Teenagers as young as 16 being treated with shock therapy

ELECTRIC shock therapy is being used to treat depression in sufferers as young as 16.

Under the procedure, electricity is administered to the brain, in cases where patients are severely depressed.

the treatment has a stigma for some, partly because of traumatic scenes in films such as One Flew Over the cuckoo’s Nest.

But medics say despite its poor image, electroconvulsive therapy (Ect) is effective in up to 80 per cent of cases.

A Mail investigation has found Ect has been used on patients aged from 16 to 93, and was administered a total of 2,178 times in Scotland between 2012 and 2016, to an average of 360 people a year.

Experts say the treatment is likely to become more popular because the stigma surrounding it has begun to ease over the years, but it should still only be used in extreme cases where antidepressants are not working.

Ect involves the patient being anaesthetised and given a muscle relaxant before a small amount of voltage is passed through the brain. it is used mainly for depression and related problems, but can also be effective for rare, acute cases of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), where people feel the need to check things repeatedly.

Professor Nicol Ferrier of the royal college of Psychiatrists said Ect can be ‘transformative’ for some patients.

He added: ‘We are very concerned about its bad image, a stigma that is linked to films such as One Flew Over the cuckoo’s Nest. But we now know how to give it safely and the results are really very good.’

He said data showed about 70 per cent went into ‘remission’ from depression after Ect, but this number is as high as 80 per cent for the elderly, and for those suffering psychotic delusions.

Ect is not a ‘cure’ but it can provide vital respite from depression for around six months.

this gives the patient and their doctor a chance to come up with other strategies to tackle the condition, while the treatment can be given again if there is a relapse.

Ect induces a fit in the patient, who is unconscious, and works partly by releasing dopamine, a chemical in the brain that affects emotions, movements and sensations of pleasure and pain.

But Ect carries a risk of longterm memory loss, where patients may lose all recollection of significant life events.

Experts believe administering voltage to only one side of the brain may limit this side-effect.

the entire process takes only around ten to 15 minutes and the mean age of patients is around 65, as older people tend to suffer very few side-effects.

But the Mail’s figures show patients as young as 16 are now receiving the treatment.

NHS Greater Glasgow and clyde recorded their youngest Ect patient as 16, while the oldest was a 93-year-old in Forth Valley.

Ect can be given to patients who are so depressed that they are incapable of giving consent.

But the majority of treatments in Scotland in 2016 – 67 per cent – involved patients with the capacity to ‘give informed consent’.

Dr Alistair Hay, chairman of the Scottish Electroconvulsive therapy Accreditation Network, said Ect ‘remains the most effective treatment for severe depression in modern psychiatry’.

‘We know how to give it safely’