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The Death of Electroconvulsive Therapy
Hanafy Youssef, D.M., D.P.M., F.R.C.Psych.
Ross Thomson Unit
Route Hospital
Ballymoney, County Antrim
Northern Ireland
Fatma Youssef, D.N.Sc., M.P.H., R.N.
Professor of Nursing Science
School of Health Professions
Marymount University
Arlington, Virginia, USA
ABSTRACT
In Italy, where it began more than 62 years ago, ECT has almost been abolished.
In some countries, however, ECT is still used inappropriately, particularly in
elderly patients. There is no medical, moral, or legal justification for ECT, and
the new requirements of modern psychiatric practice can all be achieved without
it. Like prefrontal lobotomy and all previous shock treatments, ECT is non-viable.
The death of ECT will help promote mental health and put the treatment
where it belongs - in the archaeology of science.
INTRODUCTION
The introduction of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) into psychiatry
and the enthusiasm with which it was adopted coincided temporally with
the lack of other therapies for mental illness. Indeed, evidence that ECT
has a beneficial effect is sparse. In contrast, there are many indications of
its ineffectiveness and association with various forms of harm. The role of
ECT in modern psychiatry needs re-evaluation, and the time may have
come to abandon this unscientific treatment.1
By directive of the Minister of Health, use of ECT has been nearly abolished
in Italy, where it began 62 years ago.2 Curiously enough, the
Minister's instruction stirred no protest by that country's medical profession, and many psychiatrists welcomed the pronouncement. It is encouraging to
know that ECT is nearly obsolete in Germany and Holland.
In Italy, the commission convened to evaluate ECT stated that the procedure was
out of line with recent trends and was distinguished by improper use and abuse.
Moreover, despite considerable research in recent decades, its mode of action had
not been clarified. One commission member described ECT as belonging to the
archaeology of science, adding that it should be acknowledged only for what it
meant in the 1940s.
Notions that ECT could become more humane by legislation and the intervention
of professional societies and colleges are an illusion. As a 1998 report stated, "Two
thirds of ECT clinics fall short of the most recent college standards, particularly in relation
to the frequency of Consultant attendance and training of junior doctors. These
problems have not been fully resolved by 20 years of audit and college activity. There
should be a continuing debate as to what future intervention might be considered."3
Is ECT Still Abused?
In the past, inappropriate uses of ECT were brought to light by patients and pressure
groups. The history of ECT, its abuse, and resultant unfavorable publicity are
responsible for its increasingly reduced use.1 We have been told that various bills
introduced by legislators in the United States, professional societies, and the UK
Royal College of Psychiatrists would make abuse a thing of the past.4,5 But it still
exists, as this case report indicates. A 30-year-old patient committed suicide while
undergoing ECT at Gartnaval Hospital in Scotland.6 Hospital records stated that he
had refused ECT again and again. Health officials were accused of negligence leading
to his death, and his family was awarded £50,000. This case exposed the UK's
system of a required second opinion before use of ECT as a farce.
In spite of the Mental Health Act and various guidelines to safeguard against
coercive treatments, an estimated 20,000 patients a year receive ECT in the United
Kingdom, where many foreign doctors receive their psychiatric training. It is therefore
not surprising that ECT is big business in private clinics and private hospitals
in developing countries.
As the case report showed, ECT is not a suicide preventive.7 In fact, the mortality
risk after ECT is higher than in patients who do not receive ECT.8 Death due to ECT
may be rare, but the procedure can sometimes be fatal. A survey of all ECT treatments
given with anesthesia in Denmark found a death rate of 1 in 22,000 treatments,
ie, 4 to 5 unnecessary deaths per 100,000 treatments.9 In the past, when ECT
was delivered without anesthesia, crush fractures of the vertebrae, among other
fractures, occurred. Modified ECT with anesthesia and muscle relaxants is said to be
safe; however, when death occurs, it is ascribed to the risk of anesthesia. Yet a significant
proportion of anesthetists prefer not to become involved in ECT practice
and research.10
Abuse of ECT in the young has surfaced in the past, but abuse in the elderly may
go unnoticed.
ECT in the Elderly
ECT continues to be described as one of the most effective treatments for serious
depressive disorders in the elderly, despite the memory disturbance and confusion
that often accompany its use.11 An old person who refuses ECT may nevertheless be
subjected to this procedure by formal certificate under the (UK) Mental Health Act.
One defender of ECT in the elderly claimed that "Surgical procedures like mastectomy
and episiotomy are accepted without any comments and ECT seems to be
judged by different rules, often irrationally. So it is important that psychiatrists
should not be apologetic about ECT."12 For this individual, who admits to no
absolute contraindication to its use, ECT is even recommended as a treatment of
dementia. Moreover, according to one survey, 20% of British psychogeriatricians
have been administering maintenance ECT for many years.13 To justify its use, a
video was prepared to educate the elderly. Some researchers judged that videos
were unhelpful for this purpose.14
In the elderly, anxiety may increase and worsen with further treatment.15
Confusion is common. Undue confusion after ECT may be managed by lengthening
the interval between treatments.16 Bilateral ECT causes lasting effects on memory,17
but in most cases, the elderly receiving ECT were provided no adequate explanation
about possible risks.18 The widely used Ectron Series 5A machine has a maximum
output of 700 millicoulombs (MC) but is underpowered for patients with a high
seizure threshold, who are often elderly. These patients, it is claimed, need the 750-
MC Thymatron DGX machine.19
When confusion intensifies with treatment and ECT fails, the fault is often laid at
the feet of the elderly patient, who is characterized as hypochondriac and neurotic,
with diminished intellect.20 The relapse rate of depressive illnesses is high unless
therapy continues with antidepressant medications.21 ECT is given generally twice
or thrice weekly, though the latter schedule conferred no advantage over the former.
The claim that ECT has a role in the care of the severely depressed elderly patient
ignores the impairment in autobiographical memory of subjective experience related
to melancholia. Memory loss was severe in some ECT patients but was not
observed in those receiving antidepressants.23 The course of ECT is usually 6 to
12 treatments, and proponents of this procedure claim that the risks are related to
anesthesia. One wonders how often these psychiatrists have had a general anesthetic
to justify their anesthetizing elderly patients 12 or more times in 2 to 3 months.
Convulsion and Anticonvulsion in the Treatment
of Affective Disorders
Cerebral electrical seizure is central to the claimed therapeutic effect of ECT. The
issue becomes complicated when one takes into account the value of anticonvulsants,
which are now used widely in the treatment and prevention of affective disorder.
We thus have seizures and pharmacologic anticonvulsants exerting antidepressant
effects.
Carbamazepine is reported to have antidepressant properties in some severely
depressed patients.24 Controlled and uncontrolled trials estimated that about 65% of
bipolar patients respond well to this drug.25 Sodium valproate also may have useful
prophylactic effects in patients with refractory bipolar illness who show a poor
response to lithium.26
The mechanisms of action of anticonvulsants that ameliorate mental disorders
make sense according to biochemical models of depression.
Carbamazepine blocks neuronal sodium channels and, like lithium, facilitates
some aspects of brain serotonergic function in humans.27 Sodium valproate can slow
the breakdown of the inhibitory neurotransmitter of gamma-aminobutyric acid.
Anticonvulsants affect the second messenger system (adenylate cyclase and phosphoinositide),
which is linked to the central action of catecholamines,28 and act
directly on monoamines, apparently reducing dopamine turnover.29
A mechanism of action of ECT has been pursued without success, although psychological
and biological explanations have been proposed. The result is a strange
situation in which psychiatrists attempt to treat the brain with drugs and electricity.
Early psychological explanations included the "fear hypothesis" - shocking the
brain to bring the patient face to face with a healthy reality 30 - and the "regression
and punishment hypotheses" - in which treatment is rendered by a strict but forgiving
father figure. Once treatment is concluded, guilt and fear are resolved.
Contemporary proponents claim that during ECT the seizure threshold of
patients tends to increase.31 Shocking the brain with electricity may lead to changes
in central neurotransmitter receptors and release of certain hormones.32 In rats, ECT
alters noradrenaline pathways.33 These changes are short-lived, and the findings are
pseudoscientific in that evidence for a lasting effect on the psychiatric illness is lacking.
After more than 60 years, proponents admit that the mode of action is not
known but aver that their clinical experience is more impressive than the philosophy
of science. Indeed, this attitude provides further proof that "electricity is a form
of treatment based on force and fraud, and justified by medical necessity....
It requires the sacrifice of the patient as a person, of the psychiatrist as a clinical
thinker and moral agent."34
The ECT Debate
Five key questions form the debate about ECT.35
First, does ECT correct a dysfunctional neurophysiologic mechanism or merely
cause neurologic dysfunction? ECT corrects nothing; it causes acute organic brain
syndrome. Indeed, it can make the electroencephalograph difficult to interpret for
a time, as each fit is followed by generalized theta and delta activity, which persists
with successive electric treatments. As therapy proceeds, the disturbance becomes
more widespread and involves higher voltage; alpha activity also may disappear.36
Second, are the immediate documented benefits of ECT confirmed in long-term
follow-up studies? Evidence of beneficial action of ECT is inadequate, and, as the
Northwick Park Trial demonstrated, may be primarily a placebo effect.37 In that trial,
70 patients with endogenous depression were randomly allocated to eight real or
eight simulated ECT treatments. No difference was found between the groups at
1- and 6-month follow-ups. The conclusion is that antidepressant effects of ECT are
transient. The favorable response to simulated ECT highlights the importance of
nursing, pharmacotherapy, and attention, even in severe cases of depression. No
studies have documented that long-term prognosis improved with ECT. Long-term
harm in some patients is well known, however.
Third, are present methods for obtaining informed consent sufficient? The long history
of ECT abuse shows that the patient's freedom of choice is rare - a state of affairs
described as "shameful."38 Coercion has involved the threat of detention and the
promise of discharge. A patient who consents to ECT is deemed capable of understanding
its nature, purpose, and likely effect in spite of coexisting memory disturbance,
anxiety, and pessimism. Refusal of ECT, on the other hand, triggers
a second opinion from another medical practitioner and forcible use of the procedure.
Fourth, can the alleged life-saving function of ECT be fulfilled by another treatment
at less cost to the patient's well-being? Modern psychiatry favors a biological
approach to treating mental illness. There is no need to shock the brain with electricity
and call it a life-saving therapy.
Fifth, are the observable side effects the only side effects, and is their diminution
over time more apparent than real? Those who administer ECT may accept anxiety,
headache, confusion, nausea, and vertigo as minor problems. The issue of ECT-induced
brain damage has been compared with that from boxing.39
CONCLUSION
There is no medical, moral, or legal justification for ECT. Like prefrontal lobotomy
and all previous forms of shock treatment, ECT is nonviable. The debate about
ECT is political, not scientific. Old Psychiatry armed with ECT was an attempt at
social and political control. Contrary to one view, ECT is an assault on the patient's
brain.40 In this millennium, psychiatrists will make use of knowledge in social sciences,
psychiatric epidemiology, and psychopharmacology. They will not need to
know about better ECT machines and weigh spurious claims of a proven worth in
clinical experience.
The measures against ECT in Italy and other European countries show that this is
a dying therapy. Nothing less than a total ban will help promote mental health and
close this shameful chapter in the history of psychiatry.
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