Internationally, national non-profit organizations work to increase awareness, educate and advocate for Mental Health. (For example, in the United States, the most well-known advocacy is the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI)). In the United Kingdom, it is MIND.

Today, 10 August 2020, Stephen Buckley, Head of Information at UK's Mind, issued a letter to Dr. John Read regarding the UK's call for a formal inquiry into ECT's safety and efficacy. In the letter, he said:

“At Mind, we back calls for a comprehensive review into the use of Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT), an archaic and potentially risky physical treatment that is still used to treat mental health problems in rare cases. We know that some people have found it effective for improving symptoms of mental health problems – particularly depression – when nothing else has worked. However, we still don’t know why it works or how effective it is. Some people who have had ECT may have found they experience adverse side effects that are worse than the symptoms of the problem they’re trying to treat, including short term or longer term memory loss.

“It’s vital that a range of treatment options are offered and any side effects are explained properly. The decision to use ECT should never be taken lightly by the person receiving it, or the doctors presenting it as a treatment option. According to current NICE guidelines (which are used by the NHS), before anyone has ECT they should be fully informed about the procedure, made aware of all possible side effects and give informed consent where possible. After each ECT session, individuals should be assessed to determine whether treatment should continue. It’s important to talk through your treatment options with your GP.”

We want to thank Mr. Buckley for choosing to prioritize patient safety, and informed consent.

Here is the link to the full details: Mind backs calls for a review into the use of Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT)