Skip to content
DraconiticResearch
Search Sources API
222,075 studies31 sourcesUpdated just now
Peer-reviewedCC BY 4.0European Psychiatry

Use of electroconvulsive therapy in Nordic and western European countries

  • Richard Braithwaite1,2
  • Ali Amad3,4
  • Carlo Ignazio Cattaneo5
  • Jan Di Pauli6
  • Martha Finnegan7,8
  • Pedro Frias9,10
  • Manuel Gonçalves-Pinho11,12
  • Michael Grözinger13
  • Kaija Järventausta14,15
  • Anders Jørgensen16,17
  • Saana Karttunen18,19
  • Ute Kessler20,21
8 more authors
  • Pia Nordanskog22,23
  • Jasmien Obbels24
  • Albino J. Oliveira-Maia25,26
  • Didi Rhebergen27,28
  • Pascal Sienaert24
  • Floris Quirijn Tas27,29,30
  • Saskia Wilhelmy31
  • George Kirov32
32 affiliations
  1. 1Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Brighton and Sussex Medical School, University of Sussex, Brighton, UK
  2. 2Meadowfield Hospital, Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, Worthing, UK
  3. 3Inserm, CHU Lille, U1172, LilNCog, Lille Neuroscience & Cognition, University of Lille, Lille, France
  4. 4Department of Neuroimaging, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King’s College London, London, UK
  5. 5Department of Mental Health, ASL Biella, Biella, Italy
  6. 6Department of Adult Psychiatry, Rankweil Regional Hospital, Rankweil, Austria
  7. 7Department of Psychiatry, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
  8. 8Department of Psychiatry, Tallaght University Hospital, Dublin, Ireland
  9. 9Departamento de Saúde Mental, Unidade Local de Saúde do Baixo Alentejo, Beja, Portugal
  10. 10Escola Nacional de Saúde Pública, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal
  11. 11Department of Clinical Neurosciences and Mental Health, Faculty of Medicine, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal
  12. 12Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health, Unidade Local de Saúde Tâmega e Sousa, Penafiel, Portugal
  13. 13Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Faculty of Medicine, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany
  14. 14Faculty of Medicine and Health Technology, Tampere University, Tampere, Finland
  15. 15Department of Psychiatry, Tampere University Hospital, Tampere, Finland
  16. 16Department of Clinical Medicine, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
  17. 17Psychiatric Centre Copenhagen, Frederiksberg, Denmark
  18. 18Department of Psychiatry, Oulu University Hospital, Wellbeing Services County of Northern Ostrobothnia, Finland
  19. 19Research Unit of Population Health, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland
  20. 20Department of Clinical Medicine, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway
  21. 21Division of Psychiatry, Haukeland University Hospital, Bergen, Norway
  22. 22Centre for Social and Affective Neuroscience, Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden
  23. 23Department of Psychiatry, Region Östergötland, Linköping, Sweden
  24. 24University Psychiatric Center KU Leuven, Academic Center for ECT and Neuromodulation (AcCENT), Kortenberg, Belgium
  25. 25Champalimaud Clinical Centre, Neuroscience of Disease Programme & Digital Neurotherapeutics Centre, Champalimaud Foundation, Lisbon, Portugal
  26. 26Nova Medical School (NMS), Faculdade de Ciências Médicas (FCM), Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal
  27. 27Mental Health Care Institute, GGz Centraal, Amersfoort, Netherlands
  28. 28Department of Psychiatry, Amsterdam UMC, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, Netherlands
  29. 29Department of Psychiatry, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Nijmegen, Netherlands
  30. 30Department of Psychiatry, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, Netherlands
  31. 31Institute for the History of Medicine, Carl Gustav Carus Faculty of Medicine, Dresden University of Technology, Dresden, Germany
  32. 32Division of Psychological Medicine and Clinical Neuroscience, School of Medicine, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK
Read full textPDFDOICite

Abstract

Background: Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is a safe and effective medical treatment, yet provision varies internationally. We provide an up-to-date review of ECT practice in Nordic and western European countries.

Methods: European experts contributed data from peer-reviewed literature, governmental publications, unpublished administrative datasets, and hitherto unpublished surveys. The primary outcome was the number of individuals treated with ECT in each country per year. Primary analysis compared the annual treated person rate per million population in the most recent year since 2015 for which data were available. Secondary analysis compared trends in rates over 25 years, in countries for which a reliable outcome was available at two or more time points.

Results: Across 15 countries, 12 had data meeting primary analysis criteria. Of these, all Nordic countries had annual treated patient rates per million population over 200, Italy 2.7, and other western European countries between 30 and 100. German-, Dutch-, and French-speaking countries saw increases in ECT use over 25 years, while English-speaking countries exhibited declines. Unilateral placement varied from 16% of treatments in the United Kingdom to 79% in Norway. Everywhere, most ECT was given for depressive episodes.

Conclusions: Although the optimal rate of use is unknown, widely differing rates across European nations suggest ECT is underused in some high-income countries, depriving patients of vital medical care. The European ECT community must support the development of reliable data collection on usage across the continent and service improvement where provision is underdeveloped, to ensure appropriate treatment is offered to all patients for whom it is indicated.

Related

  1. Incidence, prevalence, mortality and survival trends in women with endometrial-, ovarian- and cervical cancer in the Nordic countries (1980–2023) with focus on younger women (0–49 years old)
    Charlotta Riese, Enoch Yi-Tung, Hanna Nilsson +8
    Gynecologic OncologyPeer-reviewedCC BY1 citedGeneral biologyEpidemiology & public healthHAL
  2. Alcohol-related injury burden in youth and alcohol policies in the Nordic countries, 1990–2023
    A Månsson, J Terzulli Galí, P Allebeck +2
    The European Journal of Public HealthPeer-reviewedCC BY-NC 4.0Full textEpidemiology & public healthPMCEurope PMC
  3. PROPOFOL VERSUS WITH PROPOFOL-KETAMINE MIXTURE AS ANAESTHETIC AGENT FOR ELECTROCONVULSIVE THERAPY: A RANDOMIZED CONTROLLED TRIAL
    O.A. Koleosho-Ademua, A.A. Sanusi, M.T. Sonaike +1
    Annals of Ibadan Postgraduate MedicinePeer-reviewedCC BY-NCFull textGeneral medicineEurope PMC
  4. Electroconvulsive Therapy Anesthesia Scale (ECTAS): development and preliminary expert-based evidence of content validity
    Matheus Veras Guterres Mendes, José Osvaldo Barbosa Neto, Gabriel Magalhães Nunes Guimarães +4
    Brazilian Journal of AnesthesiologyPeer-reviewedCC BY 4.0Full textPsychiatry & mental healthPMC
  5. Mapping sex-based absolute inequalities in tuberculosis incidence across countries in the WHO South-East Asia and Western Pacific regions
    Ziwen Li, Ke Liu, Wei Shu +7
    BMC Public HealthPeer-reviewedCC BY-NC-ND 4.0Infectious diseaseCrossref

Cite

BibTeXRIS
BibTeX
@article{braithwaite2026electroconvulsive,
  title = {{Use of electroconvulsive therapy in Nordic and western European countries}},
  author = {Richard Braithwaite and Ali Amad and Carlo Ignazio Cattaneo and Jan Di Pauli and Martha Finnegan and Pedro Frias and Manuel Gonçalves-Pinho and Michael Grözinger and Kaija Järventausta and Anders Jørgensen and Saana Karttunen and Ute Kessler and Pia Nordanskog and Jasmien Obbels and Albino J. Oliveira-Maia and Didi Rhebergen and Pascal Sienaert and Floris Quirijn Tas and Saskia Wilhelmy and George Kirov},
  journal = {European Psychiatry},
  year = {2026},
  month = jul,
  doi = {10.1192/j.eurpsy.2026.12238},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1192/j.eurpsy.2026.12238},
  note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY  - JOUR
TI  - Use of electroconvulsive therapy in Nordic and western European countries
AU  - Richard Braithwaite
AU  - Ali Amad
AU  - Carlo Ignazio Cattaneo
AU  - Jan Di Pauli
AU  - Martha Finnegan
AU  - Pedro Frias
AU  - Manuel Gonçalves-Pinho
AU  - Michael Grözinger
AU  - Kaija Järventausta
AU  - Anders Jørgensen
AU  - Saana Karttunen
AU  - Ute Kessler
AU  - Pia Nordanskog
AU  - Jasmien Obbels
AU  - Albino J. Oliveira-Maia
AU  - Didi Rhebergen
AU  - Pascal Sienaert
AU  - Floris Quirijn Tas
AU  - Saskia Wilhelmy
AU  - George Kirov
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/07/29
JO  - European Psychiatry
DO  - 10.1192/j.eurpsy.2026.12238
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1192/j.eurpsy.2026.12238
AB  - Background: Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is a safe and effective medical treatment, yet provision varies internationally. We provide an up-to-date review of ECT practice in Nordic and western European countries.  Methods: European experts contributed data from peer-reviewed literature, governmental publications, unpublished administrative datasets, and hitherto unpublished surveys. The primary outcome was the number of individuals treated with ECT in each country per year. Primary analysis compared the annual treated person rate per million population in the most recent year since 2015 for which data were available. Secondary analysis compared trends in rates over 25 years, in countries for which a reliable outcome was available at two or more time points.  Results: Across 15 countries, 12 had data meeting primary analysis criteria. Of these, all Nordic countries had annual treated patient rates per million population over 200, Italy 2.7, and other western European countries between 30 and 100. German-, Dutch-, and French-speaking countries saw increases in ECT use over 25 years, while English-speaking countries exhibited declines. Unilateral placement varied from 16% of treatments in the United Kingdom to 79% in Norway. Everywhere, most ECT was given for depressive episodes.  Conclusions: Although the optimal rate of use is unknown, widely differing rates across European nations suggest ECT is underused in some high-income countries, depriving patients of vital medical care. The European ECT community must support the development of reliable data collection on usage across the continent and service improvement where provision is underdeveloped, to ensure appropriate treatment is offered to all patients for whom it is indicated.
SN  - 0924-9338
SN  - 1778-3585
ER  -