4 ms·
As someone who has relative who underwent electroshock therapy in the 70s and read documentation from before, during and after, I will say that the treatment is
by belorn 7y ago
As someone who has relative who underwent electroshock therapy in the 70s and read documentation from before, during and after, I will say that the treatment is worse than barbaric. For all practical purposes it was a treatment to remove the issue out of sight and out of mind.
As a teenage child he went from someone considered gifted (very high grades), to someone who could not tie his own shoes. Extreme cognitive impairment which his parents noticed and objected to during the ongoing treatment. In contrast, with modern psychology he would likely had gotten a diagnose of ADHD or autism because of his temper tantrums, and treatment outcome would look very different.
We have to consider that cultural environment of the 60s and early 70s. A lot of society, especially education, demanded a military style discipline. A student who did not obey got literally beaten until they did, breaking people physically and mentally until they would fit the mold. Electroshock therapy in that culture worked very effectively in doing so.