Around 2,500 people in England receive electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) every year. This is a last resort treatment, used to help alleviate severe depression in people who have failed to respond to other treatments. ECT is administered by passing a small electrical current around the head of an anaesthetised person to induce a seizure. Many misunderstandings persist about ECT’s effectiveness and safety. Part of this is due to negative portrayals of the therapy in movies and TV.