<Tr> <Td_colspan="2"> (edit on Wikidata) </Td> </Tr> <P> Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), formerly known as electroshock therapy, and often referred to as shock treatment, is a psychiatric treatment in which seizures are electrically induced in patients to provide relief from mental disorders . The ECT procedure was first conducted in 1938 and is the only currently used form of shock therapy in psychiatry . ECT is often used with informed consent as a last line of intervention for major depressive disorder, mania, and catatonia . ECT machines have been placed in the Class II category (special controls) by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) since 1976 . </P> <P> A round of ECT is effective for about 50% of people with treatment - resistant major depressive disorder, whether it is unipolar or bipolar . Follow - up treatment is still poorly studied, but about half of people who respond relapse within 12 months . Aside from effects in the brain, the general physical risks of ECT are similar to those of brief general anesthesia . Immediately following treatment, the most common adverse effects are confusion and memory loss . Among treatments for severely depressed pregnant women ECT is one of the least harmful to the gestating fetus . </P> <P> A usual course of ECT involves multiple administrations, typically given two or three times per week until the patient is no longer suffering symptoms . ECT is administered under anesthetic with a muscle relaxant . Electroconvulsive therapy can differ in its application in three ways: electrode placement, frequency of treatments, and the electrical waveform of the stimulus . These three forms of application have significant differences in both adverse side effects and symptom remission . Placement can be bilateral, in which the electric current is passed across the whole brain, or unilateral, in which the current is passed across one hemisphere of the brain . Bilateral placement seems to have greater efficacy than unilateral, but also carries greater risk of memory loss . After treatment, drug therapy is usually continued, and some patients receive maintenance ECT . </P>

The most common adverse effect of electroconvulsive therapy (ect) is