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fyi. ----- Original Message ----- From: [log in to unmask] To: [log in to unmask] Sent: Saturday, January 29, 2011 3:11 AM Subject: [OZMad] from Eileen in NYC: NZ and UK review of ECT, for FDA meeting now Scientific Review Showing ECT To Be Ineffective And Unsafe Submitted To FDA On Eve Of Its ECT Hearings 24 Jan 2011 For decades the FDA has allowed electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) to be used without requiring any proof of safety or efficacy. On January 27 and 28 the FDA is finally holding hearings into the safety and effectiveness. Professors John Read (University of Auckland - NZ) and Richard Bentall (University of Liverpool - UK) have just submitted their review of the research literature - published last month in the international scientific journal Epidemiologia e Psychiatria Sociale. The review, of all relevant studies over 60 years, show only very minimal evidence for improvement during the treatment period and no evidence for improvement afterward. It also found no evidence that it prevents suicide. Read and Bentall (both clinical psychologists with many years experience of working with severely distressed patients) also summarized "strong evidence" for "persistent and, for some, permanent brain dysfunction." They concluded that "the cost-benefit analysis for ECT is so poor that its use cannot be scientifically justified." They further stated, "The continued use of ECT therefore represents a failure to introduce the ideals of evidence-based medicine into psychiatry." Professor Read: "The findings of this review suggest that campaigns by ECT recipients all over the world to ban ECT are supported by the lack of scientific evidence that it is safe or effective. Certainly the fears of ECT-induced memory loss, so often dismissed as 'subjective memory loss' by ECT proponents are, according to the research, well-founded in fact." "The dwindling number of psychiatrists who still use this procedure, which sends 150 volts through brain cells equipped to deal with tiny fractions of one volt are, no doubt, well-intentioned, but the research just does not support them." "If we took a rational, evidence-based approach to the controversy about ECT it would be abandoned, as have other treatments once thought to be effective, such as rotating chairs, surprise baths and lobotomies." Professor Bentall: "The very short- term benefit gained by a small minority cannot justify the risks to which all ECT recipients are exposed. The use of ECT therefore represents a failure to introduce the ideals of evidence-based medicine into psychiatry. It seems there is resistance to the research data in the ECT community, and perhaps in psychiatry in general." Source: University of Auckland - NZ Article URL: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/214539.php Main News Category: Psychology / Psychiatry Also Appears In: Neurology / Neuroscience, Regulatory Affairs / Drug Approvals, Any medical information published on this website is not intended as a substitute for informed medical advice and you should not take any action before consulting with a health care professional. For more information, please read our terms and conditions. Save time! Get the latest medical news headlines for your specialist area, in a weekly newsletter e-mail. See http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/newsletters.php for details. Send your press releases to [log in to unmask] ________________End of message________________ This Disability-Research Discussion list is managed by the Centre for Disability Studies at the University of Leeds (www.leeds.ac.uk/disability-studies). Enquiries about list administration should be sent to [log in to unmask] Archives and tools are located at: www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/disability-research.html You can VIEW, POST, JOIN and LEAVE the list by logging in to this web page.