How do we understand the mechanism of action of ICT compared to modern treatments for schizophrenia?
The immediate benefits of ICT were increased feelings of well-being and less preoccupation with obsessive thoughts. Weight increased and agitation decreased. For many patients, these benefits were sufficient to allow them to return to home and community. It was unclear then, and remains so today, what mechanism could explain the relief of psychosis. We do not know why schizophrenia develops in adolescence, why it persists, nor what is the pathology in the brain that has gone awry. In animal studies, modern medicines affect the brain’s neurohumors (such as serotonin, dopamine, and adrenaline). Many scientists believe that aberrations in these systems are the cause of schizophrenia, and see the medicines as redressing hypothesized abnormalities. Such theories are not supported by human research. When ECT and ICT were introduced, much academic interest was focused on the brain’s electrical activity as measured by the electroencephalogram (developed in 1929). Measurement of the brain’s ele
