The Treatment of Mental Disorders by Electrically Induced Convulsions

Convulsion therapy in some form is now in common use in the majority of mental hospitals. A method of inducing convulsions by electrical stimulation of the brain was introduced into this country in 1939 (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6). This method commended itself readily because of the ease of operation, the freedom from special disadvantages inseparable from the use of a blood-borne drug, and the greater accuracy of dosage possible. Several papers describing this method and some early results have already appeared (7, 8, 9, 10).