http://exhibits.library.stonybrook.edu/mfp/files/original/8b0c07eefd6d63479512187ab6035ab5.pdf 2d9d0e6e20d592de12695b40b3b06212 PDF Text Text December 30, 1982 Joseph Schildkraut, M.D. Massachusetts Mental Health Center 74 Fenwood Road Boston, MA 02115 Dear Joe, Congratulations on your appointment as editor of the Journal 9!; Psychiatric gesearch. It must be a good challenge to direct an ongoing enterprise, and I am confident that you and Merton will work hard to maintain its reputation. Your invitation to ‘share views about growing points in psychiatric research, as well as areas not well covered by other journals' stimulates my reply. Convulsive therapy remains an active treatment in psychiatry. In 1984, it will have been used for 50 years -- a remarkable longevity when we consider that the average half-life of medical treatments is much shorter. In the 1940's and 1950‘s, there was the Electroshock Research Association which focussed issues about ECT, and they published their annual proceedings in Confinia Neurologica. When that association was prematurely digested by the Society of Biological Psychiatry in the mid-1960's, the central focus ended. Of course, we expected the treatment to be replaced by drugs. But that has not happened. There is a significant gap. No journal and no society has taken the leadership as a focus for convulsive therapy research. As a consequence, the papers are scattered. Recently, i did a survey of the Medline citations under 'electroconvulsive therapy', and the attached data resulted. ECT is an important treatment of depression. Indeed, I cannot see how any research into the mode of action of antidepressants or the pathophysiology of depressive illness can ignore the ECT process. Considering your fling into convulsive therapy research, perhaps you and your co—editor would want to consider a trial period in which you would establish a section on ECT and invite review papers, conference reports, etc. My estimate of the literature is a publication rate of 11 papers/month and increasing. My best wishes for your and the Journal's success. Sincerely yours, Max Fink, M.D. Professor of Psychiatry � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Correspondence Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Correspondence to: Schildkraut, Joseph J. Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context mfp-05-00-030-2-057 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1980 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource <a title="Fink, Max, 1923-" href="http://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n79039548" target="_blank">Fink, Max, 1923-</a> Subject The topic of the resource Correspondence -- Correspondence Relation A related resource The Max Fink Collection Description An account of the resource Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a title="IN COPYRIGHT - EDUCATIONAL USE PERMITTED" href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC-EDU/1.0/" target="_blank">IN COPYRIGHT - EDUCATIONAL USE PERMITTED</a> Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Special Collections and University Archives, University Libraries. Stony Brook University Libraries (State University of New York). Language A language of the resource en-US Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Correspondence