17 ms·
ECT can be very, very unsafe. 70% of patients experience some form of memory loss and at least 30% of patients experience self-reported permanent memory loss. T
by nightpool 18d ago
ECT can be very, very unsafe. 70% of patients experience some form of memory loss and at least 30% of patients experience self-reported permanent memory loss. The rate of major adverse cardiac events found in a 2019 meta-analysis was 1 in 39 patients. For the people that it helps, I'm happy they've found relief, but it's a tool with significant costs and I know a fair amount of people who underwent it as children or otherwise were pressured to undergo it and I don't know any of them who have a positive impression of it.
- paytonjjones 18d agoYes, memory loss surrounding the hours/days of the treatment is the major side effect. Care to share the meta-analysis? How does 1/39 compare to the base rate of those with severe depression who did not receive ECT?
- nightpool 18d agoThe stats are from the Wikipedia page for ECT--I'm not sure about the base rate/risk ratio.
- sudopsuedo 18d agohttps://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30557212/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30557212/ About 1 in 50 patients may experience a major cardiac event (or death) during the course of ECT
- timr 18d agoThis isn't responsive to the parent's question, in a way that ironically underscores the point: you can tell me that "1 in 50 patients experience X", but that's meaningless, unless I know what X is in the selected population at baseline. I don't mean to pick on you. This problem is widespread in academic research.
- p_j_w 18d agoECT is a very specific subset of electrical shocks. Just because ECT can have adverse effects doesn't mean all electric shocks will.