Fictional and semi-fictional depictions of ECT

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Electroconvulsive therapy has been depicted in several fictional and semi-fictional films, books, and songs, almost always in an extremely negative light.

  • Electro-shock Blues, the second album by American rock band Eels, features a song of the same name. The track, which does not reference ECT directly, was inspired by frontman Mark Oliver Everett's late sister Liz's unsuccessful experience with the treatment.
  • In the first two movies with ECT in them, namely The Snake Pit and Fear Strikes Out, ECT is portrayed positively. In the Snake Pit, the actual ECT procedure is portrayed as horrifying, but the movie makes clear that the treatment is helpful to the patient and she suffers no ill effects because of it. In Fear Strikes Out, ECT is shown to help the protagonist of the movie and the actual treatment is not shown.
  • In the film Velvet Goldmine, Brian Slade's first manager explains that the Curt Wilde character was given ECT as a child, with the intention of "shocking the fairy out of him." Instead, it just "made him bonkers every time he heard an electric guitar."
  • In Park Chan-wook's 2006 film, I'm a Cyborg, But That's OK, the main character underwent the "unmodified" form of ECT. Ironically this played into her delusional condition, as she figured it was charging her batteries.
  • A great deal of anti-ECT sentiment was generated by its depiction in the 1975 movie One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, based on a novel by Ken Kesey, which in turn was based loosely on the author's experiences in the Menlo Park Veterans Hospital during the 1960s. It is implied in the film that the hospital staff use ECT to punish uncooperative patients. One example of which is when Randle Patrick McMurphy, played by Jack Nicholson is treated by ECT after attacking nurses in the mental hospital in which he is imprisoned: himself, and two fellow patients are treated for the 'disobedience'.
  • In Sylvia Plath's novel The Bell Jar, protagonist, Esther Greenwood, undergoes a series of shock therapy treatments while in therapy after a suicide attempt.
  • In the film Girl, Interrupted, Angelina Jolie's character runs away from a mental hospital because she is being given what she calls "shocks."
  • In Darren Aronofsky's Requiem for a Dream, Ellen Burstyn's character (an elderly widow named Sara Goldfarb) receives electroshock therapy (while conscious) after being committed to a mental hospital as a result of the effects of her drug abuse.
  • Return to Oz, sequel to the film version of The Wizard of Oz, shows that Dorothy Gale has been diagnosed as mentally ill due to her stories of fantastical adventures in Oz. Early in the film, she is taken to a psychiatrist and almost given an ECT-like treatment with a machine whose knobs and gauges resemble a face. She escapes prior to ECT being administered.
  • An episode of Quantum Leap depicts ECT in which the main character, Sam, receives ECT as punishment by a nurse, and the ordeal makes him unable to leap. The episode is concluded when he receives another shock of high voltage, enabling him to complete his leap.
  • An episode of the NBC TV drama Law & Order entitled "Cruel and Unusual" also featured negative depictions of ECT.
  • In an episode of The Simpsons entitled "Don't Fear the Roofer," Homer is subjected to ECT after his family mistakenly believes that his friend Ray Magini is imaginary.
  • In the Beavis and Butthead episode titled "Breakdown," Principal McVicker is admitted to a "mental hygiene center" and subjected to electroshock therapy after the boys drive him through a nervous crisis.
  • In an episode of the sci-fi TV series Stargate SG-1, Teal'c's son Rya'c is put under a form of ECT when he has been brainwashed by Apophis. This is done by a weapon known in the series as a Zat'n'ktel, which works by shooting a bolt of electricity at its victim.
  • In an episode of the TV series Smallville, Lex Luthor is forced to undergo an ECT-like procedure at the direction of his father, Lionel, with the purpose of erasing his memory for the last 7 weeks and therefore protecting one of Lionel's family secrets.
  • The U2 song "Electric Co." from the album Boy is an anti-ECT anthem. It is about the widespread use of ECT in Ireland's state hospitals in the 1970s, and was reportedly written in response to the treatment's use on one of their close friends.
  • In DC Comics's, Doom Patrol, a doctor wants to bring back a schizophrenic named Crazy Jane to reality by using ECT, to the negative response of other doctors.
  • Ursula Le Guin's short story The Diary of the Rose (in the collection The Compass Rose) presents ECT as a tool used by the government to silence subversives.
  • ECT has occasionally been portrayed in a positive light, however. In Elizabeth Flock's novel But Inside I'm Screaming, the main character, Isabel, is initially reluctant to undergo ECT for her severe depression, but it is a major factor in her recovery.
  • An episode of House featured a patient who is treated with ECT after experiencing episodes of acute myocardial infarction, thought to be caused by being in the presence of a woman he loves. The treatment successfully removes some of his memories, including those of the woman. It was later discovered that the patient's memories of the woman and his love for her were "false" memories.
  • In the film The Jacket, the main character, Jack Starks, convinces Dr. Lorenson to use ECT to treat a mentally handicapped boy in her care (Babak). Jack states that the boy's condition is caused by seizures (most likely Lennox-Gastaut syndrome), and when ECT is used reluctantly by Dr. Lorenson, Babak is miraculously cured.
  • The TV series Oz features negative depictions of ECT as Cyril O'Reily is subjected to electroshock treatment prior to his execution.
  • In the film Death Wish II, lead character Paul Kersey electrocutes one of the murderers of his daughter with an ECT machine.
  • In the TV series Six Feet Under, Ruths husband in the fourth and fifth season, George, is treated with ECT.
  • In the Ian Fleming James Bond novel "The Man with the Golden Gun" Bond undergoes ECT after attempting to assassinate M. Fleming claims the treatment is more restrained than is popularly believed.
  • The David Bowie song "All the madmen" from the album The Man Who Sold The World contains references to ECT. The song makes the reference "It's just my Librium and me, and my EST makes three". EST most likely standing for Electro Shock Therapy.
  • The Ramones song "Gimme Gimme Shock Treatment" is based on the idea of ECT.
  • The movie Constantine depicts young John Constantine in the midst of an ECT threatment just prior to indicating that he commits suicide.
    • Similarly, the comic book upon which it was based, Hellblazer, had John Constantine undergoing ETC at the hands of a sadistic psychiatrist after he was committed to an insane asylum.
  • In an episode of the British sitcom Absolutely Fabulous, Edina Monsoon's rather senile mother reminisces about childbirth in "her day", saying, of ECT, "It was all very addictive, dear. I still can't walk past a plug socket without getting the urge to put my finger in."