A Study of the Use of IV Scopolamine to Augment the Efficacy of Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT)

The primary purpose of this study is to assess the ability of scopolamine to improve the antidepressant effects of ECT and to determine whether scopolamine will shorten the time to response and remission for patients receiving ECT. The hypothesis are: 1. Patients receiving ECT plus scopolamine will have greater improvement in depression symptoms than those receiving ECT plus placebo. 2. Patients receiving scopolamine in addition to ECT will require fewer ECT treatments to obtain response/remission compared to the group receiving ECT plus placebo. 3. Time to response and to remission in the scopolamine group will be significantly shorter compared to ECT alone.