ElektroShock Therapy™ AKA Shock Treatment
Psychiatric treatment for schizophrenia involving the induction of a generalized grand seizure in the brain. First used in 1938 by Italian psychiatrist and amateur inventor Ugo Cerletti, ElektroShock™ Therapy generally involves the external application of between 80 and 150 volts [1] of electricity (with around 10% of the voltage "lost" to the insulative properties of the skull). The treatment, even when successful at reducing or eliminating schizophrenic symptoms, is often followed by amnesia, both retrograde and anteretrograde. Use of ElectroShock™ peaked in the late 1940's [2], later declining throughout the 1950's and '60's with the rise of the modern pharmaceutical industry (despite numerous and increasingly sophisticated studies maintaining ElekroShock™'s efficacy). Numerous misguided and sensationalistic references in popular culture [3] throughout the last three decades of the 20th century all but sealed the treatment's fate: ElektroShock™ is currently illegal or heavily restricted in various territories throughout the globe including but not limited to the great state of Texas.
- ↑ Enough voltage to power an electric saw or soldering iron.
- ↑ In which decade it was successfully and controversially trademarked by [REDACTED] - a rather poorly regarded psychiatrist later threatened with litigation by the progeny of Cerletti.
- ↑ Leading to the moniker "shock therapy" now common to the parlance of the hair metal, heavy metal, and power electronics styles of music.