In this instance, science is not important to me. I say this because it truly isn’t. ECT is used as a last resort. Imagine this scenario: You are suicidal and all other treatments have failed. You will end up committing suicide or you will be hospitalized indefinitely (possibly for life, if treatments don’t work) for your own safety. The alternative is to try ECT. At that point, I believe whatever ECT might do to my brain can’t be as bad as what a bullet would do.

That is my official stance on ECT. I would rather have electricity shot through my brain than a bullet and I say this during a period of stability.

In Ray Sandford’s case, the laws simply need to be changed to eliminate loopholes allowing involuntary ECT. Even if the machines were tested, it would not stop cases such as that. This is all I have to say on this subject. Change the laws concerning involuntary treatment. Leave ECT as a treatment option. I agree to disagree and move on.

The very same FDA we are asked to trust with their testing approved many prescription medications that caused strokes, heart attacks and death. In a lot of cases, these were medications deemed safe by the FDA after relatively short clinical trials. People started taking these FDA approved medications and died from them. These were brand new drugs that received approval far too quickly without adequate testing.

ECT, on the other hand, has been used for many decades. Want to talk about the risks? The risk of death from ECT is roughly 4 in 100,000. In Britain, about 138,000 people receive ECT each year and statistically that means 6 people would die from it. However, over 400 people die in Britain each year from accidental overdose of antidepressants.

Let’s talk about a drug that people believe to be very safe–Tylenol. Acetaminophen overdose is one of the most common poisonings worldwide. No other over-the-counter drug has a narrower range between therapy and toxicity than acetaminophen. 50,000 visit an emergency room and about 500 people die each year due to acetaminophen overdose. About 50% are accidental.

Now, they estimate that 100,000 people receive ECT each year in America. Statistically 4 of those would die, so 4 people will die in America due to ECT and around 250 will die due to accidental Tylenol overdose. Which sounds more dangerous? Tylenol, you say? Impossible. The FDA said it was safe.

FDA testing isn’t very comforting.

For the record, my mother works in a state run mental hospital and works with patients who have been abandoned by their families. The state decides what care they receive. ECT is not administered to them because they are incapable of giving informed consent and they do not have families that will provide consent. ECT is not given without consent in “my neck of the woods”.

I am curious…if you aren’t interested in having ECT, then why is it a big issue for you? There are a lot of people who say ECT is the only effective treatment for their condition. If you are not going to receive ECT, why do you care if the machines are tested or not?

“The manufacturers say the tests would be too expensive and therefore they would have to get out the business. Doctors could be jailed for offering their patients treatment.”

Can you really justify taking away a treatment that people say works for them? It’s a funny thing. The people asking for and receiving ECT aren’t asking for safety testing. People who would never consider it are.

Also: people ARE forced to get ECT all the time.

“who wants to course electricity through their brain on a machine that hasn’t even been tested for safety?”

The thing with ECT is this: No one is forcing anyone to get it. Likewise, no one should be telling anyone they can’t get it.

I personally feel that religious groups should not be involved in making decisions concerning mental health care.

It’s ludicrous to believe that mental illness is all in one’s head as Scientology is claiming. Preventing treatment of mental illness opens up a lot of problems for society. Do we want a world where mental illness is uncontrolled? Medications are essential in controlling episodes and it’s highly needed to regulate mental illness. I hope that the FDA takes this all into consideration rather than listening to a cult that has no scientific backing. Mental illness is as real as cancer and diabetes. It should be treated as such.