Gareth O'Callaghan: ECT is unsafe, say campaigners. So why is it still used in Irish hospitals?

As the Oireachtas debates the Mental Health Bill, Gareth O'Callaghan weighs up expert opinion and patients' testimony, and concludes electro-convulsive therapy may cause considerable harm

Lou Reed wrote bitingly about the electro-convulsive therapy he was subjected to as a form of conversion therapy for his 'homosexual urges' when he was in his teens. 

“That’s why I survived, because I still believe I’ve got something to say". 

This is how Lou Reed described his life in conversation with American Songwriter magazine. Reed had a lot to say about life; his feelings are immortalised in his lyrics.