Electroconvulsive Therapy

300 ECT sessions is far beyond the normal standard of care. I don’t know what NZ was like in 1994 but in 2024 Europe MRI is done routinely. The article also mentioned that the surgery for the benign cyst caused a stroke.

The fake expert quoted at length is a known psychologist and ideological activist who denies the existence of mental illness and who openly stated on twitter it’s all just trauma response. Can’t reason with people who don’t accept basic premise of reality.

 

More women get ECT for the simple reason that more women get depression than men. It’s a 60:40 split. There’s no conspiracy. The activists are trying to spin this into some women’s rights issue.

 

I'm sure I'm not alone in this, but my depression was fixed by taking sufficient iron to boost my ferritin to mid-range. Until I treated myself doctors would prescribe 2 or 3 months of iron supplements and then never re-test or prescribe again for several years. When I did my own testing and treating to get my ferritin to mid-range my depression vanished - but it took nearly two years. Two or three months worth of iron wasn't even touching the sides.

A few years ago, when Twitter was still Twitter and I could still read it, there was a thread I found from a young woman complaining that her ferritin level was only 6 and she felt terrible and her doctor thought it was "good enough". This opened the floodgates and the thread ended up with what seemed like thousands of women saying pretty much the same thing over and over again. Doctors think that raising ferritin level to just within range is "good enough" or any level close to, but under, the range was also "good enough". I wouldn't be surprised if depression was a common side effect in women due to the fact they have periods for many years and they are permanently short of iron.

I have seen suggestions in articles from doctors and researchers that the reference ranges for iron and ferritin in women are too low because doctors expect that women are always going to be "a little bit anaemic", and this is "normal for women".

I was first diagnosed and treated with anaemia aged 10, then again at 13 but was not treated, then I was diagnosed and treated aged 15. After that doctors mostly stopped testing me for anything but Full Blood Counts which will show anaemia if haemoglobin is under range. But iron deficiency begins long before some women show low haemoglobin, and should be treated, but rarely is, in my experience.

I agree there isn't a conspiracy. There is just this entrenched belief that women whinge a lot for no reason.

 

Memory loss is a well established problem with ECT and informed consent includes explaining that. My wife lost a lot of memory to begin with but almost all of it has returned. Moreover, for things that were disappointing to have forgotten, prompts have brought them back.

The argument posed in the press about ECT is always too black and white. There are downsides but the upside far outweighs them. People with severe biological depression often die or simply vegetate in institutions - far worse than death for all concerned. Activists who want to tell horror stories should come up with a decent alternative before they put people off the one thing that can bring their life back.

 

I agree, there should always be informed consent. Records don't often show the process of informed consent and psychiatrists should always record this discussion, otherwise they can be sued just like surgeons if they don't mention postoperative infections etc. We were taught always to record the whole extent of the risks and benefits of the treatments and the alternatives and discuss anaesthetic risks (which the anaesthetist would also go over but we would do this initially with the client and their family).

I think it is very difficult to comment on the amount without knowing her full psychiatric history. It could be the psychiatrist was excessive with this treatment (or there could have been more than one over time). I do know a few clients in our service who had 200 over a couple year period. This client had a very high risk of suicide. Only with a full history could one say her's was excessive.

The practice of psychiatry and the use of ECT changed quite a lot during my training, which is good as ECT has been used as a tool for torture and coercion in NZ on children and adults and I met some of those people that experienced this during my years of practice.

I think there is a standard approach to informed consent and that is what I was taught as a member of this college. You will probably be aware that many of our psychiatrists are not trained in this college. But of course, any psychiatrist can omit telling people of the risks and they are open to be sued regardless of ACC's position. She appears to have grounds for that but the passage of time will sadly make this difficult.

Any client or mental health professional (other than the treating psychiatrist) can complain about their clients or their own current and past care. Clients under the Mental Health Act can access a lawyer and question their treatment under the Mental Health Act and get them to argue on their behalf in front of a judge. All psych services have an area District Inspector - a lawyer who overseas clients rights and treatments and they are very active in their work especially around seclusion and detention.

Losing one's autobiographic memory due to ECT is very difficult and I hope she is getting counselling or mental health support (paid by the government).

There are several anti-ECT groups in NZ and other groups that are anti-the Mental Health Act (coercion). There has been so for many years, It comes up in the news every so often. I think it is good for people to tell their stories and look at our mental health system and get the justice they deserve. There is no doubt there has been appalling treatment in our mental health service over the years. I think it is important to recognise that things have changed it this area but also there will always be mistakes, errors, rogue practitioners etc. just like in any other area of medicine.

Interestingly, although ECT has always had a very negative reputation, I found when I had to prescribe it for people with severe depression, they and their family are willing to have ECT even with the known side effects as there is no other treatment available. They are given time to decide and written information. Often I don't think people appreciate the remarkable recovery people have with ECT. It is life saving.