What Andrew Scull has said about Electroconvulsive therapy
2 quotes · 1 episode · Sep 17, 2026
Andrew Scull, British-American sociologist and historian of psychiatry, emeritus professor at UC San Diego, has been quoted on Electroconvulsive therapy 2 times in 1 episode of Lex Fridman Podcast, most recently on September 17, 2026. Each quote below is verbatim and links to the moment it was said.
In their words
Scull argues that in mid-century hospitals ECT functioned more as behavioral control than therapy.
“ECT was much more used as a device to control people's behavior than as a therapeutic intervention. It was quite punitive”
Lex Fridman Podcast: #502 – Psychiatry, Insane Asylums, Mental Illness, ECT, Lobotomies, Freud & Jung (Sep 17, 2026) · Listen from 1:33:12
Scull acknowledges that recent controlled trials provide enough evidence that ECT helps some severely depressed patients, though its mechanism is unknown.
“there's enough evidence now that it's hard to say, this never works, this is just one of these desperate remedies we should consign to the Dark Ages”
Lex Fridman Podcast: #502 – Psychiatry, Insane Asylums, Mental Illness, ECT, Lobotomies, Freud & Jung (Sep 17, 2026) · Listen from 2:00:56
Episodes
#502 – Psychiatry, Insane Asylums, Mental Illness, ECT, Lobotomies, Freud & JungLex Fridman Podcast · Sep 17, 2026
Historian Andrew Scull talks with Lex Fridman about the history of psychiatry, from asylums, eugenics, lobotomy and ECT to Freud, CBT, psychiatric drugs and psychiatry's current crisis.
Others on Electroconvulsive therapy
- Jeff Kaplan · 1 quote
Andrew Scull on other topics
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- Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders · 2 quotes
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- Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors · 1 quote
- Cognitive behavioral therapy · 1 quote
- Insulin shock therapy · 1 quote
- Focal infection theory · 1 quote
- Aktion T4 · 1 quote