Edison's medicine

English

Etymology

After Thomas Edison (1847–1931), American inventor who pioneered applications of electricity. Chosen for the near-rhyme.

Noun

Edison's medicine (uncountable)

1. (medicine, humorous) Electroconvulsive therapy.
   • 2011 March 19, Andrew Zajac, “FDA revisits risks of electric shock treatment”, in Los Angeles Times, retrieved 25 January 2014:

     They used to call it "Edison's medicine" or, with a touch of gallows humor, a "Georgia Power cocktail" — the practice of hooking mentally troubled patients up to an electrical current and jolting them until they went into convulsions.

   • 2012 May 11, “The rise of electroshock therapy: A guide”, in The Week, retrieved 25 January 2014:

     The use of electroshock as mind-erasing punishment was dramatized in the 1975 film One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, and that negative portrayal almost served as a death knell for a practice derided as "Edison's medicine."

   • 2013 August 5, David Thomson, "Woody Allen makes a wonderful film. Really" (film review of Blue Jasmine), New Republic, vol. 244, no. 12, p. 56:

     So this woman who has had Edison's medicine (electroshock treatment) and medication, and who has the good fortune to have such a "sister" as Ginger, has lost everything.