I was told it restarts your brain: knowledge, power, and women’s experiences of ECT

Abstract

Background: A discrepancy exists between clinician-led studies of people’s experience of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) and consumer-led studies, with the former typically being much more positive about the efficacy and side effects of ECT compared with the latter. Qualitative in-depth explorations of people’s experiences of ECT are relatively rare, particularly those looking specifically at women’s experience of ECT.

Aims: The aim of this qualitative study was to explore women’s experiences of ECT, particularly their experience of knowledge and power related to ECT.

Results: Qualitative analysis of the interviews with nine women resulted in four main themes emerging from the interviews with the women: (i) “he really didn’t say much,” (ii) “I’m going to be very upset with you,” (iii) “I was just desperate,” and (iv) “it was like we were cattle.”

Conclusions: Overall, participants found their experiences with ECT to be quite negative, and characterized by a lack of knowledge during the procedure, and a lack of power throughout the entire process.

• Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT)
• knowledge
• mental health
• nursing
• power
• qualitative
• research
• women

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to acknowledge Dr Dawn McBride and Dr Gary Nixon for their assistance with this article.