Electroconvulsive Therapy Revival in German Speaking Countries

Abstract

I t has been 8 decades since seizures were successfully induced by electricity to quickly relieve the excitement of a delirious man, launching the electroshock era. The decades have been stormy with electroshock widely stigmatized, deprecated in the press and in film, practitioners placarded, and the treatments legislatively restricted. An ongoing resurgence of interest is well seen in these 2 reviews of electroshock in central European countries. The multiauthored professional text describes the widespread availabilty in almost all psychiatric facilities in the German-speaking countries. One essay describes the scene in Italy where the government in 1978 legislatively