{"id":1517,"date":"2026-08-26T14:39:58","date_gmt":"2026-08-26T14:39:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/2026\/08\/26\/paris-jackson-underwent-ect-for-severe-depression-heres-why-the-treatment-remains-debated\/"},"modified":"2026-08-26T14:39:58","modified_gmt":"2026-08-26T14:39:58","slug":"paris-jackson-underwent-ect-for-severe-depression-heres-why-the-treatment-remains-debated","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/2026\/08\/26\/paris-jackson-underwent-ect-for-severe-depression-heres-why-the-treatment-remains-debated\/","title":{"rendered":"Paris Jackson underwent ECT for severe depression. Here\u2019s why the treatment remains debated"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/span> Kathy Hutchins\/ Shutterstock<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Michael Jackson\u2019s daughter, Paris, recently revealed<\/a> that she had undergone nine rounds of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) to treat severe depression<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In the interview<\/a>, Jackson said that although she felt the treatment \u201cwas working\u201d, she said getting \u201cshocked once a month for the rest of my life\u201d wasn\u2019t feasible for her.<\/p>\n

ECT<\/a> involves inducing a seizure by applying electricity to the head under general anaesthetic. Each series of ECT involves between six and 12 treatments over a period of two to four weeks. <\/p>\n

ECT is primarily used for depression<\/a>, but is also given to people diagnosed with schizophrenia, catatonia (a condition where people exhibit abnormal movements and behaviour) and bipolar disorder. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence recommends that ECT is only used in extreme circumstances<\/a> such as when a patient is suicidal and when other treatments have failed. <\/p>\n

Some people think that ECT was abandoned long ago, but 2012 data estimated it was given to at least a million people annually<\/a>, including about 2,500 in England<\/a> according to 2019 estimates. Recipients are predominantly women<\/a> and older people<\/a>. <\/p>\n

ECT has been controversial<\/a> since it was first introduced in 1938, and remains debated today<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Does ECT work?<\/h2>\n

The gold standard for assessing a treatment\u2019s effectiveness are randomised controlled trials. These directly compare a treatment against a placebo. In ECT studies, one group receives ECT, while the placebo group are given \u201csham ECT\u201d, where they\u2019re put under general anaesthesia but the electricity is withheld. <\/p>\n

There have only been 11 placebo-controlled studies of ECT for depression. A review I co-authored<\/a> in 2019 assessed the quality of those 11 studies. My colleagues and I found that all 11 were very small, were flawed in various ways and failed to comply with today\u2019s methodological standards<\/p>\n

Four of the 11 studies found ECT significantly superior to sham ECT at the end of treatment. Five found no difference between real ECT and sham ECT. Two studies found that psychiatrists reported a difference but patients did not. There was no robust evidence of effectiveness beyond the day of the last treatment \u2013 so there was no evidence of any long-term benefit of ECT.<\/p>\n

Surprisingly, the most recent of these studies was in 1985<\/a>. There have been none for 40 years. So, the honest answer to the question \u201cdoes it work?\u201d is, nearly 90 years after the first ECT, we really don\u2019t know. <\/p>\n

Some studies claim to show ECT performs better than other depression treatments, but a 2017 review of studies since 2009 found<\/a> that in most of these studies the ECT group was also on antidepressants \u2013 making it hard to interpret the results. Most of these studies (87%) also had no follow-up data. <\/p>\n

A 2023 study<\/a> found that ECT is less effective than ketamine, which is also used for severe cases of depression, in the short-term \u2013 though the study did not provide any follow-up data for either treatment. <\/p>\n

Like all ECT studies for depression since 1985, there was no placebo group so it was not possible to tell whether either treatment actually worked at all. <\/p>\n

\n \"A
\n ECT delivers an electric current through the brain, triggering a seizure.<\/span>
\n Kateryna Kon\/ Shutterstock<\/a><\/span>
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Some ECT proponents argue that it\u2019s impossible to conduct ECT placebo studies because it\u2019s unethical to withhold a treatment from vulnerable patients. However I argue that this positions them outside of evidence-based medicine<\/a>, as the point of placebo studies is to discover whether a treatment does actually work.<\/p>\n

Is ECT safe?<\/h2>\n

The American Psychiatric Association<\/a> acknowledges that some people may experience memory problems that last months, years or permanently, after undergoing ECT.<\/p>\n

A 2003 review also found that in a sample of 703 patients, persistent or permanent memory loss was reported by between 29% and 55% of patients<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A 2020 review<\/a> of 16 studies found that in 15 of these papers, participants described memory problems after receiving ECT. This included complete erasure of some aspects of their memory, including events and experiences that happened before or immediately after having ECT.<\/p>\n

Some participants also described not being able to remember specific life events, such as a child\u2019s birthday or a loved one\u2019s death. For others, memory loss was even more extensive \u2013 with one participant saying \u201cthe past 25 years are missing\u201d. For most participants of these studies, the memory loss was considered permanent. <\/p>\n

A 2023 report<\/a> by the World Health Organization and the United Nations has stated that people offered ECT should be told of the potential short- and long-term risks it comes with \u2013 including memory loss and brain damage.<\/p>\n

The largest ever international survey, of over 1,000 ECT recipients and family members, was recently conducted by three ECT recipients and three clinical psychologists, including myself. Our findings have been published in a series of research articles. <\/p>\n

We found that while ECT helped some people, most respondents reported ECT either made no difference<\/a> to mood or quality of life, or made matters worse.<\/p>\n

Between 61% and 84%<\/a> of ECT patients reported experiencing some form of memory loss, which lasted at least three years for most of them. <\/p>\n

More than half of participants reported experiencing other side-effects<\/a> from ECT, including emotional numbing, relationship problems and loss of independence. <\/p>\n

Most believed the problems for which they had been given ECT were primarily caused by childhood adversities or recent stressors<\/a>. But most were never asked about those issues before being prescribed ECT. If these issues had been identified and addressed through other forms of treatment (such as trauma therapy or cognitive behavioural therapy), ECT might not have been necessary<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Around 59% of participants<\/a> said the information given to them about ECT\u2019s efficacy and safety was \u201cinadequate\u201d \u2013 with only 17% being told about long-term memory loss.<\/p>\n

We also found that women receive ECT more often than men<\/a> and suffer greater adverse effects.<\/p>\n

There are a range of effective alternatives to ECT and medication<\/a>, whether someone is mildly depressed, severely depressed or suicidal, including cognitive behaviour therapy, trauma therapy, interpersonal psychotherapy, mindfulness and family therapy. <\/p>\n

No one treatment works for everyone. The important ingredients seem to be establishing a relationship in which the patient feels genuinely cared about, and then determining and addressing, one way or another, what is depressing them. <\/p>\n

Clearly some people report that ECT helped them \u2013 and some are willing to accept side-effects such as memory loss if it means alleviating their symptoms. However, many patients also feel ECT did not help them<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

John Read has received payment for his work as an Expert Witness in several ECT legal cases. <\/span><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kathy Hutchins\/ Shutterstock Michael Jackson\u2019s daughter, Paris, recently revealed that she had undergone nine rounds of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) to treat severe depression. In the interview, Jackson said that although she felt the treatment \u201cwas working\u201d, she said getting \u201cshocked once a month for the rest of my life\u201d wasn\u2019t feasible for her. ECT involves […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1517","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1517","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1517"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1517\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1517"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1517"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redzine.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1517"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}