In England a patient who is detained under the act can be given medical treatment against their will, but the Mental Health Act includes an exemption for ECT that makes it much harder for doctors to provide ECT against a patient's wishes.
That information can be found in the Code of Practice to the Mental Health Act. The code isn't law, but it describes the various acts, statutes, and case law and so a health care practitioner would have to ahve good reason to deviate from it.
If you want to make it even harder for them to give you ECT against your wishes you can make an advance directive. Go see a lawyer that deals with mental capacity stuff and get one drawn up. Be clear and specific.
But, please do take note of what this woman has said:
> Despite the discomfort and the temporary memory loss it caused, I would have ECT again without hesitation. People voluntarily undergo much more invasive and damaging medical interventions to save or to prolong their lives—chemotherapy, radiation, open-heart surgery, blood transfusions, bone marrow transplants—and speak freely about those experiences, but continue to think about cancer and heart disease differently from mood disorders that can be equally deadly. In telling my own less than ideal story 30 years after the fact, I don’t want to discourage anyone from having this potentially life-saving treatment. What was difficult in my experience would now be unusual because the treatment protocol has improved over the years to greatly reduce the side effects. And my situation was extreme not only because of the perilous condition of my mind, but because my body was already hypersensitive and aggravated by drug allergies.
I know a few people who've had ECT and a couple of them hated it and are still angry it was done to them, but most of them are glad they had it done and would do it again.
It's hard to work out how much harm it causes because it's only used in people with the most severe depression, and that causes similar harms itself.
My wife suffered a psychotic manic episode (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postpartum_psychosis) after the birth of our first child, the opposite of post partum depression, which happens in 1/1000 births.
I witnessed her on antipsycotics for a week while attempting to persuade her to accept ECT.
The effects of ECT were astonishing. She had the ECT treatment at 9:00 in the morning, and by noon she was back to normal. She had a few more treatments after that to make sure she didn't relapse, and that was the last we saw of it.
She's still without relapses 10 years later, and according to her, should it happen again she would accept ECT much sooner.
Edit: I should probably elaborate on the side effects she experienced.
She suffered short term memory loss, which is a known side effect. When she went to the ECT treatment she recognized the driver, and they established where they knew each other from. It was surreal to witness the same conversation unfold with the driver that just unfolded 20 minutes ago before ECT. She had absolutely no recollection of having seen or talked to the guy before on that day.
She feels (now) that she has lost more memory, but as the conventional treatment for manic episodes is basically locking them up in a room with a bed, a table a chair, and some sheets of paper, and keeping them confined there for 2+ weeks, i bet most of us would be unable to keep track of time. Add the various drugs being administered to the equation, in doses that makes you lean against the wall and drool.
She has no memory problems today. The only "blank spots" are in the time surrounding her hospitalization, specifically the days her ECT treatment was administered.
I've had depression for nineteen years, and because of it I have giant holes in my memory - I know that I went places and did things when I was growing up, but I have next to no memories of any of them. My short-term memory malfunctions a lot - I can go through an entire day, and have zero memories of it the next day. I suspect I'd lose a few more memories with ECT but, really, I would happily pay those memories for having a life where I could actually function.
That information can be found in the Code of Practice to the Mental Health Act. The code isn't law, but it describes the various acts, statutes, and case law and so a health care practitioner would have to ahve good reason to deviate from it.
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/...
If you want to make it even harder for them to give you ECT against your wishes you can make an advance directive. Go see a lawyer that deals with mental capacity stuff and get one drawn up. Be clear and specific.
But, please do take note of what this woman has said:
> Despite the discomfort and the temporary memory loss it caused, I would have ECT again without hesitation. People voluntarily undergo much more invasive and damaging medical interventions to save or to prolong their lives—chemotherapy, radiation, open-heart surgery, blood transfusions, bone marrow transplants—and speak freely about those experiences, but continue to think about cancer and heart disease differently from mood disorders that can be equally deadly. In telling my own less than ideal story 30 years after the fact, I don’t want to discourage anyone from having this potentially life-saving treatment. What was difficult in my experience would now be unusual because the treatment protocol has improved over the years to greatly reduce the side effects. And my situation was extreme not only because of the perilous condition of my mind, but because my body was already hypersensitive and aggravated by drug allergies.
I know a few people who've had ECT and a couple of them hated it and are still angry it was done to them, but most of them are glad they had it done and would do it again.
It's hard to work out how much harm it causes because it's only used in people with the most severe depression, and that causes similar harms itself.