treatment: electroconvulsive therapy (ECT, EST)
Ugo Cerletti and Lucio Bini developed this therapeutic modality and tested it on a psychiatric patient in the 1930's in Italy. At the time it represented an improvement over chemical methods of inducing epileptic seizures (insulin shock therapy). Electrodes are applied to the patient's head so that a brief pulse of electricity will pass through the brain. Today the patient is usually placed under general anesthesia, paralysed with drugs, monitored and assisted with breathing. Usually a series of treatments are given over a period of weeks. Of the mental disorders responsive to ECT, depression is the most commonly treated today.
Also: electroshock, electric shock, convulsive therapy, MMECT
| Books and Other Media: Follow the hypertext link to purchase items online. |
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- Abrams, Richard Electroconvulsive Therapy Hardcover 1997
- Behrman, Andy Electroboy : A Memoir of Mania 2002
- Beyer, John L, et al Electroconvulsive Therapy - A Programmed Text Hardcover 1998
- Dukakis, Kitty Shock: The Healing Power of Electroconvulsive Therapy
2006
- Fear Strikes Out DVD Anthony Perkins, Karl Malden, Adam Williams 1957
- Fink, Max ELECTROSHOCK- Restoring the Mind Hardcover 1999
- Kellner, Charles H (Editor) et al Handbook of ECT Paperback 1997
- Okada, Kazuo & Ogata, Hiromaru (Editors) Shock from Molecular and Cellular Level to Whole Body - Proceedings of the Third International Shock Congress-Shock '95, Hamamatsu, Japan, 21-23 octob Hardcover 1996
- Shorter, Edward & Healy, David Shock Therapy: The History of Electroconvulsive Treatment in Mental Illness Hardcover 2007
Literature and film
- A Beautiful Mind (Widescreen Awards Edition) DVD | DVD widescreen | VHS (2002) Russell Crowe, Christopher Plummer
- Chattahoochee DVD 1990 Gary Oldman, Dennis Hopper
- Child's Play
DVD 1988
- Frances Farmer Paperback 1984
- Frances VHS | DVD 1994 In the film Jessica Lange plays the actress whose questionable mental illness resulted in hospitalization and some of the treatments of her time.
- Girl, Interrupted VHS | DVD (January 14, 2000) -- Winona Ryder, Angelina Jolie
- Guest, Judith: Ordinary People: Paperback | VHS Tape This story provides a compelling illustration of how the loss of a child can throw an apparently well-functioning family into chaos. Does the survivor suffer from post traumatic stress disorder? In the film Judd Hirsch plays the most human and approachable, yet ethical, psychiatrist yet portrayed in cinema.
- House on Haunted Hill
DVD 1999
- One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) -- Jack Nicholson, Louise Fletcher DVD | VHS
- One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey (Paperback - July 1989) | Library Binding | Mass Market Paperback | Audio Cassette | Audio CD (Unabridged)
- Plath, Sylvia, McCullough, Frances The Bell Jar Hardcover 1996 | Paperback 1983 | Audio Cassette 1997
- Requiem for a Dream VHS | DVD 2000 Ellen Burstyn, Jared Leto
- Shine VHS | VHS widescreen | DVD widescreen 1996 Geoffrey Rush
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Shock Corridor
Peter Breck, John Matthews, Paul Dubov, Philip Ahn 1963
- The Snake Pit VHS Olivia de Havilland, Leo Genn 1948
