THE PRACTICE of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) should be banned as it causes short- and long-term cognitive and intellectual damage, a mental health group claimed yesterday.
The Wellbeing Foundation said the practice should cease as research indicates it is an ineffective means of treating commonly occurring mental illnesses.
"We have found research from eminent medical professionals who say the treatment simply is not safe," Basil Miller of the Wellbeing Foundation said.
ECT is a psychiatric treatment in which seizures are electrically induced in anaesthetised patients for therapeutic effect. It is used to treat depression, schizophrenia and other mental disorders.
The Irish College of Psychiatrists and the Irish Psychiatric Association have defended it as "a valuable psychiatric treatment".
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