shock therapyn.
1. Originally: treatment of physical or mental conditions by the deliberate induction of the medical condition shock (shock n.3 9a) (now historical). In later use chiefly: treatment of certain mental and cardiac conditions by the delivery of an electric shock or shocks; cf. electroshock n. Also: an instance of either type of treatment.Cf. shock treatment n. 1a.
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the world > health and disease > healing > psychiatry > [noun] > shock treatments
shock therapy1917
insulin treatment1938
photoshock1953
1917 Jrnl. Exper. Med. 26 705 Bacterial infection not confined to the lymph spaces will not be influenced by shock therapy to the same extent.
1923 Brit. Med. Jrnl. 15 Sept. 452/2 I am sure that ‘shock therapy’ has a definite sphere of utility in the treatment of chronic prostatitis.
1939 tr. V. Cerletti & L. Bini in Index Medicus 25 462/1 (title) The first method of shocktherapy [It. shockoterapia] ‘Electroshock’.
1949 P. Polatin & E. C. Philtine How Psychiatry Helps (1951) vi. 168 Electronarcosis..is a new form of shock therapy for mental diseases.
1973 W. Barlow Alexander Princ. i. 13 The psychiatrists..treated her with shock therapy and anti-depressant drugs.
2011 P. R. Kowey et al. Clin. Managem. Atrial Fibrillation x. 148 If these therapies are unsuccessful, shock therapy is delivered.
2. figurative. A shocking or startling event or experience considered in terms of its positive effects, esp. as a stimulus for change.
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1953 H. Read True Voice of Feeling i. viii. 149 There may be more sense in [Ezra] Pound's shock-therapy.
1979 Tucson (Arizona) Mag. Jan. 24/1 The shock therapy that was Simon's murder induced a spirited public outcry.
2019 Times 26 July (Bricks & Mortar section) 13/1 I want to adopt your ideas...We need some big reforms and shock therapy.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2022).
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n.1917