REALITY CHECK
ELECTROCONVULSIVE THERAPY: DOES THIS TREATMENT REALLY WORK?
ANALYSIS
Recent reports claim that the controversial treatment can cause brain damage and memory loss
A patient is prepared for ECT to treat severe depression
GETTY IMAGES
The use of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) as a treatment for severe mental health problems, including intractable depression, has come under renewed scrutiny. Sometimes referred to disparagingly as ‘shock therapy’, ECT involves passing an electric current through the brain to deliberately induce a brief seizure. The fresh concerns follow a series of recent newspaper reports based on an NHS audit that showed the continued widespread use of the practice in England.
The Independent ran a story that said, “Thousands of women given ‘dangerous’ electric shocks as mental health treatment in England”, which also featured an interview with a woman who’d received ECT and said it had badly affected her memory. The Observer ran the headline, “Brain damage claim leads to new row over electroshock therapy”.