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
FrancesDVD 1994 In the film
Jessica Lange plays the actress whose questionable mental illness resulted in
hospitalization and some of the treatments of her time.
One Flew over the Cuckoo's NestDVD Jack
Nicholson, Louise Fletcher 1975
Ordinary People
DVD Donald Sutherland, Mary Tyler
Moore, Judd Hirsch, Timothy Hutton 2001
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.
2009
2006
2009
DVD 1988
DVD 1999
Peter O'Toole, Alastair Sim, Arthur Lowe, and Harry Andrews 1972
DVD Peter Breck,
John Matthews, Paul Dubov, Philip Ahn 1963
DVD Olivia de Havilland, Mark Stevens, Leo Genn, and Celeste Holm 1948