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Updated: Aug 14, 2026

Electroconvulsive Seizures in Rats and Fractionation of Their Hippocampi to Examine Seizure-induced Changes in Postsynaptic Density Proteins
Published on: August 15, 2017
Antidepressants and convulsions
1Boston Collaborative Drug Surveillance Program, Boston University Medical Center, Lexington, Massachusetts 02173.
Abstract:
We reviewed available computer records and clinical charts in an estimated 42,000 recipients of antidepressant drugs. The study was restricted to persons with no known condition predisposing to convulsions. Only 16 study subjects developed a convulsive disorder that we judged could have been caused by an antidepressant. We conclude that the frequency of convulsions caused by these drugs used at usual prescribed doses in the settings studied is substantially less than one per 1,000 recipients who have no conditions predisposing to convulsions.
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