Basic Trope: Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is used as a form of torture, and often involves the subject not receiving any form of anesthesia.
- Straight: Dr. Pain is a Psycho Psychologist that uses ECT without any anesthetic on patients that don't obey him.
- Exaggerated:
- Dr. Pain uses such a high voltage that he paralyzes or even kills someone.
- Dr. Pain uses this method of torture on patients that even look at him wrong.
- Downplayed: Dr. Pain mostly/completely does ECT in the proper way, but still uses it unnecessarily and for torturous reasons.
- Justified:
- ECT can be torturous, especially if done incorrectly (such as if the subject is not anesthetized).
- The work takes place in an era before anesthesia was used in ECT.
- Inverted: ECT is used as a reward, and feels good.
- Subverted: Despite having a device for administering ECT and being an evil doctor, Dr. Pain actually uses ECT correctly and not as a form of torture...
- Double Subverted: ...but in rare cases, he does use it to torture individuals who double-cross him.
- Parodied: Dr. Pain attempts to use ECT on someone who's Too Kinky to Torture, to hilarious results.
- Zig-Zagged: Dr. Pain sometimes uses ECT as a legitimate treatment method, and sometimes as a method of torture.
- Averted:
- Nobody undergoes any form of ECT.
- ECT is shown in the way it's supposed to be used in the present day in real life; any patients who undergo it consent to the procedure and are properly anesthetized.
- Enforced:
- "We need to show just how bad of a person Dr. Pain is - let's have him electrocute someone just to torture them!"
- The writers are against ECT (or at least the improper usage of it) and are trying to make a point.
- Lampshaded: ???
- Invoked: ???
- Exploited: ???
- Defied:
- Dr. Pain decides not to give ECT to his subjects.
- While the hospital does provide ECT, it is strictly prohibited for staff to use it in a way that harms patients.
- Discussed: ???
- Conversed: "From the way I've seen electroconvulsive therapy portrayed in fiction, I never would've thought it actually had any positive effects."
- Implied: Dr. Pain has a device for administering ECT in his office and often threatens subjects with an unpleasant experience, but he is never seen actually using ECT.
- Played For Laughs: Bob not only is utterly immune to ECT, but he is addicted to Dr. Pain's "ministrations" and constantly tries to have them applied to him.
- Played For Drama:
- Bob has been unjustly tossed in the mental hospital and Dr. Pain will be the death of him, in mind if not in body.
- Dr. Pain has to battle everybody, from Bob's relatives up to the Supreme Court judge, to be allowed to apply some ECT on Bob (a procedure that, yes, has its side-effects and pain, but will actually benefit Bob if applied properly and because of plot reasons is the only procedure that will work) because of how much this trope has seeped into the collective consciousness of society.
- Played For Horror: The "Torture" part of the trope's name is shown in extensive and extremely long detail, and destroys Bob so thoroughly that death would be a blessing, which unfortunately Dr. Pain will make sure Bob won't get any time soon.
Back to Electroconvulsive Therapy Is Torture
