'It's like One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest' - 5live listeners who've had electroconvulsive therapy

Jul 25, 2013, 11:52 AM

Every year around 4000 people in the UK are given electroconvulsive therapy, or shock therapy, to treat severe depression. Critics call it barbaric and ineffective, and say there's no evidence it actually works in the long-term. Victoria speaks to 5live listeners Chris and Rachel. She's also joined by Professor Ian Reid, who's been administering ECT for the past 30 years, and John Reid, Professor of Clinical Psychology at Liverpool University, who published a review of ECT in 2010 and says it has no long term benefits and considerable risk of brain damage.