I sat down with Greg Threadgold, an ECT patient who feels ECT saved his life. We had a sincere discussion about the differences in treatment practices and the need to prevent injury among ECT patients.

Sadly, Greg's experienced his first episode of symptoms associated with delayed electrical injury eight years after having 13 treatments. His experience speaks to the reality that even "successful ECT outcomes" carry the risk of developing low-voltage diffuse electrical injury symptoms years after treatment. Paroxysmal neurological disorders from electrical injuries acquired channelopthathies can be difficult to recognize and diagnose.

We desperately need researchers who study acquired brain injuries and/or repetitive head injuries to do a retrospective study on people with a history of shock treatment to identify needs associated with the delayed effects of repeatedly exposing the brain to 900 milliamps/450 volts of electricity. 

Dr. Bennet Omalu, the neuropathologist who first identified and published on Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy among American's Football Players, stated in California's Department of Rehabilitation TBI Advisory Board Meeting that electroconvulsive therapy must be considered through the lens of a repetitive electrical injury to the head. The neuropathology of ECT is clear. It's both a repetitive head injury and an electrical injury--and must be considered as such when considering the functional acquired brain injury to develop appropriate interventional rehabilitative care. (Omalu, B. (2019, August). TBI Advisory Board Meeting of California's Department of Rehabilitation, Sacramento, CA).  

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