Electroconvulsive Therapy in Functional Hallucination:Scope and Challenges

Functional hallucinations are hallucinations triggered by a stimulus in the same modality and cooccur with it. They are rare inoccurrence; however, their rarity has no significance as psychopathology till date. Also, very little is known about the treatmentof such hallucinations. Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) has been tested for several psychiatric illnesses and has a few relativecontraindications; however, it has not previously been used in treating functional hallucinations. We report on a female patient withparanoid schizophrenia who experienced functional hallucinations continuously despite the use of adequate risperidone, whichcontrolled other symptoms. She was treated with ECT which resolved the functional hallucinations. The case highlights the needto ponder on the significance of the phenomenon as well as treatment of this psychopathology by ECT. It also underscores ECT asa treatment option for this kind of hallucination