La terapia electroconvulsiva (TEC), también conocida como electroconvulsoterapia o terapia por electrochoque, es un tratamiento psiquiátrico en el cual se inducen convulsiones utilizando la electricidad.La TEC se utiliza más frecuentemente para tratar cuadros de depresión mayor que no han respondido a otros tratamientos, pero también para tratar la manía (estado de ánimo muy eufórico, expansivo y/o irritable que puede ir acompañado de síntomas psicóticos), catatonia, esquizofrenia y otros trastornos mentales. Esta terapia comenzó a usarse en los años treinta; hoy en día se calcula que alrededor de un millón de personas en el mundo reciben TEC cada año, generalmente de 6 a 12 tratamientos administrados de 2 a 3 veces por semana. Existen tres variables fundamentales en la aplicación de la terapia electroconvulsiva: la colocación de electrodos, la duración de la estimulación y las propiedades electrofísicas de la estimulación. Por lo general se utiliza clínicamente cuando no hay respuesta satisfactoria al tratamiento con psicofármacos. Sin embargo, para al menos la mitad de las personas que reciben terapia electroconvulsiva, los beneficios son solamente temporales. Después de su aplicación se puede continuar con la terapia de medicamentos.

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Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), formerly known as electroshock therapy, and often referred to as shock treatment, is a psychiatric treatment in which seizures are electrically induced in patients to provide relief from psychiatric illnesses. The ECT procedure was first conducted in 1938 and is the only currently used form of shock therapy in psychiatry. ECT is often used with informed consent as a last line of intervention for major depressive disorder, mania, and catatonia. ECT machines have been placed in the Class III category (high risk) by the FDA since 1976. A round of ECT is effective for about 50% of people with treatment-resistant major depressive disorder, whether it is unipolar or bipolar. Follow-up treatment is still poorly studied, but about half of people who respond relapse within 12 months. Aside from effects in the brain, the general physical risks of ECT are similar to those of brief general anesthesia. Immediately following treatment, the most common adverse effects are confusion and memory loss. ECT is considered one of the least harmful treatment options available for severely depressed pregnant women. A usual course of ECT involves multiple administrations, typically given two or three times per week until the patient is no longer suffering symptoms. ECT is administered under anesthetic with a muscle relaxant. Electroconvulsive therapy can differ in its application in three ways: electrode placement, frequency of treatments, and the electrical waveform of the stimulus. These three forms of application have significant differences in both adverse side effects and symptom remission. Placement can be bilateral, in which the electric current is passed across the whole brain, or unilateral, in which the current is passed across one hemisphere of the brain. Bilateral placement seems to have greater efficacy than unilateral, but also carries greater risk of memory loss. After treatment, drug therapy is usually continued, and some patients receive maintenance ECT. ECT appears to work in the short term via an anticonvulsant effect mostly in the frontal lobes, and longer term via neurotrophic effects primarily in the medial temporal lobe.

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