ORLANDO, Fla. — A bipartisan pair of Florida lawmakers have filed bills that, among other things, ban children and young teenagers from receiving a form of mental health therapy major medical associations call “well established” and “highly effective.”
Rep. Carolina Amesty (R-Windermere) and Sen. Rosalind Osgood (D-Broward)’s bills ban doctors from performing Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT) in people under the age of 18. The bills describe the treatment as “experimental.”
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ECT involves sending mild electric pulses through a person’s brain while they’re under anesthesia and was first developed in the 1930s, according to the National Library of Medicine. It’s used to treat people with severe depression, bipolar disorder, life-threatening catatonia, and other serious mental illnesses.
According to the American Psychiatric Association (APA), it’s also a recommended treatment for people who require immediate attention, such as those who are at risk of suicide.
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“Extensive research has found ECT to be highly effective for the relief of major depression,” the association’s write-up said. “Clinical evidence indicates that for individuals with uncomplicated, but severe major depression, ECT will produce substantial improvement in approximately 80 percent of patients.”
ECT is also backed by the National Institute for Health, the National Institute for Mental Health, the American Medical Association, the Harvard Review of Psychology and the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, as well as peer organizations in the United Kingdom and Canada.
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Amesty’s staff said Osgood originally approached her about sponsoring this bill, and they didn’t know why the senator took an interest in the subject. They were informed the procedure was controversial, had potentially serious side effects and use for adolescents was regulated or banned in multiple countries and eight states, including California, Texas and Colorado, appearing to make the pitch common sense.
Some states, like Colorado, prohibit it in anyone under the age of 18. Others, like California, begin restrictions as young as 12. Those states typically have conditions for teenagers like parental consent or court orders.
Amesty’s staff also said that after Osgood approached her, they received a letter from the Citizens Commission on Human Rights supporting the proposed restrictions. The commission is a Church of Scientology-backed lobbying group.
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The Church is a well-documented opponent of psychiatric treatments. Historians say its founder wanted his methods to replace mainstream psychiatric practices, especially any that involved medication. The church has published materials comparing ECT to torture.
Amesty’s staff member clarified the representative had no further contact or connections with the Commission or the church and asked for a list of organizations WFTV consulted before the call.
“The Rep. is more than happy to adjust the language of the bill depending on public input… she does believe at the very least [ECT] needs to be highly regulated,” he said, adding that Amesty is not opposed to psychiatric treatments and was solely interested in protecting children.
ECT, sometimes referred to by opponents as “shock therapy,” has long had a bad reputation stemming from the fact that its effectiveness was only proven in the 1970s, decades after it was first used, a National Library of Medicine article explained.
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Anti-psychiatry movements around that time also helped fuel the fire. The therapy was portrayed negatively – and according to medical experts, inaccurately – in “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.”
To this day, doctors still don’t fully understand how ECT causes the brain to adjust – only that it does – leading to some of the claims that the treatment is “experimental,” a write-up by the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry reported. The common belief is that it triggers the brain to release helpful chemicals.
Like any medical treatment, it can carry side effects, including nausea, headache, fatigue, confusion, and slight memory loss.
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“These risks must be balanced with the consequences of ineffectively treated severe psychiatric disorders,” the APA article said. “ECT can work more quickly than medications. It can be especially useful if a patient is suicidal, is not responding to medications or cannot tolerate the side effects of medication.”
In addition to the age restrictions, the bills require physicians to perform the treatment, consent must be given ahead of time, and the physicians must disclose the purpose of the treatment and side effects, which is already standard in medical care. The bills also require another doctor to review the decision prior to ECT being administered.
Lawmakers will consider the bills during their upcoming session in January. If passed, they’d take effect July 1, 2024.
Osgood’s office did not respond to an emailed request for comment or additional background information about how the proposal came about.
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