Electroconvulsive therapy, or electroshock, has a bad reputation, but medically its efficacy is well documented, even if nobody knows how it works. //

In electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), an electrical current is used to induce grand mal seizures as a treatment for psychiatric patients. Some hundred thousand Americans receive the therapy every year, a statistic comparable to the number of appendectomies or hernia surgeries performed. When drug alternatives prove ineffective, it’s considered safe and effective for people suffering from schizophrenia, depression, mania, catatonia, and other psychiatric diseases. As these BMJ authors note, its value is undoubted even if we don’t know how it actually works