Introduction of Electroshock Therapy | Research & Encyclopedia Articles

Introduction of Electroshock Therapy

Overview

Electroshock was one of a number of "antagonist therapies" introduced in the early part of the twentieth century. Based on a belief that epilepsy and schizophrenic disorders had opposite effects on human brain anatomy, a number of physicians tried to relieve the symptoms of serious mental illness by inducing convulsions, first by chemical means and then by passing a current through the brain. Electroshock was opposed by the advocates of "talk" psychotherapy, and was largely supplanted by new tranquilizing drugs after 1950. In its modern form, drugs are used to eliminate the actual convulsion, and memory loss is minimal, so that it has become more acceptable for patients who do not respond to other treatments. The mechanism by which electroshock acts on the brain is still poorly understood.

Background

The humane treatment of the mentally ill made great strides in the nineteenth century, representing both the efforts of social reformers and a degree of progress in medical knowledge. By the year 1900, there were asylums for the mentally ill in most industrialized countries, and a number of physicians were restricting their practice to psychiatry, the treatment of mental illness. Early psychiatry recognized three major mental illnesses: dementia paralytica, now called neurosyphilis, the third stage of the venereal disease syphilis; dementia praecox, now called schizophrenia; and manic-depressive disorder, which today would include bipolar disorder and severe clinical depression.

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