Medicine: Not So Shocking

Electric shock treatments have apparently been successful in treating some forms of insanity, but doctors are beginning to suspect that the "cure" may be worse than the disease. The treatment, a jolting shot of high-powered current through the brain, causes convulsions that may dislocate the patient's jaw, break his bones, or even kill him.

A group of leading U.S. psychiatrists, headed by Dr. William C. Menninger, has now issued a stern warning against "abuses" of electric shock therapy. The psychiatrists believe that shock treatments have become a fad and are being prescribed recklessly (and...

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