ECT for 16 year olds !

‘Not nearly as barbaric today ‘ ‘in most people it’s quite safe’
It has been used for 80 years

MIND -

main side effect is memory loss (which is also common after seizures caused by epilepsy). This is usually short-term, but can be very significant, disabling and long-lasting in some people and is a cause of anxiety. Personal experiences

MIND
What problems can it treat

have severe, life-threatening depression
• have not responded to medication or talking treatments
• have found it helpful in the past and have asked to receive it again • have severe postnatal depression
It may sometime be used if you:
• are experiencing a manic or psychotic episode which is severe or is lasting a long time
• are catatonic (staying frozen in one position for a long time; or repeating the same movement for no obvious reason; or being extremely restless, unrelated to medication)
It may also be used when it is important to have an immediate effect; for example, because you are so depressed that you are unable to eat or drink, and are in danger of kidney failure.

For children ?

Annie sadly teens may
have severe, life-threatening depression & have not responded to medication or talking treatments.

It is not a happy situation for anyone. I cannot imagine anybody wants this to be the option but if it is the chance for someone...

PECS, for a child to be given ECT they must have gone through ‘medication ‘ counselling’, there has to be a history of mental illness , in America children with the likes of Aspergers are given ECT, is this happening in this country

annie I did not see the debate on TV so am only giving my opinion that whilst ECT is a severe treatment I do not percieve it as the appalling treatment as administered in the past. I cannot speak for medics in US..I hsve no experience there. .

I had no idea ECT was still used. I remember it many many years ago, 40+ years. It did seem barbaric at the time but hopefully it has improved. It seems very harsh to use on teenagers though.

PECS. I am trying to understand why 16 year old children have been given ECT, I only mentioned America because they do treat young children with ECT for Aspergers.

Reading the reasons from MIND when patients can be considered for this treatment, those awful symptoms cannot appear in a year , there is medication, counselling first, ECT is considered when all else fails, surely the teens is too young to claim all other treatments have failed.

ECT isn’t as barbaric now, patients are not strapped to beds, but the risks are the same.

ECT has been used since the 1930’s yet still little research as been carried out. Not all hospitals treat patients with it, I question why if it is a success

Anniebach stop getting carried away and sensationalising the matter. More up to date posters have informed you of the current situation.

Jane10, your post is the most insulting and patronising I have received on this forum and I have had some stinkers ,

Do not tell me how or what to post

Post what you like. You want opinions you got them.

Friend of mine has had over 20 done and he is fine

So sad to hear.your kindness was probably nearer the truth.i thought the asylum treatment of years ago was left behind....scary thought that some traumatised teen can be given ect .

I am baffled how someone can be fine after over 20 treatments, the average is 4 to 12, and I think the limit for the very, very ill is 20.

Yes Abergail, a child of sixteen would have to have been through various medications and counselling, and suffer from the degrees of mental health problems I listed and which were published by MIND

Kathyd

I was a mental health nurse in the 60s and assisted with many ECT treatments both straight and modified. Patients were never strapped down for the treatment. In those days we were limited as to treatment for severe illness and for a lot of people ECT relieved their symptoms. It's easy to criticise things which happened so long ago, I'm not sure we can rest on our laurels with the treatment meted out to people with mental health problems now.

sodapop, no one has said patients were strapped down in the 60’s.

I am questioning what is being done now

Why? Morbid interest?

Your post said ^patients are no longer strapped down Anniebach

Yes I did but I didn’t say in the sixties

Jane why the snipping ?

I get a bit tired of assumptions being made that patients in large psychiatric hospitals were badly treated in earlier years. The large hospitals often provided a safe haven for people who couldn't cope by reason of mental illness. Of course it wasn't perfect and some hospitals were better than others but what do we have now? definitely not much improvement.

sodapop, were 16 year olds given ECT when you were nursing in the 60’s ?

No they were not Anniebach. The hospital where I worked had a children's unit and a mother and baby unit. It was quite progressive for the time. ECT was only used in the adult wards.

The only tests that I remember seeing/accompanying at the hospital were EEG's on younger patients ( teens ) with epilepsy or similar problems that tested the activity of the brain. I had to mark the graph every so often when there was an abnormal signal.
I don't remember ECT's on very young patients even in the '50's.

Thank you sodapop . My concern, and it is concern not morbid interest. We know there are concerns for children not receiving the help they need for mental health problems. With the problems in the NHS is ECT given because it works faster than other treatments. This does trouble me.

Thank you Ellen