3 Review(s)

"A compelling enjoyable read that gives us a rich understanding of the history of psychiatry's most effective treatment, and of the many factors that have stigmatized it and limited its use."-Samuel H. Bailine, M.D., Hillside Hospital, Glen Oaks, NY "Shorter and Healy take the reader on a marvellous tour de force through the development of electroconvulsive therapy from the 1930s till today. The historical perspective and firsthand accounts by key players convey the essentials for an understanding of the ideas, the practice, and not least the conflicts and battles that for decades have maligned one of the most efficacious and safe treatments in the whole of medicine. This book is highly exciting, elegantly written, and deserves to reach a wide readership."-Tom G. Bolwig, M.D., University of Copenhagen "An important and compelling history of ECT, the life-saving but much maligned treatment. Shorter and Healy have given us a work that is at once scholarly and wonderfully readable."-Charles H. Kellner, M.D., chair, department of psychiatry, UMDNJ-New Jersey Medical School "A fascinating narrative of the history of ECT from its inception to the present, interweaving the personalities, social contexts, and psychiatric developments along the way."-W. Vaughn McCall, M.D., M.S., Wake Forest University Health Sciences Shock therapy is making a comeback today in the treatment of serious mental illness. Despite its reemergence as a safe and effective psychiatric tool, however, it continues to be shrouded by a longstanding negative public image, not least due to films such as the classic One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest, where an inmate of a psychiatric clinic (played by Jack Nicholson) is subjected to electro-shock to curb his rebellious behavior. Beyond its vilification in popular culture, the stereotype of convulsive therapy as a dangerous and inhumane practice is fuelled by professional posturing and public misinformation. Electroconvulsive therapy, or ECT, has in the last thirty years been considered a method of last resort in the treatment of debilitating depression, suicidal ideation, and other forms of mental illness. Yet, ironically, its effectiveness in treating these patients would suggest it as a frontline therapy, bringing relief from acute symptoms and saving lives. In this book, Edward Shorter and David Healy trace the controversial history of ECT and other "shock" therapies.Drawing on case studies, public debates, extensive interviews, and archival research, the authors expose the myths about ECT that have proliferated over the years. By showing ECT's often life-saving results, Shorter and Healy endorse a point of view that is hotly contested in professional circles and in public debates, but for the nearly half of all clinically depressed patients who do not respond to drugs, this book brings much needed hope. Edward Shorter is the Jason A. Hannah Chair in the History of Medicine at the University of Toronto. He is the author of numerous books, including A History of Psychiatry and Written in the Flesh. David Healy, author of more than twelve books, including Let Them Eat Prozac, is a professor of psychiatry in the Department of Psychological Medicine at Cardiff University. Formerly, he was the secretary of the British Association for Psychopharmacology.