On the 1oth of January I discussed the basics of what a legal ECT is all about. Today I’m going to go into a little of the history.

Electro convulsive Therapy (ECT) was one of 4 radical therapies introduced in the 1930’s. The other therapies were lobotomy, insulin coma therapy, and Metrazol convulsive therapy. Electroshock is the only one still in common use.

A stiff jolt of house current was applied, and the patient went into convulsions lasting about a minute. Spasms were sometimes violent and about 1% of cases the patient suffered from a broken bone or dislocation.  It was later, that doctors started using anaesthetics to knock the patient out , plus a muscle relaxant to put a stop to the injuries.

Now a days an ECT without either of these is called an “unmodified  ECT” , or “direct ECT”, and is illegal in most countries. (This is what Sarah gets in Shadows.)

For some or other unexplainable reason, it was discovered that the convulsions produced an improvement in patients with severe mental illnesses, for example schizophrenics became lucid. Unfortunately the improvement was usually temporary, and the patient had to be shocked again and again and again.

Any questions?