Relatives and friends across 22 countries describe memory loss, cognitive decline, disability and death following electroshock “treatment,” with many saying their loved ones’ lives were permanently destroyed.
Easy, Fast, Effective…” —Somatics LLC, maker of the Thymatron electroshock machine
What do you suppose happens when this remarkable, exquisitely sensitive organ is assaulted with up to 2,300 times more electricity than that?
The makers of one of the devices that delivers that electrical assault describe the procedure, known as electroconvulsive therapy or electroshock, as “an established treatment for severe depression.”
“That blank, vacant stare breaks my heart.”
To date, however, fewer than a dozen placebo-controlled studies have ever been conducted testing the efficacy of electroshock for depression—all of them involving small sample sizes (8 to 77 participants), all of them containing significant flaws and all at least 40 years old.
But an April 2026 study published by Psychology and Psychotherapy: Theory, Research and Practice provides a comprehensive view of electroshock “therapy,” as seen through the eyes of the relatives and friends of its victims.
The study by John Read, professor of psychology at the University of East London, and independent scholar Christopher Harrop, examined the testimonies of 286 relatives and friends of electroshock recipients spanning 22 countries, drawn from a broader University of East London research project involving 1,144 participants last year. What emerged was a deeply unsettling portrait of lives shattered in the aftermath of electroshock.
The study found that 61 percent of respondents said the “treatment” left their loved one’s quality of life worse than before. The accounts were also filled with reports of devastating cognitive damage: 73.3 percent described retrograde amnesia—memories from before treatment impaired or erased—and 60.7 percent reported anterograde amnesia, leaving recipients struggling to form or retain new memories afterward.
Behind the statistics are haunting personal tragedies: a former scientist and poet who withdrew into isolation and could barely walk without losing her balance; a sister-in-law who lost the ability to move independently and speak; and another relative left permanently wheelchair-bound following electroshock.
Loved ones of these electroshock survivors described their slurred speech, headaches, difficulty recognizing faces, shaky hands, convulsions, lost jobs and lost independence.
Fifty-three of the electroshock recipients died. The most common cause cited was suicide. When the family members and friends of the 53 were asked if they believed electroshock had any role in the death of their loved one, 15.1 percent called it “a direct cause” of the death, while another 35.8 percent said it contributed to it.
One friend of a deceased victim volunteered: “The hospital held a ‘hearing.’ I put that in quotes because it was a farce—just to close the door on the entire thing. They said the reason she went into perpetual seizures is because she had a ‘pre-existing vascular malformation’ that ruptured. We never knew of any pre-existing vascular malformation. I don’t even think there were any brain scans done before the [electroshock]. They certainly weren’t told death was a risk in this ‘safe’ treatment. It all seems like they were just covering themselves.”
The study’s researchers allowed participants to speak freely rather than respond to specific questions:
“That blank, vacant stare breaks my heart.”
“I lost my friend.”
“[My] husband and I no longer share many memories.”
“I can still hear the fear in her voice.”
“I wasn’t able to stop it.… I was supposed to protect her.”
“It was like they crushed a beautiful flower.”
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