Ugo Cerletti (26 September 1877 - 25 July 1963) was an Italian neurologist who discovered the method of electroconvulsive therapy in psychiatry. Electroconvulsive therapy is a therapy used, in which a seizure is provoked for a short amount of time by the use of electrical currents. This therapy is used to treat mental disorders by altering the chemical processes that occur in the brain. By doing so, the symptoms experienced by the patient before the procedure, will no longer be experienced by the patient after undergoing the procedure. This method is useful when other possible treatments do not cure the person of their mental disorder.