Episode 96: Electroconvulsive therapy
From Science Fictions by Tom Chivers and Stuart Ritchie
February 17, 2026 · 1h 13m
About this episode
This episode explores the controversial effectiveness and side effects of electroconvulsive therapy for depression.
Open up some scientific papers, and you’ll hear electroconvulsive therapy described as the most effective treatment for depression (especially very severe depression). But open up others, and you’ll see it described as completely useless—and a sad indictment on a medical establishment who’ve completely failed to provide proper evidence on it. Not only that, but they’ve exposed patients to serious side effects, like memory loss, for no good reason. Who’s right? In this episode, we look into the most controversial psychiatric treatment since lobotomy. NEXT WEEK: we’ll follow this with an episode on another controversial psychiatric treament: antidepressants . On this week’s episode we discussed the article “ The Perks of Being a Mole Rat ”, from our sponsor, Works in Progress magazine. As ever, we’re very grateful for their support. You can find many more excellent articles at worksinprogress.co . Show notes * 1937 article by Egas Moniz, lobotomy Nobel Prize-winner * Weird 1998 article defending him on the Nobel Prize website * Megan McArdle on Walter Freeman * The ECT scene in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest * 2024 article discussing the possible mechanisms of ECT’s effect * 2010…
People in this episode
Hosts: Tom Chivers, Stuart Ritchie
Topics covered
- electroconvulsive therapy
- depression treatment
- psychiatric treatment
- medical controversy
- mental health
Keywords
- electroconvulsive therapy
- depression
- psychiatry
- medical evidence
- side effects
Sponsors
Works in Progress magazine
Mentioned in this episode
Books & works: One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
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