Electroconvulsive Therapy in America

by Jonathan Sadowsky

Electroconvulsive Therapy is widely demonized or idealized. Some detractors consider its very use to be a human rights violation, while some promoters depict it as a miracle, the "penicillin of psychiatry." This book traces the American history of one of the most controversial procedures in medicine, and seeks to provide an explanation of why ECT has been so controversial, juxtaposing evidence from clinical science, personal memoir, and popular culture. Contextualizing the controversies about ECT, instead of simply engaging in them, makes the history of ECT more richly revealing of wider changes in culture and medicine. It shows that the application of electricity to the brain to treat illness is not only a physiological event, but also one embedded in culturally patterned beliefs about the human body, the meaning of sickness, and medical authority.

182 pages, Hardcover

Published November 3, 2016

Reviews

[Vincent Scarpa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thorough as hell, clear & compelling. A great read.

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found out earlier this year that my grandmother had ECT in the late 1960s, and wanted to know more about the history of the practice. Sadowsky is a great historian who I've had the pleasure of learning from in a class setting, so I knew this would answer most of my questions. I was right. The only piece of info I'm missing is when anesthesia and paralytics became common practice for ECT. Otherwise, this book provides an excellent (if somewhat academic) history of the pros and con of the treatment.

[Jonna Higgins-Freese]

26: major developments in 20th century psychiatric treatments include
hydrotherapy -- late 19th/early 20th, wet sheet pack: patients wrapped tightly in wet sheets at gradually rising temperatures; continuous baths: hammock in a tub, covered in canvas, with hole for the head
prolonged sleep therapy developed by Jakob Klaesi in Zurich from 1920
Julius Wagner-malaria fever therapy for neurosyphyilis, 1920s Vienna
insulin coma therapy, pioneered by Manfred Sakel in Berin in 1930
amphetamine for depression promoted by Abraham Myerson in the 1930s (On Speed: the many lives of amphetamine)
chemical convulsive therapy, Ladislas von Meduna in Budapest in 1934 (Metrazol?)
lobotomy Egas Moniz in Lisbon in 1935
electroconvulsive therapy, Ugo Cerletti & Lucio Brini in Rome in 1938. By 1941, 42% of mental hospitals had ECT in use (47).

27: "the line between control and therapy is not neat . . . . treating madness is inherently a way of controlling people who felt, or were felt by others, to be out of control. People who are suffering from morbid paranoid delusions that are disrupting family relations, or from catatonic depression that prevents any effective work or creative activity, may receive a treatment that increases their subjective sense of wellbeing and allows them to improve familial relations and prosper in a fulfilling career"

[Tkfringe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Outstanding book on ECT

I read this book as person who has had ECT and experienced both benefits and harm. The author writes as an academic historian who has taken patient narratives into account along with the scientific literature. I was impressed with the many ways he examined the ECT controversies and placed them in a variety of contexts. The writing was clear and accessible. I tend to value patient accounts over academics but this book is an exception. I hope all ECT doctors and many ECT patients and families will read it.

[Timothy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Slim history of electroconvulsive therapy. The author studies the treatment topically and has chapters on origins,memory loss and anti psychiatry. Sadowsky indicates his belief that the treatment "works" but also that he hopes he will never need it.