This book presents the latest clinical guidelines on the prescription and practical administration of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT). It clarifies the place of ECT in contemporary practice and reviews the evidence for its efficacy. The ECT Handbook is an essential reference manual for all psychiatrists, for anaesthetists and nurses who work in ECT clinics, for everyone professionally involved in caring for patients for whom ECT may be recommended, and for second-opinion appointed doctors working for the Care Quality Commission. The book has been ubstantially revised to take account of new research, and covers issues of capacity and consent. The third edition has new chapters on the mode of action of ECT, cognitive adverse effects, dental effects, other brain stimulation techniques and patient and carer perspectives, and new evidence is presented of the benefits and risks of unilateral versus bilateral electrode placement.