How ECT Became a Last Resort Treatment for Severe Mental Illness

Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is a treatment that delivers small electrical pulses to the brain to induce a seizure. It is highly effective in treating severe depression and psychosis. ECT was initially developed in 1938 as there were no effective psychiatric medications at the time. Despite its effectiveness, ECT has a reputation due to films like 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.' Modern ECT, however, is a controlled medical procedure, administered under general anesthesia, and is very different from how it was portrayed in the film.