The controversial psychiatric treatment electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) was the target of a protest outside of Meadowfield Hospital in Worthing, West Sussex on Saturday 25 September.
Protesters gathered outside of the hospital entrance to highlight the brain damage being caused to patients being given ECT. The Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR) which organised the protest, points to information in a documentary showing how high-voltage ECT damages and kills brain cells.
According to the documentary Therapy or Torture – The Truth About Electroshock, high-voltage electricity, which creates an electric field inside a patient’s skull, can tear holes in the cell wall in the brain, overwhelming the brain’s repair mechanism. The holes allow toxic material to enter, and the cell dies, resulting in brain damage.
Psychiatrists who prescribe and use electric shock treatment deny causing brain damage. CCHR says if they admitted liability for the harm being caused, there would likely be a series of prosecutions that would be extremely detrimental for their business.
In 2018, the number of ‘shock’ treatments at the Worthing ECT clinic was 837 compared to 238 in 2011, a 251% increase. To try and ease public perception about the damage being inflicted, psychiatrists claim the ECT procedure is ‘new and improved,’ and that it’s ‘safer.’ CCHR says that while the anaesthetics and paralysing agents that are used can make the shock procedure appear less barbaric, that’s only for the benefit of the person watching the shock happen. For the person being shocked, there’s no difference. The anaesthesia and drugs raise the seizure threshold, requiring much more electricity to induce a convulsion, putting the patient at greater risk. CCHR also points to the use of high-voltage electricity which can kill brain cells by heating them to dangerously high temperatures.
People are being encouraged to contact their MP to bring attention to the controversial treatment which is being accepted on the basis of junk science.
