Almost 300 people in Suffolk have been given electroconvulsive therapy to treat a mental health problem since 2012, new figures reveal.
The controversial procedure, also known as ECT, involves sending an electrical current through the brain to trigger a seizure lasting between 20 and 50 seconds in a bid to relieve the symptoms of a psychological disorder.
Although ECT has a stigma, compounded by frightening representations seen on movies such as One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Dr Bohdan Solomka, medical director at Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT), said it was an effective and safe treatment of major depression, resistant mania and catatonia, when other methods had failed.
Explaining how it works, Dr Solomka said: “There is evidence that severe depression is caused by problems in releasing certain brain chemicals. It is thought that ECT causes the release of these chemicals which can aid recovery.
“Recent research also suggests that ECT can help the growth of new cells and nerve pathways in certain areas of the brain.”
He added: “Most clinicians find that there is stigma attached to ECT and this may result in service users being less likely to consider it as a treatment.”
The figures, released by NSFT following a Freedom of Information request, show that between 2012 and April 2017, 187 patients received ECT at the Woodlands unit in Ipswich; while between 2013 and May 2017, 105 patients were given the treatment at Wedgwood House in Bury St Edmunds.
On average, patients are offered six to 12 doses of ECT over different sessions, Dr Solomka said.
However, the therapy can carry “disabling” side-effects. In the short-term, these can include headaches, muscle aches, sickness, memory loss and damage to the tongue, teeth or lips; but patients can also experience long-term memory problems as well a personality change or loss of skills, Dr Solomka said.
Ezra Hewing, head of mental health education at Suffolk Mind, said: “It goes without saying that when people consent to receiving ECT they should be made fully aware of the side-effects. These include memory loss, which while usually short-term, can be disabling, long-lasting and a cause of anxiety.
“In some extreme cases, where mental ill health is preventing a patient from eating or drinking and they are at risk of kidney failure, medical professionals may decide that ECT is the only course of action.”
Dr Solomka said there had been a “marked reduction” in usage of ECT in the UK over the past 30 years because research conducted since the 1990s had shown it was successful in treating fewer conditions than previously thought.
Case study
A mother-of-two who had ECT as a “last resort” after battling severe depression and anorexia since her childhood has said the procedure ‘shocked me back to life’.
The woman, who did not have the treatment in this region, has chosen to stay anonymous because she said she struggled with the stigma attached to mental illness.
After antidepressant pills and talk therapy failed to help, doctors suggested she tried ECT. She went for regular sessions over the period of a year in 2003.
Speaking to this newspaper, the woman said: “After each treatment, my body and head ached. I was disoriented and confused for most of the day, sometimes longer.”
The patient, 40, said her memory around that time was “fuzzy”, and she believes ECT has had a permanent impact as she now found it more difficult to retain information.
However, she said: “ECT shocked me back to reality, back to life.
“I slowly regained my sense of self and was able to live a life worth living - with lots of support from family, friends, and above all, my husband.”
Despite the “potential heavy side-effects”, the patient said it was a method worth considering for anyone with extreme depression, as it did seem to work for her.
She added: “ECT does not deserve the stigma and criticism it currently receives.”
The woman has set up an anonymous Twitter account - @OutOfDescent - speaking about her experiences with mental illness, and she is also writing a memoir, which she hopes to release under her real name.
• Have you had ECT? Tell us your story.
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