What is electroconvulsive therapy?
 

You may be surprised to learn that electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is
still being practiced in most, if not all, psychiatric units in general
hospitals and mental institutions. The original use of electricity as a
cure for “insanity” dates back to the beginning of the 16th century
when electric fish were used to treat headaches. ECT originates from
research in the 1930’s into the effects of camphor-induced seizures in
people with schizophrenia. In 1938, two Italian researchers, Ugo Cerletti
and Lucio Bini, were the first to use an electric current to induce a
seizure in a delusional, hallucinating, schizophrenic man. The man fully
recovered after 11 treatments which led to a rapid spread of the use of
ECT as a way to induce therapeutic convulsions in the mentally ill.