Resources

RESOURCES FOR LIFE AFTER ECT Treatment

Life After ECT Resources 

• Podcast
• Action page
• How to Report Your ECT Injury to the FDA

ECT Side Effects

• Electroconvulsive Therapy Side Effects Page
• ECT Side Effects Archives
• Dealing with abnormal heart rhythms booklet

REHABILITATION After ECT

• Comprehensive Neuropsych and Rehabilitation Assessments for ECT Recipients
• Headway – UK Brain Injury Organization
• Home | Neuro-Optometric Rehabilitation Association (noravisionrehab.org)

LITIGATION

• Litigation Page
• ECT Lawsuit Victory – California, 2018
• ECT Device Manufacturer Acknowledges Brain Damage as a Risk of Electroconvulsive Therapy regulatory update
• acknowledging brain damage as electroshock risk 

FORCED ECT

If you or a loved one is facing forced electroconvulsive therapy MindFreedom may be able to help.

• MindFreedom Shield is a support network created to protect peers from forced psychiatric treatment. 

ECT RESEARCH & RELATED STUDIES

• ECT Low-voltage Electrical Injury studies
• ECT Resource Center

ECT WEBSITES & BLOGS

• ECT Statistics Website
• Shocked! ECT –  This site is a comprehensive collection of information about ECT, electroconvulsive therapy (aka electroshock, shock therapy).
• ECT Stories 
• First Person Project – a collection of positive and negative ECT accounts. 

TMS SIDE EFFECTS

• TMS Survivor Website

FDA & ECT 

• The FDA’s Regulation of ECT (Shock Treatment): A Beginner (or Refresher) Course

Psychiatric Drug Withdrawal & Akathisia Resources

Many people try different psychiatric drugs before electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is recommended. Few people know about the risks and side effects of these therapies, and those who do often don’t take into account the withdrawal risks when they are briefly taken off medications with anticonvulsant properties before a treatment session in order to ensure a seizure is produced. There are several resources available to help patients understand the efficacy, limitations, and risks of drug treatment, as well as the risks they pose when undergoing electroconvulsive therapy.

PSYCHIATRIC DRUG EDUCATION & RESOURCES 

• Akathisia Alliance 
• Benzo Coalition 
• MISSD 
• Inner Compass Initiative (theinnercompass.org)

Mad in America Patient Resources 

Drug Information 

• How Psychotropic Drugs Act on the Brain 
• Adults: Antidepressants 
• Adults: Antipsychotics 

Drug Withdrawal Information 

• Withdrawal from Antipsychotics 
• Withdrawal from Antidepressants 

For Families 

• For Parents: Home 
• Children : Stimulants, ADHD and other behavioral disorders  
• Children: Antidepressants for depression and anxiety 
• Psychotropic Drugs in Children and Adolescents 

Non-Drug Therapies for Children and Adolescents 

• ADHD
• Depression
• Psychosis, bipolar and more 

Recommended Reading

Personal stories

• From the Lion’s Mouth: Healing from Trauma, Electroshock, Scapegoating, and Grief in a Dysfunctional Family and Psychiatric System eBook
• Smoking Cigarettes, Eating Glass: A Psychologist’s Memoir
• On the Sea of Memory: A Journey from Forgetting to Remembering

Books about ECT 

• Doctors of Deception: What They Don’t Want You to Know about Shock Treatment
• A Critical A-Z of Electroshock: Newnes, Craig
• Electroconvulsive Therapy in America: The Anatomy of a Medical Controversy 

Books about mental health care treatment issues 

• Anatomy of an Epidemic: Magic Bullets, Psychiatric Drugs, and the Astonishing Rise of Mental Illness in America
• Mad in America: Bad Science, Bad Medicine, and the Enduring Mistreatment of the Mentally Ill
• Crazy Like Us: The Globalization of the American Psyche – Kindle edition by Watters, Ethan. Politics & Social Sciences
• Cracked by Davies, James
• The Emperor’s New Drugs: Exploding the Antidepressant Myth