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Shock therapy (psychiatry), otherwise known as electroconvulsive therapy, is used to help patients with mental health problems. Mental health problems such as severe depression, thoughts of suicide, treatment-resistant depression with medication, severe mania, bipolar disorder, substance abuse, and aggression in people with dementia. Shock therapy is rarely used in these cases, only when medication and other behavioral treatments fail to succeed will a psychiatrist or doctor suggest shock therapy (Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT)). “Electroconvulsive therapy involves applying a brief electrical pulse to the scalp while the patient is under anesthesia. This pulse excites the brain cells causing them to fire in unison and produces a seizure” (University of Michigan Department of Psychiatry). In some cases though, shock therapy can have extremely negative effects, it “can cause severe and permanent memory loss, brain damage, suicide, cardiovascular complications, intellectual impairment and even death” (Brain Damaging Effects of Electroshock). Other side effects include confusion, such as being confused where you are and usually only lasts a few hours, physical side effects such as nausea, headache, muscle aches, patients can also experience high blood pressure which can cause heart complications, and doctors usually prescribe medications for physical pain, problems or sickness (Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT)).

Recent shock therapy can be administered two different ways. The first is Right Unilateral placement, which involves placing one electrode on the right side of the head and the other at the peak of the head. This is the less intense type of shock therapy, as it is more to stimulate the brain and help reduce seizures, and has minimal memory loss. The second, more intense shock therapy is bilateral placement, where electrodes are placed on both the left and right side of the head. This treatment is used to help reduce bipolar disorder, depression, and psychotic episodes. This form of shock therapy creates a higher risk for memory loss since the electrodes are closer to the hippocampus where memory is stored (University of Michigan Department of Psychiatry).

There are two main types of memory loss that result from receiving shock therapy. The first is short term memory loss, where patients forget minor things like what they did earlier in the day, such as feeding the dog or whom they spoke to that day. These effects could progress over a small amount of time, anywhere from a day to a month or two. The second type of memory loss is long term memory loss. Patients can forget long term information after treatment ranging from two weeks to six months. They can forget information such as if they made a doctor’s appointment, where they keep certain things in the house, or computer passwords. After about a year the patient begins to recall past information that could have been lost during treatment. Some patients recorded forgetting memory past six months, “This memory impairment is potentially permanent” (University of Michigan Department of Psychiatry).  This condition is called retrograde amnesia. Retrograde amnesia is caused by damages to the hippocampus, close to where the electrodes are placed during shock therapy, where memory is stored and new memories are encoded. Often after treatment patients receive shock therapy, they are in a small state of confusion that can last as long as a day (Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT)).

Grounding falls under the category of Operant Conditioning which was created by BF Skinner,  “B.F. Skinner (1938) coined the term operant conditioning; it means roughly changing of behavior by the use of reinforcement which is given after the desired response.”(1. McLeod, 1970). It is a type of learning that is learned from reinforcers and punishments. When using reinforcements to get an expected response, the reinforcer uses the environment to get that expected response, using either positive reinforcement or negative reinforcement. Listed in the second paragraph are examples of positive reinforcement. Something that the teenager or child wants and is given when they behave correctly. When the individual is grounded they often times get their positive reinforcement taken away. During the grounding stage some individuals like to do “favors” and “suck up” to the parents to get ungrounded. They perform what is called negative reinforcement - strengthening a good behavior to avoid a bad consequence. The individual learns that by doing negative reinforcers that they can be rewarded by being ungrounded or given a little leverage. It can also be described by the child learning through negative reinforcement that if they clean the kitchen, do the dishes or other tasks they will not receive the consequence of being grounded (2. Cherry, 2016).

BF Skinner also devised the concept of positive and negative punishments. Positive punishment involves doing something bad and receiving a bad consequence. This is what grounding is. The teenager or child did something bad, therefore they are grounded and unable to have a good time outside or inside the house(3. Sadowski,2014).  Negative punishment involves someone having a positive stimuli that they enjoy, but do something bad and get that positive stimuli taken away from them. Parents use this in grounding as well. Parents often times take away television, video games, or car privileges when a child or teenager misbehaves. (4. Negative Punishment, 2017).  

The desired result is that the child or teenager learns to avoid things that would get them in trouble or hurt, or to do specific tasks that they were instructed to do. By being grounded for negative behavior, the child (possibly) learns that they have to behave a certain why for them to either not get grounded in the first place, or to be ungrounded. The main focus of parents who ground is to teach their children skills and behaviors that are appropriate to keep them safe, happy, and healthy.

1. McLeod, S. (1970, January 01). Saul McLeod. from http://www.simplypsychology.org/operant-conditioning.html
2. Cherry, K. (2016, June 22). What Is Negative Reinforcement? from https://www.verywell.com/what-is-negative-reinforcement-2795410
3. Sadowski, K. (2014, May 06). The Difference Between Positive and Negative Punishment, from http://nspt4kids.com/parenting/the-difference-between-positive-and-negative-punishment/
4. Negative Punishment. (2017). from https://www.psychestudy.com/behavioral/learning-memory/operant-conditioning/reinforcement-punishment/negative-punishment