Mary had given birth to her daughter Claire two weeks earlier. I don’t remember where I ate or slept or who came to see me.” “I spent eight weeks in the psychiatric hospital and most of it is gone. “It completely wiped everything out,” she says. In fact, she says, she has lost entire chunks of her life. Memory loss was the biggest side-effect of the treatment. MARY MADDOCK (62) doesn’t remember anything about the first time she received electroconvulsive therapy (ECT). By HSE region, the west had the highest use of ECT, followed by the south and Dublin Mid-Leinster. It was followed by St Brigid’s, Ballinasloe (281), St John of God Hospital, Dublin (189) and Waterford Regional Hospital’s department of psychiatry (181). St Patrick’s University Hospital in Dublin – a private hospital – administered the highest number of individual ECT treatments (867), partly because it is a national referral centre. The national average was seven sessions, while in St John of God Hospital, Dublin, the figure was nine. There were also differences over what was considered to be a standard “programme” of ECT. Official figures also confirm major variations in its use across the State, with patients in some areas much more likely to receive it than in others. The college cites recent Scottish evidence which indicated that 86 per cent of people who received ECT in circumstances where consent was not given recorded an improvement in their condition.Ĭollege president Dr Justin Brophy also said new research indicated that memory loss among patients was often short-term and could be fully resolved.ĮCT use has been falling in recent years, with a greater emphasis on alternative therapies. However, professional bodies such as the College of Psychiatry say ECT is an important and potentially life-saving treatment, which has helped many patients recover from mental ill-health. It seems that very often the benefits are short-lived, lasting no longer than a matter of weeks or even days.” “While some very depressed patients undoubtedly benefit from it, many don’t. “We wouldn’t accept this in any other form of medicine, yet we accept it in mental health,” Mr McCarthy said. Mental health campaigner John McCarthy said there should be no circumstances where ECT is administered without the consent of a patient. The figures, compiled by the Mental Health Commission, come at a time when campaigners are calling for an outright ban on forced administration of ECT.Ĭampaign groups representing service users such as MindFreedom Ireland and Mad Pride say the procedure is overused and want the forced used of ECT to be banned. However, where a patient is unable or unwilling to give consent, ECT must be approved by two consultant psychiatrists. In general, ECT may only be administered with the patient’s written consent. Official rules on ECT use state that it should only be used when alternative therapies have been considered or proved ineffective. Other reasons given included the physical deterioration of the patient, suicidal behaviour or because a rapid response was needed. The treatment was most commonly prescribed where a patient’s mental illness was not responsive to medication. Most patients who received ECT last year were diagnosed with depressive disorders, followed by schizophrenia and mania. The real scale of ECT usemin may be significantly higher, as the figures do not include patients who were referred to other hospitals for treatment. However, many mental health campaigners say the forced use of ECT is a human rights abuse and is the source of long-lasting side-effects such as memory loss. ![]() ![]() The resulting seizure can have significant beneficial effects, according to consultant psychiatrists. Of these, at least 43 involuntarily detained patients were either unable or unwilling to consent to about 300 doses of the treatment.ĮCT involves an electrical current being passed through the brain via electrodes applied to the scalp. Official statistics compiled for the first time show that about 400 psychiatric patients received 2,700 electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) treatments during 2008. PATIENTS INVOLUNTARILY detained in psychiatric hospitals last year received hundreds of treatments of electric shock therapy against their will.
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