'Shock therapy' isn't as scary as its name _or the movies_ suggest. Weighing the risks against the benefits is key.

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Contrary to popular thought, under the right conditions, electroconvulsive therapy, or ECT, doctors argue, is usually safe and effective.
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▼ For the majority of people suffering from depression, medication can help ease symptoms. Antidepressants aren’t perfect, and it can take a few tries to identify the best drug for each person, but in most cases, they work. However, somewhere between 10 and 30 percentof people don’t respond to any treatment.
One option for patients in that group is a treatment called electroconvulsive therapy, or ECT. It’s colloquially known as shock therapy—but this isn’t the torture vividly portrayed in movies like One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Today, ECT is performed under anesthesia, and the electric current is targeted and controlled. It’s a misconception that the procedure is scary and physically extreme, says Amy Aloysi, the director of the ECT service at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. She invites patients’ families into the room to watch the procedure, she says, to try and change that perception.
Like most therapies and medications, though, it’s doesn’t work for everyone, and can come with side effects and risks. ECT is well-accepted by the medical community, and it helps many patients who had struck out on treatment efforts in the past. Some physicians, though, feel strongly that it shouldn’t be used, and in rare cases, patients have reported bad experiences following the treatment.
Sue Cunliffe, a former pediatrician, wrote in a debateabout whether ECT should still be used in medicine today in the British Journal of Medicine this week that she experienced slurred speech and major problems with memory and executive function after receiving ECT herself—significant enough that she was forced to leave her job. Such long-term side effects do happen, says Aloysi, but they’re rare, she says. It’s something she discusses with patients. “We definitely let people know that it can happen, and that we’re not 100 percent sure who it might happen to,” she says.
Aloysi has treated thousands of people using ECT, and says she hasn’t had any patients experience long lasting, life-impairing side effects.
The electric current delivered during ECT causes a brief,  (▪ ▪ ▪)

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