By Jessica Hamzelou
B Christopher / Alamy
A shock of electricity to the temples can be a powerful, last-resort treatment for some people who have mental health conditions that don’t respond to other treatments. But it can have surprising side effects – it seems to have improved the colour vision of a woman with colour blindness in the hours after each treatment.
Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) can be recommended for people with severe depression, schizophrenia or mania. The procedure typically involves giving someone anaesthesia and a muscle relaxant, before applying a pulse of electric current to one or both …
