Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is a procedure used in the treatment of severe depression in which an electric current of 70 to 150 volts is briefly administered to a patient’s head.
Electroconvulsive therapy is a technique, used mainly in treating severe depression, of producing behavioural changes by passing an electrical current briefly through a patient's brain. The technique causes muscular convulsions and renders the patient unconscious. It is claimed that the patient's depression can often be eased in this way but nobody knows why-nor whether there are any permanent long-term side effects. Nowadays the patient is usually given a sedative and a muscle-relaxing drug before ECT to reduce the dangers of physical damage occurring. Commonly known as ' shock treatment' and considered barbaric by many psychologists .