Shock therapy (psychiatry)

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Shock therapy describes a set of techniques used in psychiatry to treat depressive disorder or other illnesses. It covers multiple forms, such as inducing seizures or other extreme brain states, or acting as a painful method of aversive conditioning.^[1]

Two types of shock therapy are currently practiced:

• Electroconvulsive therapy, in which a seizure is induced in the brain, often as an intervention for major depressive disorder, mania, and catatonia.
• The graduated electronic decelerator (GED), an aversive device that applies a powerful electric shock as a punishment for undesirable behavior. The device is manufactured by and used exclusively by the Judge Rotenberg Educational Center, a special education institution in Canton, Massachusetts. The GED has been condemned as a torture device by the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture.

Other forms, no longer in use, include:

• Insulin shock therapy, introduced by Manfred Sakel in 1933 for the treatment of schizophrenia.^[2] This resulted in a coma state for a short amount of time.
• Convulsive therapy, using pentylenetetrazol or other agents to induce seizures. The first use was with cardiazol by von Meduna of Budapest; the belief at the time was there was "some kind of biological antagonism between schizophrenia and epilepsy".^[2]
• Deep sleep therapy.

Shock therapy has fallen away in use in lieu of other forms of treatment.^[1]