Inquiry Call at High Canty Use of ECT; ECT STATISTICS

By HAYMAN, Kamala

Canterbury psychiatric patients are among the most likely in the country to have electric- shock therapy, prompting a call for an inquiry.

About 1.1 per cent of Canterbury District Health Board mental- health patients are given electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) — more than double the national average of 0.4% and rising.

Health Ministry statistics, released yesterday, show that in the year to June 2005, 79 Canterbury patients had ECT, a quarter of the 307 patients treated nationally and a 50% leap on the 52 treated the year before.

Auckland University clinical psychologist Dr John Read has called for an inquiry into Canterbury’s use of ECT.

“They are more than double the national average and seem to be increasing rather than decreasing, against national and international trends,” he said.

“Canterbury is going in the wrong direction and an inquiry needs to be held as to why this is.”

Read said Canterbury had several psychiatrists who were “enthusiastic advocates” for ECT.

“There is huge variation amongst psychiatrists in attitudes towards this treatment. Many will not give it under any circumstances, some will give it as a genuine last resort, and a tiny and dwindling minority seem to believe that it is the treatment of choice,” he said.

Read was disappointed that national ECT figures had not continued a decline that had been seen since the late 1990s, “when we were electrocuting about 900 people a year”.

ECT had no lasting benefits but could cause permanent memory loss in a minority of patients, he said.

The Auckland District Health Board, similar in size to the Canterbury board, has one of the lowest rates of ECT use in the country, treating only 13 patients in 2004-05 and seven the year before.

The clinical director of Auckland Hospital’s inpatient mental health service, Thom Rudegeair, said the hospital had a state-of- the-art ECT suite “which we virtually never use”.

ECT was a last resort and not often needed.

He said ECT was more commonly used in older patients who could not tolerate medications, and his service saw few older patients.

Hillmorton Hospital psy- chiatrist Richard Porter said there had been no policy change that could explain any increase in the use of ECT or increased demand from patients.

He said the small numbers involved meant totals were likely to fluctuate. “ECT is only used for very severe and treatment- resistant de- pression.”

In its report, the Health Ministry said ECT was “a valuable and sometimes life- saving” treatment for treating depression, mania and catatonia, although its effects were typically short-term. An- aesthetised patients were given an electric charge to their brain to induce a seizure.

The ministry said it was considered the safest treatment where depression was ac- companied by a physical illness or pregnancy, making antidepressants dangerous.

A Christchurch woman, who did not want to be named, agreed to ECT after suffering extended bouts of treatment- resistant depression.

She found her ECT course (twice a week for six weeks) “pretty nasty”, leaving her disoriented, with severe mem- ory loss and a sore jaw. It also lifted her depression immedi- ately.

Six months later, the ex- treme side-effects have eased, although not all of her lost memory has returned. Her depression had, however.

She was angry she was not warned her memory loss could be permanent.

Even with full information, she said she would still have agreed to the ECT.

“It’s not good to have lost my memory and not be able to think clearly, but some things you have to experience.

“I would be very sad to see it gone completely from the repertoire,” she said.

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ECT STATISTICS

(July 2004-June 2005)

*307 patients given ECT.

*22 per cent of ECT given without consent.

*Two-thirds of patients are female.

*Four out of five patients are over 40.

(c) 2006 Press, The; Christchurch, New Zealand. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.