Do benzodiazepines interfere with the action of electroconvulsive therapy

A 67-year-old anxious and depressed woman was withdrawn from a long-term course of a benzodiazepine and soon after was given ECT. This proved ineffective, but ECT given some months later was successful. It is suggested that the chronic administration of the benzodiazepine may have induced changes in the brain that interfered with ECT.