JESSICA RAWNSLEY
Categories: All Climate Protest + Activism Global Social Justice Data-driven Science + Tech
THE OBSERVER
Is ECT therapy safe? Postcode prescribing leaves patients at mercy of psychiatric opinions
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Soon after her “episodes” began in 2008, Abigail was admitted to a psychiatric ward. She told doctors of the domestic abuse she had endured during her 15-year marriage, and of the plan she had made to escape with her three children. She was diagnosed with depression and sent home.
But the suicidal thoughts persisted and the anti-depressants and anti-psychotics she had been prescribed failed to alleviate her distress. Eventually, Abigail was diagnosed with “treatment-resistant depression” and was started on a course of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), in which electric currents are passed through the brain under general anaesthetic to induce a seizure.
The memory loss began almost immediately. “I went from being a doctor to not remembering what I’d done a few seconds before, or my kids’ names,” says Abigail, who did not want to use her full name. She could not recall words, or the faces of friends or family, even how to count. Decades on, entire chapters of her life remain erased from her memory. She never returned to work.
But the suicidal thoughts persisted and the anti-depressants and anti-psychotics she had been prescribed failed to alleviate her distress. Eventually, Abigail was diagnosed with “treatment-resistant depression” and was started on a course of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), in which electric currents are passed through the brain under general anaesthetic to induce a seizure.
The memory loss began almost immediately. “I went from being a doctor to not remembering what I’d done a few seconds before, or my kids’ names,” says Abigail, who did not want to use her full name. She could not recall words, or the faces of friends or family, even how to count. Decades on, entire chapters of her life remain erased from her memory. She never returned to work.
