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FAQ: CCHR Florida's Call to Ban Electroshock Treatment Based on New Evidence
TL;DR
Advocates can leverage CCHR's international survey findings to push for legislative bans on ECT, gaining ethical and legal advantages in mental health reform.
ECT involves administering up to 460 volts of electricity to induce seizures, with a 2025 survey showing 61-84% of recipients report memory loss and 59% lacked adequate informed consent.
Banning ECT protects vulnerable patients from harm, upholds human dignity, and creates a safer mental health system for future generations.
Ireland recently moved to ban ECT for under-18s, while Florida records show children under five have received this controversial treatment in some U.S. states.
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CCHR Florida's intensified call for a total ban on electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), also known as electroshock, based on new international survey evidence showing widespread patient harm and systematic violations of informed consent.
A 2025 survey published in the Journal of Medical Ethics with 1,144 ECT recipients and family members across 37 countries found that 61-84% reported memory loss, 59% were not adequately informed, and patients experienced significant cognitive difficulties after treatment.
ECT involves sending up to 460 volts of electricity through a person's brain to induce a grand mal seizure, causing effects where the body stiffens, arms and legs often jerk, and the individual loses consciousness.
The Florida chapter of the Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR), with support from CCHR International which addressed the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in August 2025 urging global abolition of ECT.
Key findings include: 61-84% reported memory loss (more than half lasting longer than three years), 87% reported difficulty with losing train of thought, 86% reported difficulty concentrating, and 78% reported difficulty reading after treatment.
In 2023, the World Health Organization and United Nations jointly stated that ECT 'is not recommended for children, and this should be prohibited through legislation.' Ireland announced in November 2025 it is moving to ban ECT on all individuals under 18.
Florida currently has no age restrictions on ECT use, and a 2024 bipartisan legislative effort (SB 252/HB 1227) to ban ECT on minors under 18 did not pass. Children as young as five can still receive electroshock in the United States.
Psychiatrists prescribe ECT for approximately 100,000 people a year in the U.S. alone, though the treatment's actual safety and long-term effectiveness remain unproven by rigorous clinical trials.
The survey found patients were nearly 4 times more likely to be told about temporary memory problems than permanent memory loss, and 6 times more likely to be told ECT can be 'life-saving' than about potential heart problems, with 59% saying they were not adequately informed.
The treatment's safety and long-term effectiveness remain unproven by rigorous clinical trials, and there is a lack of FDA clinical trials despite proponents claiming modern ECT is safer than past versions.
Curated from 24-7 Press Release
