Shock therapy is making a comeback today in the treatment of serious mental illness. Despite its reemergence as a safe and effective psychiatric tool, however, it continues to be shrouded by a longstanding negative public image, due, in large part, to how it is depicted in films, novels, and other forms of mass media. Beyond its vilification in popular culture, the stereotype of electroconvulsive therapy as a dangerous and inhumane practice is fuelled by professional posturing and public misinformation.Electroconvulsive therapy, or ECT, has in the last thirty years been considered a method of...