Ireland has banned the use of electroshock treatment on minors under its new Mental Health Act enacted in May, a decision that the Citizens Commission on Human Rights International (CCHR) is calling a major human rights advance. The law prohibits the administration of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT)—which delivers up to 460 volts of electricity through the brain—to anyone younger than 18, safeguarding them from potential severe memory loss, cognitive impairment, and brain damage.
Jan Eastgate, President of CCHR International, praised Irish officials for recognizing the need to protect minors. “However, like thousands who called for ECT to be banned in the U.S. under the FDA’s Final Rule in 2018, the ban should be extended to all ages,” she said. “CCHR is committed to achieving this.”
The Human Rights Institute in Ireland noted that the adoption of the Mental Health Act “can be regarded as one of the country’s significant developments in the advancement of human rights and in the reconsideration of the relationship between health, human dignity, and the public responsibilities of the state.” The Irish Mental Health Commission added that “the most significant right potentially affected by this legislation is the right to liberty and personal security.”
CCHR has a history of advocating against ECT use on minors. The group helped obtain the first law banning ECT on children under 12 in California in 1976, followed by a ban on those under 16 in Texas in 1993. In Western Australia, it helped ban the practice on those aged 14 and younger in 2014, with criminal penalties for violators.
In the United States, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has cleared ECT devices for patients 13 and older for three limited conditions, but the treatment is broadly administered off-label—a practice CCHR wants to see stopped. The newly formed Stop ECT Coalition, a consortium of health and human rights organizations, is urging a review of how ECT devices remain on the market. The coalition highlights that ECT devices were “grandfathered” into FDA regulation in 1976 as a Class III high-risk device, bypassing modern standards requiring premarket approval with clinical trials proving safety and efficacy. In 2018, the FDA reclassified ECT devices to moderate risk (Class II) without such trials. The coalition emphasizes that this incorrect classification allowed ECT devices to be used on children as young as five, pregnant women, seniors, veterans, and other vulnerable persons. Involuntary application, still occurring in some U.S. facilities, has been condemned by the United Nations and World Health Organization as a human-rights abuse. More information is available at stopect.com/coalition.
Dr. John Read, Professor of Clinical Psychology at the University of East London, who has extensively reviewed ECT studies, said that several leading proponents historically argued that ECT works because it reduces intelligence or intellectual functioning, likening it to “brain-damaging therapeutics.” He and colleagues published a review of over a hundred studies demonstrating that the effects of ECT on the brain are very similar to those of a closed-brain injury or traumatic brain injury. Dr. Niall McLaren, a psychiatrist, stated unequivocally, “No psychiatrist needs to use ECT,” as cited in CCHR’s call for an FDA review.
A mental health strategy plan drafted by the World Health Organization’s Department of Mental Health and Substance Use warned of ECT’s health risks, including brain damage, cardiovascular complications, memory impairment, and even death. The plan states that ECT should be banned for children and that non-consenting use may constitute torture.
Eastgate concluded, “Ireland’s ban on electroshock treatment for minors marks a significant step forward in protecting vulnerable young people from a damaging procedure. While this decision advances human rights and personal liberty in the mental health industry, advocates like CCHR and the Stop ECT Coalition continue to call for a complete ban.”
