in body
tissues and slowly leached out and metabolized in time. Each exposure altered the
brain patterns in complex, difficult to define, ways. We could no longer find “a clean
head” in which to measure a new agent’s EEG effect. We sought to test agents in
prisoners, and came into conflict with changing concepts of ethics in human
research. Prisoners were not “free agents” and, although we were careful to assure
that their participation had only a monetary award and no change in their civil
penalty, we were discouraged from such use. In New York we studied new drugs in
healthy male volunteers, paying for their hourly participation, and found such trials
useful to identify the central effects of new entities.

The digital computer system offered quantitative measures of frequency and
amplitude changes with each agent. We developed EEG criteria for antipsychotic,
antidepressant, stimulant, and sedative drugs using the effects of chlorpromazine,
imipramine, amobarbital, and amphetamine as guides. We also identified patterns
for hallucinogens (LSD, mescaline), deliriants (atropine, scopolamine, diethazine),
opioids (heroin, methadone, levomethadyl), their antagonists (naloxone,
cyclazocine), marijuana, hashish and Δ-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, and a miscellany of
agents with reported behavioral effects including phenytoin, aspirin,
diphenhydramine, and novel peptides.
Numerous world laboratories studied the EEG effects of psychoactive agents
and with the leadership of the German scientists an International Pharmaco-EEG
Society (IPEG) was formed and met every two years. The behavioral and
73

�physiologic effects were defined in patient and volunteer trials. Many consulted
with industry pharmacologists and offered identifications of clinical activity that
was inconsistent with the predictions of drug effects in animal studies. While the
human studies were more reliable and predictive of the clinical activity of the
compounds, these were expensive, time consuming, and difficult to fund and carry
out. The association of EEG and human behavior was discussed at the 1966 meeting
of the CINP, in a symposium on "Anticholinergic Drugs and Brain Functions in
Animals and Man." The dissociation between predictions of behavior effects in
animals and man was not resolved. 70
As new entities were created in industry laboratories increased emphasis on
the absence of side effects resulted in compounds sent to the clinic with decreasing
efficacy. These were identified as selective serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake
inhibitors and the atypical antipsychotics. At clinical dosing and in volunteer trials,
the impact on EEG were hardly measurable. We were unable to identify patterns
the we had established for different behavioraltering agents. Our methodology was
criticized as failed, and discarded. But over the past three decades, the benefits of
these new agents were increasingly not distinguishable from placebo comparators.
Not understanding the role of brain change measurable by EEG in man has resulted
in a worldwide flood of ineffective medications.
Psychopharmacology Lessons Learned by Pharmaco-EEG
Over the three decades of activity, we profiled agents that were clinically
active and some marketed, measured the relative potency and dosage ranges of
sedative and stimulant drugs to guide clinical use, examined the psychoactive
properties of agents in the search for a new useful chemical core, and agents that
showed little promise that were abandoned. In some instances the EEG profile was
instrumental in predicting effective clinical uses and dosage ranges and targeting
marketing applications.

Doxepin (Sinequan). Based on its chemistry and its effects in animal tests
Pfizer pharmacologists recommended this tetracyclic compound for clinical trials as
an anxiolytic. After a year in clinical trials with a lack of an observable benefit in
anxious patients, investigators met at the company’s offices in Groton, CT to review
the experience. A pall hung over the discussions until three investigators, Turan Itil,
Herman Denber and I offered understanding from our EEG studies. We had failed to
find the patterns of anxiolytic drugs, but did see changes similar to those of the
antidepressant imipramine. We recommended doxepin be tested in depressed
patients. Guided by our findings, doxepin was was quickly reported effective in
depressed patients. It was successfully marketed as an antidepressant.
Mianserin (Tolvon, GB-94) was developed by the Dutch company Organon
and recommended for a use in treating migraine. The research director, Theodor
(Jack) Vossenaar, sent the compound for EEG assessment to Turan Itil in St. Louis
74

�who reported its EEG profile to be most similar to that of amitriptyline. Because the
pharmacologists considered the finding inconsistent with their experience as a
serotonin and histamine antagonist, Vossenaar asked me to replicate the EEG study.
I quickly confirmed Itil’s finding and the subsequent clinical testing and marketing
in Europe and Asia as an antidepressant was medically and economically successful.
I became invested in the EEG-mianserin story and presented the findings in many
venues.

Mirtazapine, 6-azamianserin. chemically related to mianserin, is a racemic
mixture. In preclinical chemical and animal studies, the dextro-enantiomer was
reported to be active and the laevo-enantiomer inactive. We examined the EEG
profiles of both enantiomers and found no difference between them in the
magnitude of the EEG changes with a pattern most similar to that of mianserin.
Clinical trials for each enantiomer found both to be clinically effective although
neither differed from placebo at the tested doses. The racemic mixture was
successfully marketed as the antidepressant Remeron in the1990’s.

Flutroline. Pharmacologic studies in dogs reported that a single 1-mg dose of
flutroline inhibited the vomiting induced by apomorphine for as long as one week.
Extrapolated to man, pharmacologists enthused that flutroline would be an ideal
antipsychotic, requiring a single oral dose each week, pictured as the “Saturday
night pill.” In our clinical trials in actively psychotic patients we failed to elicit an
antipsychotic effect, even at multiple and higher dosing schedules than initially
recommended. EEG measures in our volunteers also failed to show a measurable
change. The preclinical prediction of small doses being effective for days or weeks
was untenable and studies of the drug ended.
Aspirin, Anticonvulsants, Antihistamines. We looked at commonly
marketed agents with reputed behavioral effects seeking potential alternative
clinical uses in their EEG profiles. Acetylsalicylic acid (Aspirin) was reported to be
soporific at its common dosing of two tablets each at .0325 Gm. We tested single
doses of 0.65, 1.95 and 3.6 Gm in healthy adult men. The two higher doses elicited
quantitative EEG, symptom effects, and cognitive functions characteristic of
soporifics. Doses of 0.65 Gm were similar in direction and pattern but failed tests of
significance.

We sought to measure the basis for reports of changes in mood with the
anticonvulsant phenytoin, finding the EEG patterns to mimic those of antidepressant
drugs. The dosages for clinical benefit were high, so high as to risk toxicity.

In an enthusiasm for peptides following the identification of euphoriant
effects of beta-endorphin, we examined the effects of the peptides ACTH4-10 and desTyr-gamma-endorphin. We could not elicit systematic EEG changes at the dosages
and the parenteral routes that we were advised to use based on pre-clinical trials.
75

�The sedative effects of antihistaminic agents were well documented.
Diphenhydramine and terfenadine elicited soporific, not antidepressant or
anxiolytic patterns, and were not tested further.

Opioids and Cannabis. The same principles of EEG study of new agents
were applied to opioids and their antagonists, and hashish, marijuana and THC-∆-9.
We defined the EEG and behavior profiles of the compounds and measured the
speed with which the antagonists blocked the effects of heroin and levomethadyl. In
studies of marijuana and hashish the behavior and EEG effects were consistent with
THC-∆-9 content.
The Association/Dissociation EEG and Behavior Controversy.

Industry searches for new agents with potential for human benefit are
commonly based on similarities in chemical structure and observations in animal
trials. Early in our EEG studies, beginning with chlorpromazine and imipramine, our
descriptions of the effects in patients and normal volunteers differed from the
reports of EEG studies in animals. At meetings of EEG and biological psychiatry
societies, both Turan Itil and I were often criticized for reporting effects on
behaviors and EEG that differed from those reported in the animal trials that had
preceded our human studies. Changes in the resting alert EEG in patients and
healthy volunteers had elicited drug specific changes in frequency and amplitudes
that we related to their clinical effects.
During the course of ECT, EEG frequencies slowed and amplitudes increased.
During the ECT course some agents increased and others inhibited slowing, some
increased fast frequencies, and some altered amplitudes. The post-ECT EEG became
a sensitive index of brain function that varied in response to the chemistry of the
tested medication. These studies had been done at Hillside Hospital in the 1950s.

Diethazine had been a new agent with well-defined anticholinergic
properties that we administered to our patients during an ECT course. In postseizure recordings with slowed EEG frequencies and increased amplitudes,
intravenous diethazine sharply and quickly reduced amplitudes and increased the
mean frequencies. The patients became agitated, depressed, and reported their preECT symptoms. We inferred that seizures liberated free acetylcholine in brain and
CSF and increased concentration of brain cholinesterases. These observations led
me to suggest a cholinergic explanation of the ECT mechanism.
Replications of the same effect with Ditran and experimental anticholinergic
drugs of the JB series assured us of this pharmacology. When we measured the EEG
effects of imipramine in our patients, in volunteers and in ECT patients, we found
the same changes as we had seen with the anticholinergic agents. We inferred that
imipramine blocked free brain acetylcholine, a finding that was inconsistent with its
inferred pharmacology.
76

�At a Montreal conference in 1969, my suggestion of imipramine’s
anticholinergic activity was criticized since such effects had not been observed in
animals. The pharmacologists insisted that imipramine lacked such effects. In time
the anticholinergic effects of imipramine were increasingly recognized. The
anticholinergic properties were even flouted as riskful by marketeers seeking to
replace imipramine with newer agents.

The next year, at the World Congress of Psychiatry also in Montreal, nine
investigators from Europe and the United States, described their experiences with
new psychoactive agents on the EEG and behavior. EEG changes characterized the
qualities of psychoactive drugs – the defined changes predicted the behavior effects,
and their absence identified clinically ineffective agents or ineffective dosing.
Itil, I, and an increasing number of electroencephalographers studied druginduced changes in human volunteers. As we described drug-related patterns that
were clinically confirmed, greater interest in human screening of new clinical
entities developed world-wide. The study program that began at Hillside Hospital,
flourished at my laboratories in St Louis and New York.

Many industrial pharmacologic laboratories established animal testing
centers using implanted electrodes in diverse animal species. When
pharmacologists assayed the EEG effects of putative and established agents in rats,
mice, rabbits, cats and dogs, results differed from parallel findings in human studies.
The principal argument was made by Abraham Wikler who tested morphine,
atropine, n-allylnormorphine and mescaline in dogs in slings. The animal EEG
recordings showed sleep patterns; yet, their legs and eyes were moving rapidly. He
concluded that there was a dissociation between the induced behaviors and the EEG
effects. His inference was supported by pharmacologists studying other animal
species. At an international conference of the CINP in Washington DC in 1968, the
issue of pharmacologic “association” or “dissociation” was debated and resolved by
acknowledgement that the systemic and brain pharmacology of animals are not
identical to that of man. Indeed, an agent showing similar effects in an animal
species and in man is a happenstance that cannot be predicted in advance.
Preclinical studies in mice, rats, cats and dogs studies do not reliably predict drug
effects in humans.
We had our own experience with the differences between the behavioral
effects of drugs in animals and in man in St. Louis in the mid-1960s. Sam Gershon
had trained in Australia and studied lithium in the treatment of mania. On the
advice of Jonathan O. Cole, I invited him to join the MIP staff as pharmacologist. He
brought an interest in the actions of acetylcholine, studying the anticholinergic drug
Ditran and the cholinomimetic agent tetrahydroaminoacridine (THA). He
developed animal testing facilities and appointed a team of collaborating
pharmacologists and technicians.
77

�His animal of interest was the beagle dog. One occasion, when Gershon was
away from the Institute, the administrator asked me to approve the purchase of six
setter dogs as replacements for unavailable beagles from the animal breeder. The
price for the setters would be the same. Not knowing of any difference between the
species, thinking “a dog is a dog,” I approved the purchase.
A few weeks later, Gershon complained that his anticholinergic drug
experiments with setters failed to elicit the behaviors that were readily elicited in
beagles. That the pharmacologic sensitivities varied among dog types as well as
among animal species supported my argument that human trials were essential to
understanding psychoactive drug effects.
The Pharmaco-EEG Paradigm

Whether the EEG and behavior of psychoactive drugs are “associated” and
predictable in man as we maintained or were “dissociated” as pharmacologists
asserted, clarified the pharmaco-EEG paradigm in clinical studies. Today’s search
for new psychoactive agents is rooted in the happenstance that chlorpromazine was
a powerful sedative agent especially in paranoid, aggressive, hostile, and manic
patients. Similarly, the antidepressant relief accorded by imipramine encouraged its
trials in melancholic psychotic patients. These experiences invigorated a massive
industrial investment, mainly in animal studies, with lesser expenditures in the
clinics.
Much energy is being spent to find the effects of the agents on the brain’s
neurohumoral and neuroendocrine chemistry. Psychoactive substances alter
behavior to the extent that they change brain chemistry. The pharmaco-EEG
paradigm offers quantitative measures of these chemical changes that relate to their
behavior effects. We are able to predict the behaviors of psychosis, depression, or
anxiety, elicit a delirium or reduce a manic episode, from the EEG changes. Failure
to alter the EEG means that the agent has little effect on behavior, that it is
behaviorally inert, and best marketed as a placebo.
Human studies are expensive and the science of pharmaco-EEG failed its
promise and is no longer supported either in research laboratories or in individual
patient care in clinics. Sadly, the same questions are now being asked in human
studies using the present-day fashionable brain imaging methods with emphasis on
concepts of connectivity and the size of brain nuclei. It is difficult to see such
measures that are momentary images and not continuous as having more promise
than that of pharmaco-EEG, which readily permits continuing assessments over
time. Sadly, pharmaco-EEG in managing individual patients and in predicting the
effects of chemical agents and physical treatments is a discarded science. 71

78

�Book Eight: A Medical Experimentalist is Created
Medical School Experiences 1942-1945
My letter of admission to New York University College of Medicine arrived on
December 6, 1941, the day before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and the entry
of the nation into war. That Sunday I was accompanying my father on a house call,
listening to radio news, when the attack was announced. My parents had actively
encouraged the emigration of friends and classmates from Vienna, acting as surety
for their transitions to America. They had avidly followed the news of the war in
Europe and were particularly agitated by the Nazi murders of Jews.

I began a three-year intensive medical school training program at New York
City’s Bellevue Hospital in June 1942. We were sent to Fort Dix in New Jersey for a
week’s military orientation and returned to classes as soldiers dressed as Privates
First Class in the U.S. Army. The war had called many experienced faculty members
to military duty offering students unusual opportunities for hands-on medical
experiences and responsibility for medical and surgical procedures far beyond our
knowledge and experience.

I vaguely remember the anatomy and chemistry lessons of the first year. The
cadaver was an elderly, skinny woman. My teammates were Felix Wroblewski, who
later did medical research at the Rockefeller Institute and Luther Cloud, an officer in
an insurance firm. Neuroanatomy was taught by Wendell Krieg, who asked each
student to make paper mache crossection models of the human brain. These models
were supplemented by brain slices preserved in formaldehyde in crocks that
allowed us to map the brain’s nuclei.

Neurosyphilis and Cerebrospinal Fluid: Clinical teaching began in the
second year and in an assignment to the syphilis clinics I was taught by Bernhard
Dattner, a 1938 émigré from Vienna. He had studied under Julius Wagner-Jauregg,
the 1927 Nobel Prize winner in Medicine for his report that malaria-induced fevers
relieved one third of patients of active neurosyphilis. While at Vienna's Allgemeines
Krankenhaus, the number of white cells and levels of protein in the cerebrospinal
fluid (CSF) were highest in the actively ill, making CSF examination indices of the
severity of the illness and guides to treatment.

Withdrawal of cerebrospinal fluid by lumbar punctures between Lumbar- 3
and Lumbar-4 vertebrae are often followed by headache. To reduce this incidence
Dattner obtained the CSF from the 4th ventricle by an occipital puncture to the
cisterna magna. For the next month I monitored the progress of the patients by CSF
measures obtained by ventricular taps. I assumed that it was a customary
procedure, despite the risk of penetrating ("pithing") the brain stem. The procedure
is now considered too riskful to be considered even by experienced neurologists.
79

�Neurosyphilis is a late development in the life course of syphilitic disease,
appearing years after the original infection. The symptoms develop slowly, making
difficult an accurate diagnosis with its devastating consequences in personal life and
the risks of the toxic treatments of mercury and arsenic. A principal sign of the
disease is pupillary irregularity and failure to narrow with a light stimulus (the
Argyll-Robertson pupil). When mental and neurologic symptoms appear, this sign is
present in less than 60% of known ill. Dattner argued that white cell counts and the
concentration of protein in the CSF offered better and more reliable criteria of the
severity and activity of the disease. The presence of cells, elevated protein and
positive colloidal gold reaction tests were the guide to fever treatments. The CSF
changes normalized in the patients who responded to the fever therapies.
While syphilitic patients were treated with arsenical preparations, the more
actively ill were also subjected to malarial or “sweat box” fevers. Patients remained
seated for hours in a box heated by lightbulbs with only their heads exposed. The
treatments were severely debilitating and assuring hydration and monitoring body
temperatures was one of my responsibilities. Follow-up studies did show
improvements in serological and CSF tests and some relief in psychiatric symptoms.
I was astonished by what patients were willing to suffer on the promise of cure.

During my schooling in 1943, Bellevue Hospital’s R-S buildings were filled
with more than 200 patients with syphilitic disorders. Six years later in 1949 when
I returned as a resident in neurology, 2/3 the beds no longer served these disorders,
the remarkable impact of penicillin therapy.
In later years, when I applied novel treatments for psychiatric ill, I sought
similar test guides to treatment outcomes – as in the Face-Hand Test, the
amobarbital denial test, and the high levels of slow wave and spike activity in the
interseizure EEG as measures of progress in ECT. Later I was fascinated by the
dexamethasone suppression tests in melancholia and the lorazepam response test
in catatonia.

Personally Experiencing Psychoactive Drug Effects. Student training in
pharmacology included individual experiences with medications administered to
and by fellow students – morphine, scopolamine, atropine, vasodilators, nitrous
oxide, amobarbital, and amphetamine are those that I recall. Doses were
pharmacologically active and our observations were recorded. Blood samples were
taken and nasogastric tubes passed. The hilarity induced by nitrous oxide inhalation
and the pleasant feelings associated with barbiturates made some of us look
forward to these classes. For others, the unpleasant experiences with scopolamine
and morphine drove them from the laboratory. 72

Osteomyelitis. Among children, infections of fractured bones required
intensive care. Débridement (surgically removing dead and infected tissues) was
followed by repeated flushing with warm saline and dressings to keep the wounds
clean to encourage healing. Plaster casts restrained the movement of limbs. In my
80

�junior year during the rotation in pediatric surgery I debrided children’s wounds.
An ongoing research study applied live maggots to the open wound to clear the pus
and dead tissues. I cleansed bone fragments and tissue debris, washed wounds with
sterile saline solutions, created a plaster protective shell to immobilize the limb, and
applied live maggots for days at a time. Maggots digested pus and wound debris,
allowing surgical repair of the skin and bone. This usage disappeared with the
introduction of antibiotics but references now appear from time to time citing
maggot therapy in resistant infections.
Barbiturates. During a rotation on the active psychiatric service at Bellevue
Psychiatric Hospital in my senior year I was taught to use amobarbital (Amytal
Sodium) to control agitated and aggressive behaviors. It also relieved catatonic
refusal of food, mutism, and posturing. I do not recall the use in stuporous catatonic
patients, a use that became a central interest four decades later.

InterneshipTraining 1945-6

My first Random Controlled Trial; Penicillin in Empyema
My medical internship continued the same ‘hands-on’ experiences. During a
rotation on the pulmonary medicine service, patients with pleural cavity infections
(empyema) filled the beds. Every other day I introduced a large 18-guage trocar
between the ribs into the pleural space, removed pus, and washed out the pleural
space with warm saline. An ongoing experiment washed the pleural space with
either sulfadiazine or an experimental substance “x” with patients randomly
assigned by the odd or even final number of their chart record. Supplies of “x” were
locked in a safe in the hospital director’s office. Withdrawn samples were carefully
recorded according to the patient's chart number. Within a few weeks the
superiority of substance “x” became apparent, even to a neophyte physician – thick
pleural fluid thinned rapidly from yellow putrescent pus to pink serous to clear
fluid; fever curves flattened, pain and apathy disappeared, and appetite and activity
improved, all within 10 days of administration.

A young febrile Hispanic woman with empyema was admitted with her
nursing infant. The random medication assignment was for sulfadiazine Assuring
myself of the ethics of the switch for a nursing mother, I administered “compound
x” and did so daily. When the empyema rapidly cleared, the Attending physician Dr.
Eli Rubin was puzzled. Checking the records he noted the switch and in anger,
marched me to the Medical Director’s office and ordered my suspension from the
internship. I had broken two rules, direct orders of an Attending physician and the
research protocol. Cooler heads prevailed a few days later and I was re-instated but
the lesson of adherence to research assignment was learned. (Compound “x” was
penicillin.)
81

�Work schedules were exhausting, with 48 hours on call frequent, with
learning from an Attending physicians who supervised each patient’s care was
payment for the exhausting hours. The neurologist Nathan Savitsky visited his
patients at 7:30 each morning, inviting any interne to join. He was a dynamic and
knowledgeable teacher, citing the literature much as Google or Wikipedia provide
today. I joined him often and soon I was called to attend the autopsies of patients
we had examined together. The logic of the symptoms and course of illness and the
demonstrated neuropathology was impressive.

Residency Training: 1948-1952

New Science of Percutaneous Carotid Angiography
As the new hire at Montefiore Hospital’s residency in July 1948, I was first
assigned to the neurosurgery rotation. As a student assistant during brain surgery
with Dr. Leo Davidoff, the hours standing as a masked assistant in one place without
voice or movement were enervating, and I escaped to the clinic as quickly as I could.
The technology of percutaneous carotid angiography had just been perfected and
the neurosurgical residents taught me how to insert the needle into the carotid
artery by touch, rapidly inject radio-opaque dye, and call for three x-ray images at 2second intervals. I became skilled in identifying the signs of meningioma,
glioblastoma, subdural hematoma, arterial aneurysm, and arterial blockage.
In pneumoencephalography air is injected into the cerebrospinal canal and
ventricles through a needle puncture between lumbar vertebrae 4 and 5. The air
fills the ventricles outlining the spaces showing any abnormal images. I became
skilled in obtaining cerebrospinal fluid and used the technique in later studies. The
films showed tumors, bleedings, and encephalopathies, directing neurosurgical
intervention when appropriate. 73

Montefiore Hospital was a museum of chronic neurological disorders under
study for decades. The film library included examples of classic syndromes of
abnormal motor movements and seizures that I viewed to properly label peculiar
repetitive movements. I have no recollection of experience with psychiatric
patients.

In July 1949 I continued training at Bellevue Hospital, first as resident in
neurology and then in psychiatry. Percutaneous carotid angiography had not been
introduced to the hospital so I brought this new technique to the Neurology Service.
After obtaining permission from Prof E. D. Friedman to develop such tests, a fellow
resident Joseph Stein and I built a film holder for multiple images and collaborated
with radiologists to organize a service. The first films of a subdural hematoma
showed the blood vessels, displaced by a dark mass, clearly outlining the lesion and
its effects, encouraging surgical relief. Over the next year, we did 102 procedures,
82

�reporting a high diagnostic success rate and a 5% morbidity rate. Studies of the CSF
showed no persistent abnormalities as a result of these tests.
After one such procedure, a young man lay in bed, alert, relaxed, staring into
space. Asked what he was seeing and pointing to objects in the room, he pleasantly
confabulated responses of imaginary objects. He had developed an acute syndrome
of visual neglect and denial of blindness known as the Anton Syndrome. After a few
days of nursing care his condition resolved. My teachers interpreted the
phenomenon as an interaction between the physical changes induced by the
injection and the psychological “defense mechanism of denial” based on
psychoanalytic philosophy. It was a lesson in applied psychodynamic philosophy to
psychopathology.

Other clinical experiences were as intriguing. The popular folk singer Lead
Belly -- Huddie Ledbetter -- was admitted with advanced amyotrophic lateral
sclerosis. No effective treatment was known but my teachers thought the disease
resulted from neurotoxicity caused by the passage of toxins through the bloodbrain-barrier to progressively destroy neurons. Animal studies had shown that the
transmission of proteins through the barrier could be inhibited by infusions of large
molecule dyes such a trypan red. Lacking any effective treatment, daily infusions of
1% trypan red in saline were administered. Lead Belly was a very black man and
after a week of perfusions, his sclera, palms, and soles of his feet became brilliant
red. He died in December 1949.
Double Simultaneous Stimulation: The Face-Hand Test

Two teachers, Morris B. Bender and Edwin A. Weinstein encouraged my
interest in clinical research during my neurology residency at Bellevue Hospital.
While in the Naval medical service Bender, a clinician trained with the neurologists
Israel Wechsler and Israel Strauss at Mt Sinai Hospital, became interested in the
phenomenon of visual extinction on double simultaneous stimulation in a sailor with
a parieto-occipital shrapnel wound. The interaction of simultaneous administered
stimuli delineated sensory lesions better than single stimulation. Following
professorial tradition he called me and my colleague Martin A. Green to his office,
handing each a stack of 3x5 inch blank white cards, telling us to survey the
responses of patients to simultaneous tactile stimulations of the face and hands –
first in our patients on the Neurology wards, and then on the Psychiatry wards.
When we had a hundred such records he asked that we find 100 normal children,
then he sent us to Letchworth Village in Thiells, Rockland County to examine an
equal number of mental retardates.

Applying pin pricks or finger touches simultaneously to both cheeks or hands
were correctly perceived by normal adults. But in patients with diverse brain
dysfunction and diminished vigilance, as after head trauma, structural brain damage
with bleeding, tumor, or stroke, one stimulus was reported and the other was not,
even though the sensation of each single stimulus was readily perceived (extinction).
83

�At times the patients mislocated one of the stimuli on their body (displacement) and
occasionally insisting that the stimulus was applied to space in front of them
(exosomesthesia). These phenomena were not explicable by classical neuroanatomy.
The phenomena had been conspicuous in soldiers with severe head injuries and we
reported the same phenomena in patients with abnormal brain syndromes,
publishing reports on the Face-Hand Test (FHT) as a measure of gross brain
dysfunction, the organic mental syndrome.
Similar test abnormalities were demonstrated in normal children under the
age of 6, and in patients with mental retardation with low mental age scores on
Stanford Binet tests. The positive FHT was a rapid estimate of mental age,
normalizing at age 6. Impaired brain functions in the elderly were demonstrated in
those with impaired orientation and memory.

Intravenous injections of amobarbital increased omissions and
displacements. Sensory errors increased during the course of electroshock therapy
(when slow waves in the EEG became prominent after 3 to 9 seizures) when brain
functions were altered.

In later experiments carefully measured sensory stimuli demonstrated
extinction as sensitive to the stimulus strength as well as the state of vigilance. For a
time the FHT was widely recommended as a “soft neurological sign” of brain
abnormality but seems no longer to be so used.

84

�Book Nine: Personal Biography
I was born in Vienna on January 16, 1923, the same year that my father Julius
Fink graduated from the University of Vienna Medical School. He had special
training in the new science of radiology and took an externship in medicine and
radiology at the Bergen County Hospital in New Jersey.

My mother Broniaslawa Lowenthal (Bronia, Bronka) had been a medical
student at the University of Vienna. She was much courted and married Julius on
March 12, 1922, in her third year of training. I was born within a year. My mother
cared for me in Vienna while my father worked in New Jersey. My mother and I
sailed from Bremen on the SS George Washington on October 17, 1924 arriving in
New York on October 24, shepherded under the watchful eye of her younger brother
Adolf Lowenthal, who had been sent by the family from New York.
A Greek scholar Lazaros Triarhou published a report on the faculty and
students at the Wagner-Jauregg clinic in Vienna when W-J received the Nobel Prize
in 1927. A class picture shows the faculty and cites 6 women graduates who went
on to careers in neurology and psychiatry. He portrays two graduates, Alexandra
Adler and Edith Klemperer, who were consultants during my residency days at
Bellevue and my work at Hillside. Thinking of their education, I realized that they
were students in Vienna in early 1920s, likely classmates of my mother Bronia, who
left her education because of pregnancy. She tried to return to medicine in 1950,
was not accepted, and graduated the Columbia University School of Social Work in
1953.
In the picture, Josef Gerstmann, Bernhard Dattner, and Paul Schilder appear,
scholars who taught at Bellevue New York University during my schooling. Dattner
was particularly instrumental in developing my interest in tests and diagnosis.

In our family setting, I always “knew” that I would become a physician.
Admission to medical school in the U.S. was limited by the publicly acknowledged
quotas for Jews, and to successfully gain admission one needed to be “in the top of
the class.” My elementary and high school classes were at PS 77 and James Monroe
High School in the Bronx, a few streets from my father’s office at 1201 Elder Avenue.
My high school teachers, sympathetic to my goal and recognizing the problems in
college and medical school admission, encouraged me to be a leader of the Arista
Club, to publish articles in the German-language magazine Plaudermäulchen, and to
be the Manager of the football team, gaining my athletic “M” at graduation.
I graduated from high school in January 1939 at age 16 and enrolled at the
New York University College campus at University Heights of the Bronx for its
Feb/Sep program. In 1942, at age 19, I began medical school at NYU School of
Medicine. The demands of WW II collapsed our training period to 3 years, and I
graduated on June 12, 1945 at age 22, the youngest member of my class.
85

�My medical experience began in my father’s office, developing x-ray films,
clinical tests of blood and urine, and answering the telephone when he was out of
his office. He was a general medical practitioner in a free-standing office equipped
for clinical laboratory tests of blood and urine, x-ray, fluoroscopy, and
electrocardiography. He trudged to house-calls at all hours of day or night, in all
weathers. He was a model for my brother and me, both selecting medical careers.
My schooling emphasized an experimental, “hands-on” approach beginning
in college where teachers answered questions by suggesting experiments. When I
entered my junior college class, I volunteered for the project to count the numbers
of mitoses in the neural ependymal layer of the 48-72 hour developing chick, to
answer the question how the diurnal light-dark cycle impacted the growth rate.
Other students had measured the mitoses in the 24 to 48 hour and 72 to 96 hour
cycles. (As I recall, the light cycle did not affect the rates of mitoses.)

During medical schooling I lived at home in the Bronx, about an hour’s
subway trip. Although school began at 0900, the Army rules insisted that we be
present for roll call each morning at 0730. Such was not easy during the winter and
I soon was reprimanded for lateness and ordered to guard duty as punishment.
Students had some holiday time and on June 6, 1944 – D-Day - I and fellow
classmates were camping on Big Burnt Island in Lake George to hear the shouts and
waving paddles announcing the invasion as classmates canoed back from Lake
George Village.

I came of age in America during the war years of the 1940s and 1950s, and
for seven decades I have been a treating clinician and researcher, caring for
neurologic and psychiatric ill. For many decades, the mentally ill had been
warehoused in large sanitaria far from city centers, at least until the seizure
therapies, electroshock and insulin coma, were introduced in the 1930s slowing the
growth of mental hospital populations from the peak in 1955 at 560,000 patient
beds to 170,000 in 2014 in the United States. The efficacy and the mystery of these
treatments, inducing grand mal seizures, became my lifelong challenge. The
treatment methods, however, were highly controversial in the public and within the
profession. For my interest I was often berated and have thought that a less hostile
life might have been preferred.
The 1950s and 1960s brought new psychoactive medicines that changed
brain chemistry and physiology, with resultant improvements in behavior,
encouraging a massive deinstitutionalization, pushing tens of thousands of the
severe psychiatric ill to leave U.S. hospitals and live at home, or on the streets, in
jails, in flophouses, or in and out of community hospitals. Identifying the benefits
and developing treatment protocols for these new medicines became a professional
challenge. As the effects of the new agents were measurable in the electrical
86

�readings of the scalp recorded electroencephalogram (EEG) patterns, and the
digital computer revolution offered means to quantify these effects, the new science
of pharmaco-EEG occupied 35 years of my research life.
My interest in the effects of psychoactive medications on the human brain
included active studies of the opioids and cannabis that were interdicted by
governments as addicting and life-threatening. In my later years I actively led an
effort to rescue the disorder of catatonia from its entombment within the poorly
understood concept of schizophrenia and show it as an independent, identifiable,
verifiable, and fully treatable syndrome. Bringing it out of its closet encouraged
worldwide recognition and improved diagnosis and effective care. Catatonia is
unique among the behavior disorders in having two effective treatments and a
useful verification test, which makes each recognition of the syndrome life-saving.

The arc of my professional career runs from a childhood in the Bronx,
medical school in New York City, a decade organizing Hillside Hospital’s research
facilities, a brief stint to establish a Psychiatric Research Institute in Missouri, back
to New York for a continuing academic career in different hospitals, then spending
35 years teaching psychiatry at the State University of Stony Brook. After meeting
requirements for professional certification in neurology, psychiatry, and
psychoanalysis, I spent my years as an experimentalist researcher and teacher.

Family Affairs.

I married Martha Pearl Gross, a graduate of Barnard College on September
11, 1949. We had met when I returned from a trip as the ship's surgeon on the
Grace Line's Santa Monica in March 1948. Martha was dockside awaiting her
parents who had been passengers on the cruise to Barranquilla and Cartagena. Her
father was ill with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and as the ship's surgeon I was
called for his care. After I called on her parents at their home in Great Neck, we
dated and married after her graduation in June. I continued my training at Bellevue
and in May 1951 our son Jonathan was born. We had an apartment at 404 East 54
Street in NYC. When I continued my training at Hillside, we moved to Martha's
parents' home in Great Neck, about 10 minutes from Hillside. Our son, Jonathan was
born on May 2, 1951, our daughter Rachel September 29, 1956, and our daughter
Linda June 3, 1958.. In early 1953 we bought a home in Russell Gardens at 11
Wensley Drive.
Dalliance with Psychoanalysis: School and Personal Analysis

My interest in psychoanalysis developed during my classes in Texas in 1946.
The enthusiasm for Freudian psychodynamic theory and practice rapidly infected
American psychiatric teaching and practice. Beliefs that Freudian images
explained the behaviors of the psychiatric ill and also offered effective treatment,
personal understanding, and clinical relief flashed through clinical psychology,
psychiatry, and popular culture in the theatre, film, and education. As a military
87

�veteran, I was entitled to educational training supported by the GI Bill and like many
peers, I decided to attend an analytic training program. The New York
Psychoanalytic Institute and Columbia University programs required full-time
attendance and clinic care of psychiatric patients but the William Alanson White
Institute organized its classes during evenings and week-ends. I enrolled for their
psychoanalytic course for physicians not for any faith in their beliefs but to continue
my neurology training.
I began a personal analysis with a WAW graduate Dr. Joseph Miller, meeting
for one hour three times a week for the next five years. The WAW did not see merit
in the “Freudian couch” approach so the discussion was face-to-face. A
psychological assessment by Dr. Ralph Crowley directed the early discussions.
School classes were small with Clara Thompson, Ralph Crowley, Frieda FrommReichman, and Janet and David Rioch among my teachers. David Rioch offered
elective classes in neurophysiology and brain function that were held on Saturdays
in Washington, D.C. We read the writings of Sigmund Freud, Karen Horney, Erich
Fromm, and Harry Stack Sullivan, emphasizing the social aspects of interpersonal
interactions rather than the classical studies of the unconscious and psychological
defenses. I completed the school’s requirements for a Certificate for Physicians in
1953.

During my residency at Hillside, my supervisor was Sidney Tarachow, a
teaching psychoanalyst from the Columbia University School of Psychoanalysis. He
enquired whether the presence of one or two parents during childhood influenced
the expression of a psychoneurosis. Did the absence of one parent by death,
separation or divorce early in childhood encourage the expression of an obsessivecompulsive neurosis while the childhood presence of two parents was associated
with a hysterical neurosis? It was a testable question. I examined the hospital
records for those diagnosed with a psychoneurosis, abstracted the family history
and evaluated the patient's main symptoms. We identified patients with dominating
obsessive or hysterical symptoms and found 50 records with sufficient data for
study. We did not find a difference in family histories to support the hypothesis. 74

Another study also failed to support the psychodynamic suggestion that
homosexuality was a root of paranoia. I was assigned the care of a 26-year-old
Jewish married man with severe panic episodes. The faculty diagnosis varied
between a neurosis with homosexual panic and paranoid schizophrenia. Supporting
the diagnosis of schizophrenia were his fantasies of aggression and the paranoid
imagery on his Rorschach Test responses. I presented his story to an audience of
psychoanalytic teachers. The discussion was robust in interpretations but
inconclusive as to diagnosis and treatment options. The proceedings were
published. Re-reading this report after 60 years showed the many changes in our
diagnostic styles, the rejection of homosexuality as a disease, the present tolerance
of American society of homosexuality as a life-style, and the awareness that our
later experience with medications would offer patients effective treatment with
imipramine.
88

�Neither the teachings of Freudian scholars at Hillside Hospital nor the social
psychological principles of the Sullivanian scholars at the William Alanson White
Institute impressed me as useful therapies. Nor did I have the patience to indulge
hour after hour, month after month, listening to a patient’s anxieties, social
difficulties, moods and fantasies. In time, my interests shifted and by 1958 I decided
to close my private office and devote my life to a medical research career.
Military career and travels as ship’s surgeon
My active military service as medical officer began in April 1946. After two
weeks of field training I was assigned to a regimental field station in Camp
Campbell, Kentucky, managing morning sick-call and incidental accidents and
injuries. That winter I received orders to attend the Army School of Military
Neuropsychiatry at Fort Sam Houston in Texas for a 4-month intensive program in
neurological and psychiatric examinations, management of traumatic injuries and
combat stress reactions, psychodynamic principles, and lectures on ECT, insulin
coma, and lobotomy. Many instructors were imbued with the fervor of
psychoanalysis, promising cures for the most severe mental disorders. We were
enthralled and so enthused that many of us sought psychoanalytic training when we
returned to civilian life.
After completing basic military training I was assigned to Kentucky’s Fort
Knox Station Hospital as Chief of Psychiatry. Three wards of 30 patients each
included a range of severely ill psychotic patients, some undergoing insulin coma
and some ECT. The nurses and technicians were competent and experienced, more
so than I, and my responsibilities of supervision were light. The nearest medical
school was in Louisville, about an hour away. I attended weekly Grand Rounds in
Neurology with Ephraim Roseman and took a course in the Rorschach test
procedures with Arthur Benton.

The war against Japan ended with the atomic bomb in August 1945, saving
the lives of many thousands of American soldiers as well as of many Japanese. By
1946 President Truman, faced with the costs of a very large active military service,
ordered the summary discharge of thousands of soldiers on duty. As a member of
an Officer's Board to decide on the qualifications for soldiers desiring to remain in
the post-war career Army and as the panel psychiatrist I used interpretations of the
Rorschach Test in the recommendation for discharge or retention. My comments
had little influence on the Boards’ decisions, as only the longest serving and meritawarded soldiers were recommended for retention. At the end of November 1947
my service was suddenly ended after 20 months active duty.
I had enrolled for residency training in neuropsychiatry at the Montefiore
Hospital with H. Houston Merritt for July 1948. The tantalizing question became
whether to advance my medical training experience to January or to spend the six89

�month gift of freedom elsewhere. After the continuing years of schooling and
military service the glamour and challenge of a position as ship’s surgeon led me to
Grace Line’s Hudson River Pier 57. A position was open on the S.S. Santa Maria, a
C-2 freighter with 52 passengers, leaving five days later to the west coast of South
America, with stops at ports in Columbia, Peru, and Chile. The duties of the ship’s
surgeon were "sick call" sessions twice a day, writing health status reports of
passengers and crew on entry to ports, examination of food storage areas and
freezers for vermin, and accompanying port health inspectors as they surveyed the
ship in each port.

It was possible to visit port cities during one to two days of loading and
unloading cargo. I visited the local mental hospital in Lima where Honorio Delgado,
a leader in psychoanalysis, cared for the severe mentally ill. He encouraged patient
art. Although the hospital was more like a prison with stone palettes, iron rings in
the walls to attach restraints, patient drawings and paintings adorned the walls of
the wards. These paintings were fore-runners of the enthusiasms for “Outsider Art”
in the 1970s.

After two 5-week voyages to Valparaiso, I signed on the Santa Monica for a 3week cruise to Cartajena and Barranquilla on the north coast of Colombia. My final
trip was on the American Export Lines Marine Perch, a large C-4 passenger ship that
served as troop carrier during the war and as refugee ship after the war. We
traveled to Palermo (Sicily), Naples (Italy), and Valleta (Malta). The ship had a large
medical complement and the work was easy.
In Naples, I hired a taxi for a 28-hour trip to tour Rome visiting the Roman
ruins during the night. When we landed in Malta, I visited the port and soon I had a
following of young boys and girls, pointing to my white uniform and especially my
white shoes. When I enquired as the cause of the hilarity at a silver shop managed
by a Jewish owner he pointed to the almost universal black clothes of women and
men, honoring the dead. “I must be rich, very rich, to wear white shoes.”
Peregrinations
In 1962, I was invited to direct a new research institute, the Missouri
Institute of Psychiatry on the grounds of the St. Louis State Hospital, with an
academic affiliation as Research Professor at Washington University School of
Medicine. We found a home in the Lake Forest suburb, and our children were soon
registered in the community schools. When our youngest child, Linda was schooled
daily, Martha enrolled at Washington University for an M.A. in Education, which led
to her lifelong elementary school teaching career.

We adjusted to a new community even though warnings of religious
intolerance appeared early. When we were looking for a home, I asked George Ulett,
90

�the head of the State mental health services who invited me, where he lived. “In
Ladue,” continuing with the advice, “You would not be happy there.” I did not catch
the warning but we soon experienced the strong smells of anti-semitism and
nativism that pervaded the St. Louis communities, the state, and even the hospital
government during our stay. My appointment to the MIP was announced as
“Austrian Heads Institute.”

Two years later the Missouri State legislature failed to renew the biennium
funding for the Institute, and I and the other scientists fled. I found a position at the
New York Medical College to lead the opioid detoxification center at New York City’s
Metropolitan Hospital beginning in July 1966. Martha and I found a home in Great
Neck and enrolled our children in community schools. Martha began teaching
students at the elementary school in Port Washington and then in Great Neck
schools.
I set up my computer center to analyze EEG at the Psychiatry Department
offices on East 102nd Street, developed an ECT study at Gracie Square Hospital, and
obtained a Federal contract to study the systemic effects of hashish in users in
Athens, Greece. I had exceptional students in Richard Abrams, Michael Taylor, and
Robert Levine and was fortunate in the collaboration of Rhea Dornbush, Jan
Volavka, Jiri Roubicek, and Donald Shapiro.

In July 1969 Herman Denber, the director of psychiatric research at
Manhattan State Hospital, invited me to join him on a single-engine Cessna 172
flight that he piloted over the Hudson Valley and the New York harbor. It was a day
of brilliant sunshine and I decided to learn to pilot a small plane. A flying school was
still active at LaGuardia Airport and I began my flying lessons on July 4, 1969. I
soloed Nov 13, 1969. For the next few years I leased airplanes at Long Island’s
Republic and Westchester airports. I piloted Jonathan’s move to Colby College in
Maine and flew to professional meetings. A transcontinental trip in May 1970 from
Westchester Airport, through Tulsa, then the next day on the southern route to San
Diego and San Francisco with Herman Denber to attend the APA meetings.
Interested in leasing a summer home in the Adirondacks in May 1972 Martha and
our daughters flew to Lake Placid. My last flights as pilot were in June 1973.
In 1972 a new medical school was established 40 miles East of Great Neck at
Stony Brook, Long Island. Chairman of Psychiatry Stanley Yolles invited me to join
his faculty to lead research in psychopharmacology and ECT. I gladly accepted to
avoid the hassles of travel to New York City and the social and political hostilities of
the addiction community and the city leaders. For the first few years I taught
students and residents at the Central Islip Psychiatric Center and the Veteran’s
Hospital in Northport. With the opening of University Hospital in 1980 I organized
my teaching, EEG, and ECT studies at that facility.
Martha and I bought a home in Nissequogue on the Stony Brook harbor in
1980. By that time our children had each graduated with doctoral degrees in the
91

�sciences and had begun their academic careers. Jonathan’s degree from Stanford
University led to a post-doc in volcanology and an academic career at Arizona State
University in Tempe. Rachel graduated in marine biology from Cornell and Duke
Universities and then taught at Mt Holyoke College in Massachusetts. Linda
received her undergraduate degree from Amherst College, among the first women
after the college became co-ed, and her doctorate in entomology at University of
Florida in Gainesville. She began a teaching career at Sweet Briar College in Virginia.
Each married at our Nissequogue home and soon the family grew with four
grandchildren.
My research work was well supported by NIMH and private foundations and
I led a consortium to study continuation treatments after successful ECT in
depressed patients. (The CORE studies.) For various administrative reasons I was
unable to carry out my portion of the NIMH funded collaborative study at Stony
Brook and I moved the project to Hillside Hospital, a return for me after 35 years.
For the next decade I supervised this study, developed others, and continued
teaching.

In 2005, at the age of 82, I left the study group at Hillside and retired to my
home to pursue writing. Since 1999 I have wrtitten articles and books with Michael
Taylor, Jan-Otto Ottosson, Edward Shorter, and multiple colleagues on convulsive
therapy, catatonia, ethics, and melancholia. I also continued to lecture and attend
national and international meetings until 2019.

Martha died suddenly on March 31, 2016. I remained at my Long Island
home spending my time writing. By 2018, I established a second home in South
Hadley, Massachusetts with my daughter Rachel. In June 2019 I sold my Long Island
home and moved to Rachel's home in South Hadley, Massachusetts.

92

�Books Authored by Max Fink
Electroencephalography in Human Psychopharmacology. EEG Journal, Supplement
23,
1964. NY: Elsevier.
Convulsive Therapy: Theory and Practice. NY Raven Press, 1979.

ELECTROSHOCK: Restoring the Mind. Oxford U Press, New York, 157 pp., 1999.
Electroshock: Healing Mental Illness. NY: Oxford U Press. 2002.

Ehics in Electroconvulsive Therapy. NY: Routledge. 2004. (Ottosson J-O, Fink M.)
Catatonia: A Clinician's Guide to Diagnosis and Treatment. Cambridge UK:
Cambridge U Press, 2003 (Fink M, Taylor MA.)

Rediscovering Catatonia: The Biography of a Treatable Syndrome. Acta psychiatr
Scand. 127: Supplement 441;1-50, 2013.
The Madness of Fear: A History of Catatonia. NY: Oxford University Press, 2018.
(Shorter E, Fink M.)

Melancholia:The Diagnosis, Pathophysiology, and Treatment of Depressive Illness.
Cambridge UK: Cambridge University Press, 2006. (Taylor MA, Fink M,)
Endocrine Psychiatry: Solving the Riddle of Melancholia. NY: Oxford U Press.
(Shorter E, Fink M.), 2010.
Edited Books:

Fink M. (Ed.) Convulsive Therapy. Seminars in Psychiatry. Grune &amp; Stratton, 1972.

Fink M, Kety S, McGaugh J, Williams T. (Eds): Psychobiology of Convulsive Therapy.
Washington, DC, V.H. Winston and Sons 1974.

Bradley P, Fink M. (Eds): Anticholinergic Drugs and Brain Functions in Animals and
Man, P. Bradley and M. Fink (eds.), Progress in Brain Research, Vol. 28,
Elsevier, 1968.

Dornbush RL, Freedman AM, Fink M., Chronic Cannabis Use.. Annals N.Y.
Academy of Sciences, 282: 430 pp., 1976.

Stefanis C, Dornbush RL, Fink M. Hashish: A Study of Long-Term Use (eds.).
New York, Raven Press, 181 pp, 1977.

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�1

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Archives: When the historians Edward Shorter and David Healy visited my home
in 2006 to examine my files and books for their history of the shock
therapies, they were impressed by the extent of the files and asked what I
planned to do with them.1 They encouraged their being publicly archived.
The Stony Brook University Library archivist Kristen Nyitray examined and
agreed to archive the collection. These files are established as the Max Fink
Archives in the Special Collections at the Main Library of Stony Brook
University. I also deposited my library; these books are indexed in the
University files and in WorldCat.
Contact: Kristen J. Nyitray, Head, Special Collections and University
Archives, University Archivist, Associate Librarian, Stony Brook
University.
&lt; kristen.nyitray@stonybrook.edu&gt;
t: 631.632.7119 / f: 631.632.1829
Rachlin HL, Goldman GS, Gurvitz M, Lurie A, Rachlin L. Follow-up study of 317
patients discharged from Hillside Hospital in 1950. J Hillside Hosp 1956;
5:17-40.

Fink M Shaw R, Gross G, Coleman FS. Comparative study of chlorpromazine and
insulin coma in the therapy of psychosis. J. Amer. Med. Ass., 1958; 166: 18461850
Sylvia Nasar's biography A Beautiful Mind was filmed; I was the consultant to the
producers in the making of the film. Discussed in Book Three.

Fink M. A Beautiful Mind and insulin coma: social constraints on psychiatric
diagnosis and treatment. Harvard Review of Psychiatry 11: 284-290, 2003.

Fink M, Bolwig T. Electrotherapy of melancholia: The pioneering contributions of
Benjamin Franklin and Giovanni Aldini. J ECT 2009; 25:15-18.

Beginning January 1953 with Hans Strauss and Mortimer Ostow I learned how to
apply scalp electrodes, maintain the EEG recorders, and interpret the
records. The Medical Director Joseph S. A. Miller, purchased a Grass
electroencephalograph with a $5,000 grant from the Dazian Foundation
obtained by Dr. Israel Strauss, the Founder of the Hospital.

In the 10 years of its existence, Ira Belmont, Martin A. Green, John C. Kramer, Max
Pollack, Eric Karp, Donald F. Klein, Abraham Kaplan, Arthur Willner, Karl
Andermann, Joseph Jaffe, Hyman Korin, George Krauthamer, Nathaniel Siegel,
Henry J. Lefkowits, Harold Esecover, and Barre Alan, collaborated in the
studies. Arnold G. Blumberg of the Medical Department was an active
collaborator..
94

�9

By 1977 in USA, Paul Blachly created an ECT stimulating device using brief pulse
stimuli that recorded the EEG of the seizure. His device, labeled MECTA, has
been widely adopted. The technology became world standard.

10
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Fink M, Kahn RL, Green M. Experimental studies of the electroshock process. Dis.
Nerv. Syst., 19: 113-118, 1958.

In the last two decades, ECT has been denigrated as a "neurostimulation." Since
neurostimulation devices are applied in neurotic depressed and character
disordered subjects, increased outpatient usage has changed the character of
modern treatment to encompass low energy, short seizure, RUL placement
treatments that fail to influence severely ill, but act mainly as placebo
psychotherapiess similar to the weakened SSRI, SNRI antidepressants and
atypical neuroleptics that dominate outpatient care since the 1990s.
Fink M, Taylor MA, Shorter E, Vaidya NA. The failure of the schizophrenia concept
and the argument for its replacement by hebephrenia: applying the medical
model for disease recognition. Acta Psychiatr Scand 2010; 122: 173-183.
The question is the basis for the neuroendocrine hypothesis of ECT, that the
seizure pattern is based on systematic changes sensed by pathology in the
organism that can be redressed, much as a sneeze or a cough clears physical
passages.
Bennett, A.E. The introduction of curare into clinical medicine.Present and
potential usefulness. Am Sci 46; 34:434-431.

While on a lecture tour in 5 cities in India in 1991, the first question at each site
was my attitude to the use of unmodified ECT, inducing seizures without
sedation and motor relaxation. When I expressed my experience, recalling
the benefits of my first experiences at Hillside in 1952, I opined "unmodified
ECT is better than no ECT." The audience applauded. The argument persisted
for many years as the cost of the agents and the fee of the anesthesiologist
surpassed the reimbursements for the ECT procedure.
When the anti-psychiatry cries of psychologists became strident again in 2020s,
with claims that ECT had not been properly tested in an RCT with sham ECT.
The sham-ECT study data was republished in 2001 in JECT.
Palmer RL. Electroconvulsive Therapy: An Appraisal. NY: Oxford U Press, 1981

Fink M, Kahn RL, Karp E, Pollack MA, Green MA, Alan B, Lefkowitz HJ. Inhalantinduced convulsions. Arch. Gen. Psychiat., 4: 259-266,1961.
95

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25

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Cooper K, Fink M. The chemical induction of seizures in psychiatric therapy:
Were flurothyl (Indoklon) and pentylenetetrazol (Metrazol) abandoned
prematurely? J Clinical Psychopharmacology. 2014; 34(5):602-7.

Fink M, Greenberg LB, Gage J, Vikun S. Isoflurane anesthesia therapy: A
replacement for ECT in depressive disorders? Convulsive Ther 1987; 3: 269277.
Fink M. Cholinergic aspects of convulsive therapy. J. Nerv. Ment. Dis., 1966; 142:
475-484.

The results are widely published by Robert Kahn, Max Pollack, and Ira Belmont.
The results are summarized in Convulsive Therapy: Theory and Practice, NY:
Raven Press, 1979.

We received four-year funding from NIMH for the project. After we introduced
the study to the GSH practitioners, many agreed to cooperate and to let us
treat their patients according to our protocols. They endorsed their patients’
cooperation for EEG and psychological tests. Aside from Richard Abrams and
myself, our study collaborators were Jan Volavka, Jiri Roubicek, Rhea
Dornbush, and Stanley Feldstein from the Biological Psychiatry Research
division of the New York Medical College.
This is my second study reporting the greater efficacy of seizures induced by
bilateral electrode placements. The CORE study replicated again.

Fink M, Abrams R, Volavka J, Roubicek J, Dornbush R. Lateralized EEG changes
after unilateral and bilateral electroconvulsive therapy. Dis. Nerv. Syst., 31
(11) Suppl.: 28-33, 1970.

Wachtel LE, Dhossche DM. Self-injury in autism as an alternative sign of catatonia:
implications for convulsive therapy. Med Hypotheses 2010; 75(1):111-4.
Bright-Long L, Fink M. Reversible dementia and affective disorder: The Rip van
Winkle Syndrome. Convulsive Ther 1993; 9: 209-16.
Greenberg LB, Mofson R, Fink M. Prospective electroconvulsive therapy in
delusional depressed patient with a frontal meningioma. Br J Psychiatry
1988; 153: 105-107.
Petrides G, Fink M. Atrial fibrillation, anticoagulation, and electroconvulsive
therapy. Convulsive Ther. 1996; 12: 91-98

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35
36

Fink M. Is EST a useful therapy of schizophrenia? In J.P. Brady and H.K.H. Brodie
(eds.): Controversy in Psychiatry. Philadelphia, W.B. Saunders Co., 183-193,
1978.
Fink M. EST and other somatic therapies of schizophrenia. In L. Bellak (ed.):
Disorders of the Schizophrenic Syndrome. Basic Books, New York, 353-363,
1979.
Fink M., Sackeim HA. Convulsive therapy for schizophrenia? Schizophrenia Bull.
1996; 221: 27-39
Fink M, Taylor M.A. The medical evidence-based model to identify psychiatric
syndromes: Return to a classical paradigm. Acta Psychiatr Scand 2008; 87:
81-84 .

I did not believe that ECT augmentation of clozapine in clozapine non-responders
was effective. When George Petrides, with the encouragement of John Kane
to publish a "positive" report, I withdrew my association. Augmentation by
ECT of fluphenazine and chlorpromazine treatment in psychosis are better
documented.
Greenberg LB, Zervas I, Suckow RF, Cooper T, Jandorf L, Fink M. Rat brain
concentration of fluphenazine during a course of electroconvulsive shock.
Convulsive Ther 1990; 6: 273-9.
I moved the study site to Hillside Hospital with George Petrides as Principal
Investigator.

Fink M. What was learned: Studies by the Consortium for Research in ECT (CORE)
1997-2011. Acta Psychiatrica Scand. 129: 417-426, 2014.
Fink M, Taylor MA. Electroconvulsive therapy: Evidence and challenges. JAMA
2007; 298: 330-332 .
R. Electroconvulsive Therapy. Edition IV. NY: Oxford University Press,
2002.

37Abrams
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40

Meduna L: Die Konvulsionstherapie der Schizophrenie. Halle Germany, Karl
Marhold, 1937.

Fink M. (Ed.): Convulsive Therapy (ed.). Seminars in Psychiatry 4: 1. Grune &amp;
Stratton, Inc., New York, 70 pp.

Fink M, Abrams R, Bailine S, Jaffe R. Ambulatory electroconvulsive therapy. Ta
force report of the association for convulsive therapy. Convulsive Ther. 1996;
12: 42-55.
97

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45
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47

Fink M. Complaints of loss of personal memory after electroconvulsive therapy:
Evidence of a somatoform disorder. Psychosomatics 2007; 48:290=293.
Fink M. A Beautiful Mind and insulin coma: social constraints on psychiatric
diagnosis and treatment. Harvard Review of Psychiatry 2003; 11: 284-290.
Fink M. A unified theory of the action of physiodynamic therapies. J. Hillside
Hosp.,1957; 6: 197-206.

Fink M, Ottosson J-O. A theory of convulsive therapy in endogenous depression:
Significance of hypothalamic functions. Psychiatry Research 2: 49-61, 1980.

Fink M. The mode of action of convulsive therapy: the neurophysiologic-adaptive
view. J. Neuropsychiat., 3: 231-233.1962.
Fink M. Cholinergic aspects of convulsive therapy. J. Nerv. Ment. Dis., 1966; 142:
475-484.

Nemeroff C, Bissette G, Akil H, Fink M. Neuropeptide concentrations in the cerebrospinal
fluid of depressed patients treated with electroconvulsive therapy. Corticotrophinreleasing factor, beta endorphin and somatostatin. Br J Psychiatry 1991; 158: 59-63.

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53

Fink M, Kety S, McGaugh J, Williams T. (Eds): Psychobiology of Convulsive
Therapy. Washington, DC, V.H. Winston and Sons

Kahlbaum KL. Die Katatonie oder das Spannungsirresein: eine klinische Form
psychischer Krankheit. Berlin: Verlag August Hirshwald, 1874.

Greenberg LB, Gujavarty K. The neuroleptic malignant syndrome: Review and
report of three cases. Comprehens Psychiatry 1985; 26:63–70.

Taylor MA. Catatonia: A review of a behavioral neurologic syndrome.
Neuropsychiatry, Neuropsychology Behavioral Neurology. 1990; 3(1):48-72.
Rogers D. Motor disorder in psychiatry. Chichester UK: John Wiley &amp; Sons, 1992.
Bush G, Fink M, Petrides G, Dowling F, Francis A. Catatonia: I: rating scale and
standardized examination. Acta psychiatr. Scand 1996; 93 (2): 129-36.

Bush G, Fink M, Petrides G, Dowling F, Francis A. Catatonia: II. Treatment with
lorazepam and electroconvulsive therapy . Acta Psychiatr. Scand 1996; 93 (
2):137-43.
54

Shorter E. What Psychiatry Left Out of DSM-5. NY: Taylor &amp; Francis, 2015.
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Taylor MA. Hippocrates Cried: The Decline of American Psychiatry. NY: Oxford U
Press, 2013.

Taylor M, Fink M. Fink Catatonia in psychiatric classification: A home of its own.
Am J Psychiatry 2003; 160: 1233-1241.
Fink M, Shorter E. Does persisting fear sustain catatonia? Acta Psychiatr Scand
2017; Nov; 136(5):441-444.

Our experience together had been at New York Medical College during his
residency training and when he and his colleague Richard Abrams joined the
Stony Brook University faculty.

Clinicians versed in ECT see the rapid response of catatonia and melancholia, in
their varied forms, to repeated induced seizures. The DSM commissioners, all
five teams from 1952 to 2013, lacked members with experience in ECT.
Many were known opinion leaders and paid consultants to industry, with
ambulatory office practices and little experience with the severely ill, so had
no experience with the many forms of catatonia and melancholia. Further, in
the decades from 1980 to 2013, they were paid well as industry consultants
to support the new agents, the SSRI, SNRI, and atypical neuroleptics, and
reject the tricyclic antidepressants (imipramine, amitriptyline) and the
typical neuroleptics (chlorpromazine, fluphenazine) as toxic.
Fink M, Klein DF, Kramer J. Clinical efficacy of Chlorpromazine-Procyclidine
combination, Imipramine and placebo in depressive disorders.
Psychopharmacolgia (Berl.), 7: 27- 36.

Davies BJ, Carroll BJ, Mowbray RM: Depressive Illness: Some Research Studies.
Springfield, IL: C. C Thomas, 1972.

Papakostas Y, Fink M, Lee J, Irwin P, Johnson L. Neuroendocrine measures in
psychiatric patients: Course and Outcome with ECT. Psychiatry Res 1981;4:
55-64.
Glassman A. APA Task Force on Laboratory Tests in Psychiatry: The
Dexamethasone Suppression Test in Psychiatry. Am J Psychiatry
1987;144:1253-1262

Fink M, Rush J, Knapp R, et al. DSM melancholic features are unreliable predictors
of ECT response: A CORE Publication. JECT 2007; 23(3): 139-146.
Taylor MA, Fink M. Melancholia: The Diagnosis, Pathophysiology, and Treatment of
Depressive Illness. NY: Cambridge University Press, 2006.
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Bolwig T, Shorter E. Melancholia: Beyond DSM, Beyond Neurotransmitters. Acta
Psychiatrica Scandinavica Supplement 433; 115:1-183, 2007.
Participants included, in addition to the Editors, Gordon Parker, Michael
Taylor, William Coryell, Athanasios Koukopoulos, Donald Klein, Bernard
Carroll, Jules Angst, Walter Brown, Max Fink.
Taylor M. Hippocrates Cried. The Decline of American Psychiatry. NY: Oxford
University Press, 2013.

Shorter E, Fink M. Endocrine Psychiatry: Solving the Riddle of Melancholia. NY:
Oxford University Press, 2010.

Bradley P, Fink M. (Eds): Anticholinergic Drugs and Brain Functions in Animals and
Man. Progress in Brain Research, Vol. 28, Elsevier, 1968.
Fink M. EEG classification of psychoactive compounds in man: review and theory
of behavioral associations. Psychopharmacology: A Review of Progress, 19571967: D. Efron, J. Cole, J. Levine and J.B. Wittenborn (eds.): U.S. Govt. Printing
Office, Washington, DC, pp. 497-507.

Fink M. Remembering: the forgotten neuroscience of pharmaco-EEG. Acta
Psychiatr Scand 2010; 121: 161-73.

In my schooling, self-administration of trial medication was accepted as part of
my educational experience. By 1980s, a change had occurred among
students. When teaching psychopharmacology I offered self-exposures to
various psychoactive medications,many of which I had experienced. The
students refused, and I was admonished by the Dean that such teaching was
not acceptable.
As the death of President Kennedy was announced over the hospital radio, I was
in the r-ray suite, inserting a needle in a patient's spinal canal for a PEG.

Dr. Tarachow presented these findings at a meeting of the American
Psychoanalytic Association in New York in 1953. I was denied admission to
the meeting as I had not graduated from an accredited psychoanalytic
institute.

100

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                <text>&lt;a title="Autobiography" href="http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85010050" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"&gt;Autobiography&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a title="Psychiatry" href="http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85108381" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"&gt;Psychiatry&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a title="Neurosciences" href="http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh91006099" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"&gt;Neurosciences&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a title="Neurology" href="http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85091139" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"&gt;Neurology&lt;/a&gt;</text>
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            <name>Description</name>
            <description>An account of the resource</description>
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                <text>Unpublished autobiographical account written by Dr. Max Fink, M.D.</text>
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            <name>Creator</name>
            <description>An entity primarily responsible for making the resource</description>
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                <text>&lt;a title="Fink, Max, 1923-" href="http://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n79039548" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"&gt;Fink, Max, 1923-&lt;/a&gt;</text>
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            <name>Source</name>
            <description>A related resource from which the described resource is derived</description>
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                <text>Special Collections and University Archives, University Libraries. Stony Brook University Libraries (State University of New York).</text>
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            <name>Date</name>
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            <description>Information about rights held in and over the resource</description>
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                <text>&lt;a title="IN COPYRIGHT - EDUCATIONAL USE PERMITTED" href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC-EDU/1.0/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"&gt;IN COPYRIGHT - EDUCATIONAL USE PERMITTED&lt;/a&gt;</text>
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            <description>A related resource</description>
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                <text>The Max Fink Collection</text>
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            <name>Type</name>
            <description>The nature or genre of the resource</description>
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                <text>text</text>
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            <name>Identifier</name>
            <description>An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context</description>
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                <text>mfp_experimentalist_20210418</text>
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            <name>Language</name>
            <description>A language of the resource</description>
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                <text>en-US</text>
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            <name>Format</name>
            <description>The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource</description>
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                <text>application/pdf</text>
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        <name>Biographical</name>
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