<p>I would like to know what is the theory behind the electrical shock to brain to treat patients suffering from delusions?</p>
<p>I am aware that thoughts are mere electrical excitation of neurons, so is the external electricity to brain some form of de-activation of those electrical excitation of neurons that result in delusions or paranoia?</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-07-01T07:03:16.800Z
Can  you add your sources that shock therapy is used for delusions?
AliceD
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2021-07-01T14:33:04.440Z
@AliceD please see [this](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/2145342/) and [this](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2860524/)
user0193
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-07-05T07:46:16.813Z
I missed the ping; my apologies - the two papers deal primarily with depression and atypical psychosis. In other words, I think that delusions are not the primary target of the ECT, but are  rather the symptoms of the pathology (the underlying disease/etiology) that is being treated by ECT. So '*patients suffering from delusions*' are in fact patients suffering from depression and psychosis in these papers. In turn, a '*psychosis*', though sometimes treated a s a condition by itself, is also associated with psychological pathologies such as schizophrenia...
AliceD
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-07-05T07:46:20.513Z
...so I encourage you to think carefully about the answer you are looking for and refine your question accordingly. The problem with the question now is that the answerer is forced to formulate an umbrella answer taking into account very different pathologies, find a common grounds and answer the question based on that speculative premise. Or alternatively, the answerer is forced to answer two separate questions; one on ECT and psychosis, the other on ECT and depression....
AliceD
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-07-05T08:11:37.553Z
...Both types of answers are far from ideal, given that depression and psychosis are not even mentioned in the question in the first place.
AliceD
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-07-05T14:22:06.437Z
@AliceD thank you so much for such clarity! I did indeed was pertaining to psychosis. The problem is I dont feel that I will get an answer to it because I am concerned on the concreteness pertaining to "perturbing the neuron excitation" via (shock)  on making it go back to normal. It sounds to me more like chemo therapy where the radiation (synonymous to shock) is used to kill mutated cells, while healthy cells themselves become at elevated risk of mutating due to presence of radiation.
user0193
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-07-06T07:05:15.277Z
I encourage you to carefully edit the question to reflect your last comment; it seems like the background of your question goes quite a bit deeper than what is seems to be now. Remember that comments are volatile; the mod team often deletes them after a while, especially long dialogues like this are prone to removal over time. Thanks!
AliceD
<cognitive-neuroscience><mirror-neurons>
Electrical Shock to Brain as Form of Treatment
user0193
# Electrical Shock to Brain as Form of Treatment

(Asked by: username_0 on 2021-06-30)

I would like to know what is the theory behind the electrical shock to brain to treat patients suffering from delusions?

I am aware that thoughts are mere electrical excitation of neurons, so is the external electricity to brain some form of de-activation of those electrical excitation of neurons that result in delusions or paranoia?

**Tags:** cognitive-neuroscience, mirror-neurons

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Can  you add your sources that shock therapy is used for delusions?  
> **username_0**: @username_1 please see [this](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/2145342/) and [this](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2860524/)  
> **username_1**: I missed the ping; my apologies - the two papers deal primarily with depression and atypical psychosis. In other words, I think that delusions are not the primary target of the ECT, but are  rather the symptoms of the pathology (the underlying disease/etiology) that is being treated by ECT. So '*patients suffering from delusions*' are in fact patients suffering from depression and psychosis in these papers. In turn, a '*psychosis*', though sometimes treated a s a condition by itself, is also associated with psychological pathologies such as schizophrenia...  
> **username_1**: ...so I encourage you to think carefully about the answer you are looking for and refine your question accordingly. The problem with the question now is that the answerer is forced to formulate an umbrella answer taking into account very different pathologies, find a common grounds and answer the question based on that speculative premise. Or alternatively, the answerer is forced to answer two separate questions; one on ECT and psychosis, the other on ECT and depression....  
> **username_1**: ...Both types of answers are far from ideal, given that depression and psychosis are not even mentioned in the question in the first place.  
> **username_0**: @username_1 thank you so much for such clarity! I did indeed was pertaining to psychosis. The problem is I dont feel that I will get an answer to it because I am concerned on the concreteness pertaining to "perturbing the neuron excitation" via (shock)  on making it go back to normal. It sounds to me more like chemo therapy where the radiation (synonymous to shock) is used to kill mutated cells, while healthy cells themselves become at elevated risk of mutating due to presence of radiation.  
> **username_1**: I encourage you to carefully edit the question to reflect your last comment; it seems like the background of your question goes quite a bit deeper than what is seems to be now. Remember that comments are volatile; the mod team often deletes them after a while, especially long dialogues like this are prone to removal over time. Thanks!  

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## 0 answers

