A forthcoming study from the University of Houston is set to undermine a core assumption behind the safety of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), prompting renewed calls from the Citizens Commission on Human Rights International (CCHR) for a ban on the procedure. The study, presented at the IEEE EMC+SIPI 2026 Symposium, challenges the 80-year-old claim that the electric current used in ECT is harmlessly diverted by the scalp, protecting the brain from damage.
Psychiatrists have long maintained that 90-95% of the current in ECT is shunted through the scalp, with only a small fraction reaching the brain. However, using a high-resolution three-dimensional digital model of the head, the researchers found the opposite: 82.5% of the total current flows through the cerebrospinal fluid and brain, while only 1.5% flows through the scalp. The cerebrospinal fluid acts as a major highway distributing current throughout the brain, according to the study.
Experts involved in the study also point to two additional mechanisms of potential brain damage. Electrical energy converts into heat inside the brain, and higher current produces more heat, which can cause temporary injury, permanent damage, or cell death. Additionally, electricity can create pores in cell membranes through a process called electroporation. When voltage is high enough, these holes overwhelm the brain's repair mechanisms, allowing toxic material to flood in and cells to die. ECT therefore poses risks of brain-cell damage from both heating and electroporation.
Professor John Read, a leading ECT researcher, draws a parallel between the effects of ECT and closed-brain injury, noting documented changes in the brain after ECT that are very similar to traumatic brain injury. This aligns with decades of research documenting brain damage, memory loss, cognitive deficits, and mortality associated with ECT.
The CCHR has long demanded a ban on ECT and says the Food and Drug Administration's 2018 decision to lower the risk classification of ECT devices must be overturned. Under the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, the FDA has authority to ban any device posing an "unreasonable and substantial risk" of injury. Jan Eastgate, president of CCHR International, argues that ECT devices meet this threshold, noting that regulators have never required evidence of long-term safety or effectiveness.
In the United States, an estimated 100,000 people undergo ECT annually, and CCHR has documented its use on teenagers and even children as young as five in some states. The organization has helped secure bans on electroshock for minors in California and Texas, and the World Health Organization declared in 2005 that ECT should be prohibited for minors. Western Australia banned it under age 14 in 2014, and Ireland banned it for anyone 18 and under in May 2026.
Survivors' accounts illustrate the harm. Jan Eastgate herself received ECT as a teenager after an undiagnosed thyroid condition was mislabeled as depression. She awoke with searing head pain, failed to recognize her mother, and lost memories of friends and education. Paris Jackson recently spoke about undergoing nine "painful" ECT sessions, experiencing severe head pain and amnesia. Utah Rep. Jake Sawyer, who received ECT in 2018, reported long-term damage and memory loss, saying his vocabulary and ability to form new memories have been significantly impaired.
The CCHR, established in 1969 by the Church of Scientology and psychiatrist Dr. Thomas Szasz, has testified before the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which opposes forced treatment including electroshock. The World Health Organization has warned of ECT's health risks, including brain damage and death, and has stated that in the absence of consent, ECT should be considered abuse or torture.
Eastgate concludes that electroshocking individuals, especially after failed psychiatric treatments and institutionalization that deprives them of autonomy, is an unnecessary practice from which patients need protection. "All electroshock methods for all ages should be prohibited," she said.
