Electroshock therapy may help reduce self harm in depressed teens

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2026-06-10 01:00

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Chinese scientists say high-intensity transcranial alternating current stimulation (HI-tACS) - or electroshock therapy - is safe and can improve emotional regulation and depressive symptoms in adolescents with depression who self-harm. The team enlisted 60 teens, 30 of whom received electroshock therapy, while the others received a sham placebo shock treatment. Those who received the genuine shock treatment were better than those on the placebo at regulating their emotions, less likely to notice cues they associated with self-harm, and saw bigger improvements in their depressive symptoms.

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Journal/
conference: JAMA Network Open

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: Tongji University, China, Northwest Normal University, China

Funder: This study was supported by the National Postdoctoral Program for Innovative Talents (grant No. GZC20231941), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant No. 82001313 and 32360213), and the National Key Research and Development Program of China (grant No. 2023YFC2506200 and 2023YFC2506205).

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