Chemically induced convulsive therapy

In addition to locomotor activity, delta opioid agonists produce convulsions in mice [41,43], rats [34,35], and monkeys [44 46], In the past, chemical-induced convulsions induced by camphor or pentylenetetrazol (Metrazol) were used as treatments for depression today, however, ECT is the only convulsant therapy used because the treatment-induced effects are less unpleasant than those produced by chemical convulsants [47]. ECS was demonstrated to have antidepressant-like effects in the forced swim test in rats [3], and ECT is a very effective treatment for depression in humans. Based on these observations, it was proposed that delta opioid agonists produce antidepressant-like effects tough a convulsive- or electroconvulsive shock (ECS)-like mechanism of action [41]. 

Based on the erroneous notion that mental illness and seizure disorders were antagonistic, psychiatrists induced seizures as a treatment for depression and other psychiatric problems. Convulsive therapy was first described clinically by Ladislas J. Meduna. In 1934, he injected camphor liniment to induce seizures in patients with schizophrenia, some of whom actually improved. His technique was recognized immediately for its therapeutic value and adopted worldwide within a few years of its introduction. Other chemicals, such as metronidazole (Metrozol), were administered under the mistaken hehef that such treatments would consistently reheve the symptoms of mental illness. Pharmaco-convulsive therapy frightened patients and was fiuught with shortcomings, such as the unreliable induction of seizures. 

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