shock therapy

noun

: the treatment of mental illness by the artificial induction of coma or convulsions through use of drugs or electric current

called also shock treatment

Examples of shock therapy in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

But in its ruling, the court affirmed the finding of a lower court that the state had improperly used its regulatory powers in an effort to force the center to close down and that as of 2016 there was no medical consensus for or against the use of electric shock therapy. —John R. Ellement, BostonGlobe.com, 7 Sep. 2023

Nostrums such as shock therapy and stem cells rose and fell, dividing the community in their wake. —Jason Mast Reprints, STAT, 30 June 2023

Interwoven with this harrowing familial story is the history of how the science on schizophrenia has fitfully evolved, from the eras of institutionalization and shock therapy, to the profound disagreements about the cause and origins of the illness, to the search for genetic markers. —Washington Post, 19 Nov. 2020

One of my favorites was electric shock therapy. —Longreads, 4 Mar. 2020

In a nutshell, in the 1970s the church preached that homosexuality was a terrible sin, excommunicated members for being gay, encouraged electric shock therapy at BYU and told gay men that if they’d just get married in the temple to a righteous woman, they’d be cured. —The Salt Lake Tribune, 10 June 2022

The center, which cares for children and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities, seems to be the only institution in the United States using shock therapy on its students to correct self-harming and aggressive behavior, according to the FDA. —Steven Vargas, USA TODAY, 16 July 2021

It’s officially called electroconvulsive therapy, or ECT—better known by its unofficial name, shock therapy. —Carl Zimmer, Discover Magazine, 24 Oct. 2012

But not long after, the rumors began: Eagleton had been hospitalized for depression the decade before and undergone shock therapy. —Peggy Drexler, CNN, 17 Feb. 2023

See More

Word History

First Known Use

1917, in the meaning defined above

Medical Definition

shock therapy

noun

: the treatment of mental illness by the artificial induction of coma or convulsions through use of drugs or electric current

called also convulsive therapy

see electroconvulsive therapy