Incidence and Cause of Death in Shock Therapy

The literature relative to the incidence and cause of death in shock therapy has been largely devoted to reports of individual cases. I have gathered as many of these as possible and have embodied the data in this analysis. In addition, material was obtained through nation-wide survey by means of a questionnaire, one page of which was related to insulin therapy and the other to metrazol therapy. The first item concerned the total number of patients treated. On the metrazol sheet the number of schizophrenic and the number of depressed patients treated were further particularized. The next inquiries concerned the number of deaths attributable either directly or indirectly to the treatment, the cause of death, whether or not an autopsy was performed and the autopsy report, if available. The last request was for a list of the complications other than those which resulted in death. This material will not be