Ugo Cerletti, Pathologica and electroconvulsive therapy

Abstract

Ugo Cerletti was the inventor of the electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) adopted in 1938 to treat schizophrenia. He had a robust education in anatomical pathology, which also left its mark on the journal Pathologica. Although his name is associated with several important moments and breakthroughs in the history of medicine, Ugo Cerletti's reputation has partly suffered from the same fate as his treatment. Electroshock was initially widely adopted, partly because of its low cost and relatively easy application, but with the advent of psychoactive drugs in the 1950s and 1960s, it subsequently came under ferocious criticism. Its fall from grace also affected to some extent the man who had invented it, though this seems hard to justify today.

Figure 1.

Front row, from left: Adele Grombach, Ugo Cerletti, unknown, Francesco Bonfiglio, Gaetano Perusini. Back row from left: Fritz Lotmar, unknown, Stefan Rosental, Allers (?), unknown, Alois Alzheimer, Nicolás Achúcarro, Friedrich Heinrich Lewy.

Figure 2.

Cerletti U. Illustration in Sopra alcuni rapporti tra le cellule a bastoncello e gli elementi nervosa nella paralisi progressiva (from Cerletti, 1905) .

Figure 3.

Mastcells of the olfactory bulb (U. Cerletti drawing).

Figure 4.

From Le alterazioni istopatologiche del sistema nervoso nell’elettroshock, (Cerletti et al., 1940) .

Figure 5.

Ugo Cerletti in later years, but still professionally active.