The brain changes associated with electrical shock treatment; a critical review.

SINCE the introduction of electrical shock treatment as a means of combating psychiatric disorders, great interest has been manifested in the brain changes which occur as the result of treatments by this method. Suf­ ficient time has transpired so that it is possible now to evaluate the results of experimental and clinical reports. For this reason, it has seemed desirable to review crit­ ically the brain findings in experimentally produced elec­ trical shock, as well as in the human wherever this has been possible. A survey of recent reports relative to this problem· would lead one to believe that the matter is settled and that there is nothing further to be said. There are differences of opinion, however; but even if the matter is settled, it is well for us to recognize that this is so, in a problem which was not so long ago, quite controversial. Moreover, electrical shock treatment is a severe shaking-up process, the prescription of which should not be ordered lightly, despite its efficacy in some forms of psychosis. Recognition of what occurs in the brain during the course of shock treatment may well make us pause before adding injury to insult too pro­ miscuously in the course of shock treatment. Though the method has been used widely in the treatment of psychiatric disorders, it has not been without its op­ ponents who look with horror on its use and who regard it as an insult to the nervous system. With these few words of apology, let us proceed to a review of the record in the problem of the brain changes in electrical shock treatment.