shock therapy
noun
: the treatment of mental illness by the artificial induction of coma or convulsions through use of drugs or electric current
called also shock treatment
Example Sentences
Recent Examples on the Web He was hospitalized for six months and subjected to shock therapy. 
Larry Blumenfeld, WSJ, 14 Sep. 2022 So the shock therapy of that earlier era might be unnecessarily painful. Joel Mathis, The Week, 12 July 2022 Right now several countries are living through an open-air experiment of this thesis, a phenomenon economists Isabella Weber and economist Daniela Gabor have dubbed carbon shock therapy. Kate Aronoff, The New Republic, 12 Aug. 2022 Under his economic program, Mr. Abe imposed a form of shock therapy that involved cheap cash, government spending on stimulus projects that expanded the country’s debt and attempts at corporate deregulation. New York Times, 8 July 2022 The practice has taken many forms historically, including shock therapy and hypnosis, but the most common form today is talk therapy, according to the study. Orlando Mayorquin, USA TODAY, 15 June 2022 That segued to NoHo Hank (Anthony Carrigan), who escaped from a wild scene in which he was held in a dungeon before being reunited with his boyfriend, who was being subjected to shock therapy and torture. Brian Lowry, CNN, 13 June 2022 Additional rates apply for treatments including massages, cryo facial, T-shock therapy, contour light and endermologie (body contouring). Los Angeles Times, 28 Apr. 2022 And the intimacy here between this audience and this comedian differs from the national shock therapy from a few weeks before. New York Times, 19 Apr. 2022 See More
Larry Blumenfeld, WSJ, 14 Sep. 2022 So the shock therapy of that earlier era might be unnecessarily painful. Joel Mathis, The Week, 12 July 2022 Right now several countries are living through an open-air experiment of this thesis, a phenomenon economists Isabella Weber and economist Daniela Gabor have dubbed carbon shock therapy. Kate Aronoff, The New Republic, 12 Aug. 2022 Under his economic program, Mr. Abe imposed a form of shock therapy that involved cheap cash, government spending on stimulus projects that expanded the country’s debt and attempts at corporate deregulation. New York Times, 8 July 2022 The practice has taken many forms historically, including shock therapy and hypnosis, but the most common form today is talk therapy, according to the study. Orlando Mayorquin, USA TODAY, 15 June 2022 That segued to NoHo Hank (Anthony Carrigan), who escaped from a wild scene in which he was held in a dungeon before being reunited with his boyfriend, who was being subjected to shock therapy and torture. Brian Lowry, CNN, 13 June 2022 Additional rates apply for treatments including massages, cryo facial, T-shock therapy, contour light and endermologie (body contouring). Los Angeles Times, 28 Apr. 2022 And the intimacy here between this audience and this comedian differs from the national shock therapy from a few weeks before. New York Times, 19 Apr. 2022 See More Word History
First Known Use
1917, in the meaning defined above
Medical Definition
shock therapy
noun
: the treatment of mental illness by the artificial induction of coma or convulsions through use of drugs or electric current
called also convulsive therapy
see electroconvulsive therapy