Electroconvulsive therapy passes a controlled electric current through the brain to induce a brief seizure. Ugo Cerletti and his assistant Lucio Bini, neuro-psychiatrists at Sapienza University of Rome, developed it in 1938; Cerletti had been inducing seizures in animal experiments and, after observing pigs electrically stunned before slaughter, proposed electricity as a substitute for the chemical convulsive agents (camphor, then metrazol) that the Hungarian neuropsychiatrist Ladislas Meduna had introduced in 1934. ECT was originally intended for severe schizophrenia; it later proved most effective for affective disorders such as major depression instead. Cerletti and Bini were nominated for, but never awarded, a Nobel Prize, and competitive tensions between the two damaged their relationship once the device was commercialized internationally.
Facts
Origin YearThe same section names 1934 for the related but distinct earlier convulsive-therapy method (chemically induced, by Ladislas Meduna); 1938 is recorded here as ECT's own origin, the year Cerletti first conducted electrically induced convulsive therapy. Connections
Associated With
Discovered By
Source Wikipedia: Electroconvulsive Therapy
Source Wikipedia: Electroconvulsive Therapy
Long-Form Articles
Treats
Originally intended for schizophrenia; later proved most effective for affective disorders such as depression.
Source Wikipedia: Electroconvulsive Therapy
Sources
1. Wikipedia
Wikipedia contributors, Wikimedia Foundationhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electroconvulsive_therapy, lead sectionQuote, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electroconvulsive_therapy, lead section
Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is a psychiatric treatment that causes a generalized seizure by passing electrical current through the brain.
2. Wikipedia: Electroconvulsive Therapy
WikipediaDevelopers and Timeline; Original Purpose; Precedent; Notable Controversy
Cerletti, who had been using electric shocks to produce seizures in animal experiments, and his assistant Lucio Bini...developed the idea of using electricity as a substitute for metrazol in convulsive therapy.
lead
Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is a psychiatric treatment that causes a generalized seizure by passing electrical current through the brain.
History
Convulsive therapy was introduced in 1934 by Hungarian neuropsychiatrist Ladislas J. Meduna who, believing mistakenly that schizophrenia and epilepsy were antagonistic disorders, induced seizures first with camphor and then metrazol (cardiazol).
Wikipedia: Electroconvulsive Therapy, History section
The ECT procedure was first conducted in 1938 by Italian neuro-psychiatrist Ugo Cerletti and rapidly replaced less safe and effective forms of biological treatments in use at the time.
- Discovered By: Ugo Cerletti
- Discovered By: Lucio Bini
- Treats: Depression
View the Source Wikidata: Electroconvulsive Therapy
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