The Truth about ECT Electroconvulsive Therapy

The Truth about ECT Electroconvulsive Therapy; Electroconvulsive Therapy was first introduced in the 1930s and was used as a treatment for depression extensively throughout 1940s and 1950s;
Even today an estimated 1 million people worldwide receive ECT every year, usually in a course of 6-12 treatments, 2 or 3 times a week.

Electroconvulsive therapy can differ on application in 3 ways;

Electrode placement,

Length of time that the stimulus is given,

Property of the stimulus

The official figures on the use of controversial electric shock treatment show that hundreds of people were treated against their will.

A quarter of ECT patients were formally detained under the Mental Health Act 1983.

The figures show 2,800 patients received electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) over a three month period from January to March 1999.

There were 900 male patients receiving treatment, compared with 1,900 female patients.

Of the 700 ECT patients formally detained whilst receiving ECT treatment, 59% did not consent to treatment.

The last Department of Health figures were issued in 1991.

Mental health campaigners say that:
“No-one really knows how it works and what its long-term effects are”.

A spokeswoman said:
“It is so risky and severe. The side effects can be very severe, including short- or long-term memory loss, coma and possibly death.”

Mental Health Campaigners hope these statistics help towards banning the use of ECT without consent and a total ban on its use for people under 16.

The Royal College of Psychiatrists have expressed concern about the way the treatment is administered. In a recent report, it stated that ECT could be administered by poorly trained junior doctors with out-of-date equipment and often left unsupervised.

I personally have seen both sides of the outcome - Patients whose lives have been transformed and their depression lifted and quality of life resumed and of course those that are quite literally worse as a result, suffering with memory loss, nervous twitches and adhedonistic attitudes.

So Again. Let me ask if any of you have had any experience with Electroconvulsive Therapy either as a therapist or as a patient.

Please share them with us all…We are interested and we are listening.