ECT Does Not Cause Brain "Damage" Nor Injury: New Review in JECT
Out On PubMed, in JECT, is this article:
What Is Brain Damage and Does Electroconvulsive Therapy Cause It?
PMID: 38771065
The abstract is copied below:
Surveys show public misperceptions and confusion about brain damage and electroconvulsive therapy (ECT). Fictional movies have misrepresented ECT to suggest brain damage and to ridicule mental illness and psychiatric patients. "Brain damage" has become a colloquial expression without consistent meaning. In contrast, brain injury is the medical term for destruction of brain cells, such as from kinetic impact (concussion), hypoxia, or infection. Studies of both high-resolution magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and enzyme assays find that causes of brain injury are accompanied by observable structural changes on MRI and elevated blood and cerebrospinal fluid levels of brain enzymes that leak from injured brain cells. Concussion is also followed by intracerebral bleeding, progressive brain atrophy, diffuse axonal injury, cranial nerve injury, and 2-4 fold increased risk for dementia. In contrast, there is no evidence that ECT produces any of these. Studies of ECT patients find no brain edema, structural change persisting 6 months, or elevated levels of leaked brain enzymes. Statistical comparisons between brain injury and ECT effects indicate no similarity (P < 0.00000001). Moreover, the kinetic, thermal, and electrical effects of ECT are far below levels that could possibly cause harm. This robust evidence shows that there is no basis to claim that ECT causes brain injury.
The review is here.
And from the text:
This is a very interesting review by eminent ECT scholar Conrad Swartz. Lots of excellent information here and some dramatic use of statistics.
All ECT healthcare professionals should read this; the data comprise an excellent rebuttal to the anti-ECT lies about "brain damage."
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