A new Columbia University study published in the January issue of the journal Neuropsychopharmacology found that shock treatment, also know as "electroconvulsive therapy" (ECT), causes permanent damage to memory, cognitive abilities and reaction time. In the study, leading ECT advocate Harold Sackeim reverses his decades-long denial of the debilitating damage caused by ECT. Sackeim, who co-authored the study, has been one of the most outspoken proponents of ECT and in the recent study failed to disclose his financial interests in ECT device manufacturer Mecta Corp. The study found, "Greater amnesia for autobiographical events was significantly correlated with the number of ECT treatments received 6-months earlier." The study's authors wrote that "this study provides the first evidence in a large, prospective sample that adverse cognitive effects can persist for an extended period, and that they characterize routine treatment with ECT in community settings." In the post-ECT assessment, the study found that "In each instance, older patients and those with lower estimated intellectual function had more severe deficits" and "The gender differences...reflected greater deficits in women than in men." Shockingly, it is elderly women, the most at risk, who are the most common recipients of ECT--almost 50% of those receiving electroshock are over 65 years old and women comprise two-thirds of ECT recipients. The U.S. psychiatric industry today reaps an estimated $5 billion a year from the administration of ECT. Of the estimated 300 Americans who die each year from electroshock, 250 are elderly.
Click CCHR for more information on the debilitating effects of psychiatric treatment.
Kevin Hall
Citizens Commission on Human Rights New England
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