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. FAQs
Why is electroconvulsive therapy given under anesthesia with a muscle relaxant?
Unmodified treatment caused violent convulsions and bone injuries, so muscle relaxants and anesthesia were added.
In the 1940s and early 1950s the treatment was usually given in an unmodified form, without muscle relaxants, and the seizure produced a full-scale convulsion. A rare and serious complication was fracture or dislocation of the long bones. In the 1940s psychiatrists began using curare to reduce the intensity of the convulsions, and the introduction of suxamethonium in 1951, a safer synthetic alternative, led to wider use of modified treatment. A short-acting general anesthetic was usually added to remove the terrifying feeling of suffocation that muscle relaxants can cause.
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 Foundation
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.
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.
Lead, first sentence
Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is a psychiatric treatment that causes a generalized seizure by passing electrical current through the brain.
- Discovered By: Ugo Cerletti
- Discovered By: Lucio Bini
- Treats: Depression
View the Source Reader Challenges (0)
No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.
Sign in to dispute this or suggest a correction.
View At A Past Year
Choose a year to see this entry's facts and connections as the atlas records them at that moment: what it held then, what it held instead, and what it had not yet adopted. Choose Present for the current record.