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(ECT)
- A treatment for depression that produces a convulsion by passing electric
current through the patient's brain while he or she is anesthetized. Though an
unpleasant and occasionally dangerous procedure, it can be useful in alleviating
profound depression.
- Use of electric current with anesthetics and muscle relaxants to induce
convulsive seizures. Most effective in the treatment of depression.
Introduced by Cerletti and Bini in 1938. Modifications are
elecctronarcosis, which produces sleeplike states, and electrostimulation, which
avoids convulsions.
Source: Edgerton, Jane E. 1994. American Psychiatric Glossary, 7th Edition. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Press
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