A patient and a professor have jumped to the defence of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), the controversial treatment which involves inducing an epileptic fit in the brains of mental health patients. They have also spoken up on behalf of Bristol psychiatric staff, describing them as caring while achieving excellent results.
Bristol Live recently revealed that the Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust (AWP) was England’s most prolific user of ECT and published the account of a former doctor who said the treatment “destroyed” him and cost him his career.
Previously thought a sort of miracle cure, and safer than the chemical-based treatments for psychosis which preceded it, ECT has come under fire in recent years for a range of potentially serious side effects and a lack of all but anecdotal evidence for its effectiveness.
