Electroconvulsive (shock) therapy gained a bad reputation during the 1940s and ’50s because patients were given high doses of electricity without any anesthesia, resulting in pain, fractured bones, and other serious side effects. Today, electroconvulsive therapy is painless. It is administered after the patient has been given general anesthesia and a muscle relaxant, it uses small electric currents to induce a brief seizure, and it is often very effective. Many patients have six to twelve sessions over a period of several weeks. Scientists are still not clear about how it works, but it is
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