Hyderabad scientists show how the stigmatised ‘shock treatment’ can ease depression

Hyderabad-based CCMB and AcSIR scientists have shown through mice studies that Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT) can reset the brain, improve depression-like symptoms, and balance brain chemicals. Their findings aim to help reduce fear and stigma around ECT in mental health care

Hyderabad: The image of a person receiving shock treatment, usually to erase or bring back lost memory in our movies, has long stigmatised Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT) and filled many with fear. However, recent ground-breaking animal-based scientific studies by Hyderabad researchers are pulling back the curtains and shedding new light on how promising the therapy could be for people struggling with depression.

Yes, you heard it right! ECT holds a lot of promise in addressing the human brain, which often gets caught up in depression. The latest studies on laboratory mice, taken up by scientists from the Hyderabad-based Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) and the Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research (AcSIR), Ghaziabad, have shown in animal models that ECT can address depression.

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Their study, titled Impact of ECT in neurometabolic activity in a mice model of depression (published August 24) in MDPI’s Neuroglia, looked at how stress-induced depression in mice affects their brains.

The researchers observed that key brain areas involved in thinking and emotion became sluggish and inefficient in using energy. The scientists demonstrated that ECT has the ability to ‘reset’ the brain, significantly improving depression-like behaviours in the mice models.

The study also helped bring important brain chemicals back to balance, especially in areas related to memory. While symptoms of anxiety did not completely go away, the study showed how the brain used sugar for energy, suggesting that ECT works by calming down overactive brain circuits, much like anti-seizure medicines do.

The same group of scientists, in another study published in The Journal of ECT (June 2025), demonstrated that ECT resets the brain, during which time brain energy can become a bit fuzzy. “These findings might be helpful for clinicians in addressing concerns about ECT,” the researchers said, adding that the study will help doctors better explain the therapy to patients who are considering it.

The CCMB-AcSIR study is being seen as an important step in re-educating the public and helping doctors and caregivers understand how ECT can calm brain circuits, reduce depression, and clear myths and stigma surrounding the therapy.