4 patient safety activists discuss their efforts for an independent review of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) in the UK.

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A Disorder for Everyone Festival 2021

4 patient safety activists discuss their efforts for an independent review of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) use in England in this year’s A Disorder for Everyone Festival.

Campaign aims

Learn about the campaigners’ aims and find links to related resources: Guest blog: Call for an independent review into the practice of ECT

Lucy Johnston 

Lucy Johnston is a consultant clinical psychologist and author. She is a long-time advocator for ECT reform.

John Read 

John Read is a professor of clinical psychology of East London with numerous publications to his name. He has been in the ECT reform space for many years following his first-hand experience with electroshock recipients while in the nursing field.

Chris Harrop

Chris Harrop is a private practicing clinical psychologist with 20+ years of experience working for the National Health Service (NHS). He has numerous publications on psychosis and is the coauthor of many of the freedom of information (FOA) requests regarding the UK’s ECT practice, regulation, or lack thereof.

Dr. Susan Cunliffe, MBchB honours

Sue Cunliffe is a former pediatrician and abuse survivor who suffered life-changing permanent damage from electroconvulsive therapy. She is a passionate campaigner for patient safety through raising awareness, informed consent, regulation, and proper practice of ECT. 

Sarah Price Hancock MS, CRC

Misdiagnosis of a medically treatable illness led Sarah to years of polypharmacy and 116 ECT treatments. Sarah now lives with the devastating long-term consequences of electrical injury. She is campaigning for the audit and regulation of ECT. 

Audit ECT campaign 

Further Reading on ECT in England

Anna

Anna is a childhood psychiatric drug and a teenage electroshock survivor. She founded Life After ECT to ensure people injured by electroconvulsive therapy have easy access to resources that can help them understand their injuries and find a path to recovery.