ECT AND ELECTRIC DEFIBRILLATION - THERAPY OR TORTURE

In our study on Psychiatry, Mass Media and Public Opinion we made a co ntent analysis of newspaper reports on ECT and electric defibrillation . We traced only few special articles on the subject in the 1994 and 1 995 CD.Rom versions of the ''Der Spiegel'', The ''Frankfurter Allgemei ne Zeitung'' (FAZ), the ''Neue Zurcher Zeitung'' (NZZ) and the ''Berli ner Tageszeitung'' (taz), although the word ''Elektroschock'' was empl oyed 118 times. Even in high standard newspapers the style of language becomes special when they deal with ECT. The articles are strongly bi ased and la ck informations. In contra st to Defibrillation ECT is not generally accepted. Referring to ECT horror pictures of past psychiat ry are cited. The language used is biased and discriminative. Referrin g to Defibrillation technical details are described and the language i s neutral. The social representation of ECT is completely negative.