Ireland has enacted a ban on electroshock treatment, also known as electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), for minors under the age of 18, a move the Citizens Commission on Human Rights International (CCHR) hails as a major human rights advance. The ban, part of the Mental Health Act enacted in May 2026, prohibits the use of ECT—a procedure that delivers up to 460 volts of electricity through the brain and can cause severe memory loss, cognitive impairment, and brain damage—on anyone younger than 18.
CCHR, an international mental health industry watchdog, has long campaigned against ECT use on children. The group previously helped secure bans in California for minors under 12 in 1976, in Texas for those under 16 in 1993, and in Western Australia for those aged 14 and younger in 2014. Jan Eastgate, President of CCHR International, praised Irish officials for recognizing the need to protect minors but noted that the ban should extend to all ages. "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. CCHR is committed to achieving this," she said.
The Human Rights Institute in Ireland described the legislation 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 noted that "the most significant right potentially affected by this legislation is the right to liberty and personal security."
In the United States, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has cleared ECT devices for patients aged 13 and older for three limited conditions, but the devices are often used off-label. The newly formed Stop ECT Coalition, which includes health and human rights organizations representing hundreds of thousands of individuals, is urging a review of how ECT devices remain on the market. 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 reduced the classification to moderate risk (Class II) without such trials. The coalition emphasizes: "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."
Dr. John Read, a Professor of Clinical Psychology at the University of East London who has extensively reviewed ECT studies, explained that early proponents argued ECT works by reducing intelligence or erasing traumatic memories, a concept known as "brain-damaging therapeutics." He and colleagues published a review of over a hundred studies showing that the effects of ECT on the brain are similar to a closed-brain injury. Robert Rubinstein, a former psychiatry professor at the University of California in San Francisco, compared ECT to "kicking a Swiss watch," while psychiatrist Dr. Niall McLaren stated unequivocally, "No psychiatrist needs to use ECT."
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 death, and stated that ECT should be banned for children and non-consenting use may constitute torture. CCHR, established in 1969 by the Church of Scientology and professor of psychiatry Dr. Thomas Szasz, has helped obtain hundreds of laws worldwide that increase informed consent rights and prohibit deep sleep treatment, a combination of ECT and a psychotropic drug-induced coma.
For more information, visit the Stop ECT Coalition at stopect.com/coalition and CCHR at www.cchrint.org/2025/12/08/coalition-and-cchr-call-on-fda-to-review-electroshock-device-and-the-need-for-a-ban/.
