There are few psychiatric therapies that are as controversial as electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) which sends pulses of electric currents through the brain to intentionally cause a seizure. Few people would expect it to make a comeback.
Intended to treat severe and treatment-resistant depression, severe mania, catatonia, and dementia-associated agitation and aggression, ECT is usually conducted two to three times per week for three to four weeks. It’s a treatment, not a “cure.”
“Most people treated with ECT need to continue with some type of maintenance treatment,” the American Psychiatric Association stated.
Kitty Dukakis, wife of the Democratic presidential candidate Michael Dukakis, told media outlets in 2016 that she receives maintenance treatment every seven or eight weeks. At least 100,000 Americans receive ECT every year, according to Mental Health America….