Occurrence of Postictal α/ß Activity During Maintenance Course of Electroconvulsive Therapy.

We are aware of a report of postictal α activity after seizures in Epilepsy and Behavior. We would like to report another case of a similar phenomenon in a woman receiving maintenance electroconvulsive therapy.

Single occurrence of intraictal cessation during index course of electroconvulsive therapy.

Intraictal cessation is an intriguing and infrequent phenomenon of uncertain clinical or electrophysiological significance that presents in clinical practice of ECT. We present a clinical image of one such isolated phenomenon on a person with treatment refractory psychosis treated with ECT.

Schizophrenia: medical illness, mortality, and aging.

OBJECTIVE: Schizophrenia is a devastating and common psychiatric disorder which is associated with a high degree of medical morbidity and reduced life span in addition to psychosis. In this article, these problems will be discussed in the context of schizophrenia and aging. METHOD: The recent literature was reviewed using Pubmed, Medline, and Google scholar with the search terms "schizophrenia, aging, medical problems." RESULTS: Schizophrenia is associated with significant medical morbidity and mortality. Diabètes and cardiovascular disease, along with smoking and obesity, are over-represented and contribute to reduced quality of life and life span. Schizophrenics often receive poor medical care. CONCLUSIONS: The impacts of schizophrenia on physical health and successful aging have been underestimated. Psychiatrists and primary care physicians need to address the overlapping medical and psychiatric aspects of the disorder while the medical care system for these patients requires a much higher degree of coordination than is currently available.