The FDA Wants to Approve ECT Without Testing

[Skyler]

By Peter Breggin, MD.  Taken from Mad in America, January 6, 2016

 

"In response to the FDA’s request for responses, I submitted the following statement. I urge others to respond quickly to the FDA’s call for comments. Comments are due by March 28, 2016.

 

The FDA Should Ban ECT Until It Goes Through Rigorous Testing

            

During routine ECT, the passage of the electric current through the brain causes an especially intense grand mal (generalized) convulsion, often accompanied by flat lining of the brain waves on the EEG and always resulting in a coma lasting several minutes or more.  On awakening, the patient suffers from a syndrome associated with traumatic brain injury, including trauma followed by unconsciousness, memory loss, disorientation and confusion.  The results, as with any trauma, grow worse with each exposure, as the ECT series progresses.  

          Therefore, there is no doubt that ECT damages the brain. Each treatment produces clinically obvious devastating acute results, described in many books and articles. The only question is "How complete is recovery?" and there is ample evidence that recovery is often incomplete, commonly leaving the individual with months of retrograde memory loss as well as ongoing cognitive losses. The long-term adverse effects closely parallel those of athletes who endure multiple high-impact concussions.  It is clear that ECT is among the most dangerous treatments used in medicine, surgery or psychiatry. The idea that is has any redeeming benefit continues to lack empirical evidence.  The common claim that it reduces the risk of suicide is not confirmed by a single scientific paper.  In a system of rational medicine, ECT would be banned." .....

[Skyler]

This also from Peter Breggin. Neuropathology and Cognitive Dysfunction from ECT.