Pendulums in Medical Practice: ECT is One of the Examples

Out on PubMed, from an author in Pennsylvania, is this article:

Pendulums in medical practice.

Kant ME.Med Leg J. 2025 Mar 27:258172241304558. doi: 10.1177/00258172241304558. Online ahead of print.PMID: 40145410

The abstract is copied below:

Medicine is taught as a science, but in reality, as with other areas that undergo much public scrutiny, it is often more of an art than a science. Particularly when dealing with controversial areas, physicians often attempt to employ the "standard of care" as a guide to practising medicine, and to protect themselves. However, the standard of care itself is often a reactive and temporary construct. A number of practices serve as good examples of accepted patient care that has swung completely from one extreme to another. The history of opiate prescribing in this country exemplifies a complete swing in practice fundamentals among US physicians, where opiates have been repeatedly embraced, and then vilified. Numerous other practices demonstrating this phenomenon can be cited, including the use of electroconvulsive therapy for depression, and hormone replacement for postmenopausal women. Research funding itself has been subject to pendulum swings, such as occurred during the recent pandemic. Currently, there are a number of similar, very active issues of debate, such as marijuana for widespread medical use, and the employment of hallucinogens for addiction and other mental health disorders. Considerable harm has occurred to some patients when extremes of these pendulum swings have impacted their medical care. It is urged that in practising medicine, physicians consider the entire body of medical evidence accumulated during these pendulum swings, and then have the courage and wisdom to represent the best interests of their patients.

Keywords: ECT; hormone replacement therapy; medical pendulums; medico-legal; opiate addiction; opiate prescribing; pain relief.

The article is here.

Here is the ECT part:

The overall message here about ECT, that the pendulum of stigma swung way too far against it, is a good one. Some of the details here suggest a non-expert understanding of the treatment, and I certainly hope the bit about future ECT practitioners is wrong...