European Forum for ECT - 15th Annual Meeting - From Science to Clinical Practice

The 15th Annual Meeting of the European Forum for ECT (EFFECT) will take place on Friday, October 3, and Saturday, October 4, 2025, at the University Psychiatric Center KU Leuven, Kortenberg campus. With this conference, the hosts return to the location where EFFECT was founded in 2006. The meeting will feature clinical and scientific presentations on ECT, along with engaging discussions with international experts, such as Charles Kellner.

Programme
 

Friday, October 3rd

8.30 | Registration
9.00 | Welcome - 20 years of EFFECT: from science practitioners for science practitioners
Pascal Sienaert (Belgium)

First serving – Cognitive effects of ECT (Part 1)

Chair: Esmée Verwijk (The Netherlands)

09.15 | First person account
Eline van Vliet (The Netherlands)
9.35 | Autobiographical memory and ECT
Declan McLoughlin (Ireland)         
9.55 | Subjective cognitive effects
Shauni Verspecht (Belgium)
10.15 | Combined Lifestyle and Cognitive Intervention in Patients Treated with ECT
Geke Overvliet (The Netherlands)
10.35 | CONNECT: outpatient treatment program for persisting cognitive complaints
Esmée Verwijk (The Netherlands)
11.00 | Refreshment Break

Imaging Nuggets

Chair: Filip Bouckaert (Belgium)

11.30 | 10 yr of the GEMRIC consortium: What we have come to know and
where we will be moving to?                                                    
Leif Oltedal (Norway)
11.50 | How neuroimaging may optimize ECT practice
Philip van Eijndhoven (The Netherlands)
12.10 | Beyond Clinical response: The effects of ECT on the Network Symptom Structure in Depression
Fabio Sambataro (Italy)
12:30 | Prediction of ECT outcome: A network analysis approach        
Tessa Blanken (The Netherlands)
12.50 | Max Fink: An Appreciation
Charles Kellner (United States)

13.00 | Lunch Break

Second serving – Patients & Families

Chair: Gabor Gazdag (Hungary)

14.00 | Family Presence During ECT: Perspectives on Promoting Family Engagement
Nele Vandevelde (Belgium)
14.20 | Effects of Psycho-education for Patients and Caregivers
Jules Vivier, Amad Ali (France)
14.40 | Relatives' Knowledge, Attitudes, and Experiences Toward ECT: A Systematic Review
Klaus Boone & Pieter-Jan Geerts (Belgium)
15.00 | ECT in the Under 18s: Eleven years of data from Scotland
Julie Langan Martin (Scotland)
15.20 | Effectiveness of ECT for depression: comparing research trials with clinical data from the Dutch ECT consortium
Robin Cobben (The Netherlands)
15.50 | Psychotherapy following acute-phase ECT for depression
Geert Schürgers (Belgium)
16.10 Closing remarks
Declan McLoughlin (Ireland)
16.30 | Guided visit to the ECT-Unit
Kathleen Bronckaers (Belgium), Pascal Sienaert (Belgium)
 

Saturday, October 4th

9.00 | Registration

First serving – Cognitive effects of ECT (Part 2)

Chair: tbc

9.30 | Does lithium increase the cognitive side-effects of ECT?
Liese Van den Eynde (Belgium)
9.50 | Does ECT cause dementia?
George Kirov (United Kingdom)        
10.10 | Frailty, effectiveness and cognitive effects
Nathalie Denayer (Belgium)
10.30 | Is ECT’s mechanism of action causing cognitive effects?
Maarten Laroy (Belgium)

10:50 | Refreshment Break

Discussion Forum – Cognitive effects of ECT - Why should we care?

11.20 | Moderator: Jasmien Obbels (Belgium)

• Discussant 1 – 5´ – Richard Braithwaite (United Kingdom)
• Discussant 2 – 5´ – Declan McLoughlin (Ireland)
• Discussant 3 – 5´ – Eline van Vliet (The Netherlands)

Clinical Practice (Part 1)

Chair: tbc

12.00 | Severe catatonia successfully treated with twice-daily ECT
Kaija Järventausta (Finland)
12.10 | Prolonged Apnoea in a Suxamethonium-Naïve Patient During ECT
Basavaraja Papanna (United Kingdom)
12.20 | Restimulation to stop status epilepticus after ECT: 2 cases
Michael Pinchuk (Belgium)

Conundrum

12.30 | Should we offer ECT to patients requesting euthanasia?
Joris Vandenberghe (Belgium) & Pascal Sienaert (Belgium)

13.00 | Lunch Break

14.00 | Special Guest Lecture: Querying AI About ECT: Intelligent Answers That Don't Seem Artificial
Charles Kellner (USA)

Clinical Practice (Part 2)

Chair: Martin B. Jørgensen (TBC)

14.30 | Consistency in ECT practice: a Danish story
Martin Balslev Jørgensen (Denmark)
14.50 | Can Virtual Reality reduce ECT-related anxiety?
Jasmien Obbels (Belgium)
15.10 | ECT training: simulation for dummies
Joseph Campling (United Kingdom)
15.30 | The effect of benzodiazepines on catatonia: a meta-analysis towards ECT prevention
Lilian Bot (The Netherlands)
15.50 | A Tale of Two Ages: Inflammation's Divergent Role in ECT Outcomes
Kara Drexler (The Netherlands)
16.10 | Flumazenil Augmentation in ECT: Efficacy and Safety
Amy Dam Petersen (Denmark)
16.30 | Closing Remarks
tbc

Registration

All participants need to register by filling in the registration form (‘Inschrijvingsformulier’). Then submit by pressing the blue button ‘Indienen’.

Your registration is complete only after payment of the registration fee: €100.

Proof of Payment or Invoice

After registering, you will receive a confirmation e-mail that serves as your proof of payment.
Only request an invoice if you have a VAT number and if the invoice is necessary for you.
Free for speakers and UPC KU Leuven personnel.

Organisation 

Gabor Gazdag, George Kirov, Declan McLoughlin, Indira Tendolkar, Esmee Verwijk, Pascal Sienaert

Language / Voertaal

English will be the working language of the conference.

Questions? / Vragen?

pascal.sienaert [at] upckuleuven.be

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