Study calls for research into use of shock therapy

A STUDY of mental health services in Galway has recommended further research into Electro Convulsive Therapy (ECT) to justify its continued use in psychiatric hospitals.

The recommendation follows a survey of patients subjected to the shock-therapy treatment, one third of whom did not experience any short-term benefit.

Feedback from patients prescribed the treatment also found that 67% of those who agreed to ECT felt pressured into having it, 43% said they did not experience any long term benefits and 57% said they had suffered side effects, including:

Headaches and loss of memory.

Grogginess and loss of sensory perceptions.

Brain damage and brain lesions.

Those prescribed the treatment, which sends an electric current through the brain in an effort to lift depression and interrupt thought patterns, also felt it could have affected learning ability.

Most of the comments were negative.

One woman said she didn’t even know her husband - “he was a complete stranger to me for an hour or two”.

Nearly half of the people who had ECT were unclear about whether there were any benefits from it, while only 20% said there were benefits.

The authors of the report noted a lot of fear and uncertainty surrounding the treatment and recommended that if prescribed, the benefits and the side effects should be explained to the user and their family.

The report, which was funded by the Western Health Board, found “the majority of reported feelings about ECT are quite disturbing and range from outright terror, helplessness and apathy, to feelings of coercion.”