Effects of Electroconvulsive Therapy on Diuretic Response to Water in Psychotic Patients

OTHER work from this laboratory has shown that water retention occurs in association with the rapid gain in weight shown by patients who improve during the course of electroshock therapy.¹It is known that stimulation of the posterior lobe of the pituitary gland consequent to hemoconcentration or to severe muscular effort, both of which occur during electrically induced convulsions, may cause liberation of antidiuretic hormones.²It is likewise known that the effects of steroid hormones also result in salt and water retention³; the action of these hormones is apparently increased during electroshock therapy.⁴Since it is well established that hormones of the posterior lobe of the pituitary gland inhibit water diuresis, it was considered that a study of the diuretic response to water before and after electroshock therapy might help in the evaluation of the possible role of hormonal factors in causing the changes in water