Representations of ECT in English-Language Film and Television in the New Millennium

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Electroconvulsive Seizures in Rats and Fractionation of Their Hippocampi to Examine Seizure-induced Changes in Postsynaptic Density Proteins

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Avery Madeleine Matthews¹, Peter B Rosenquist, William Vaughn McCall

¹From the Department of Psychiatry and Health Behavior, Augusta University, Augusta, GA.

The Journal of ECT

|March 24, 2016

Abstract

Objective:

The aim of the study was to survey the media landscape to determine whether visual depictions of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) are becoming more or less medically accurate in the new millennium.

Method:

English-language film and television shows depicting ECT were analyzed for patient demographics, administrator roles, indication, consent, anesthesia, paralytics, bite block, lead placement, electroencephalogram, and outcome.

Results:

Thirty-nine ECT scenes were viewed, and just 3 included all 5 essential tools of modern ECT: anesthesia, paralytic, electrodes, electroencephalogram, and a bite block.

Conclusions:

Media depictions of ECT do not reflect current practice. Too often, ECT is portrayed as a torture technique rather than an evidenced-based therapy, and even in a therapeutic setting, it is too often shown with outdated techniques.

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