A forthcoming University of Houston study challenges the 80-year-old psychiatric claim that electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is safe, providing new evidence that a significant portion of the electric current passes directly through the brain. The research, presented at the IEEE EMC+SIPI 2026 Symposium, undermines the 'shunting theory' that psychiatrists have used to reassure patients that the scalp harmlessly diverts 90–95% of the current away from the brain.
Using a high-resolution three-dimensional digital model of the head, the researchers tracked the path of current during an ECT treatment. The findings indicate that 82.5% of the total current flows through the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and brain, while only 1.5% flows through the scalp. The CSF acts as the major highway distributing current throughout the brain, contradicting previous assumptions.
One expert involved in the study noted that electrical energy converts into heat inside the brain, and higher current produces more heat. Excessive temperature can cause temporary injury, permanent damage, or even cell death. Electricity can also create pores in cell membranes through a process known as electroporation. When the voltage is high enough, the holes overwhelm the brain's repair mechanisms, allowing toxic material to flood in and cells to die. This suggests that ECT risks brain-cell damage from both heating and electroporation.
Professor John Read, a leading ECT researcher, draws a parallel: "The effects on the brain [of] ECT is very similar to the effects of what's called a closed-brain injury… there's changes in the brain that are documented after ECT, very similar to traumatic brain injury."
In response, the Citizens Commission on Human Rights International (CCHR) has renewed its demand for a ban on electroshock devices. The organization points to the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) 2018 decision to lower the risk classification of ECT devices, arguing that the FDA has full authority under the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. § 360f) to ban any device posing an 'unreasonable and substantial risk' of injury.
An estimated 100,000 Americans undergo ECT annually, and CCHR has documented its use on teenagers and, in some states, children as young as five. Jan Eastgate, president of CCHR International, stated: "Electroshock devices meet the FDA threshold, which need to be revisited. Decades of research document brain damage, memory loss, cognitive deficits, and mortality, while regulators have never required evidence of long-term safety or effectiveness."
CCHR has a long history of advocating for restrictions on ECT, helping secure the first bans for minors in California (1976) and Texas (1993). The World Health Organization declared in 2005 that there are no indications for ECT on minors and that it "should be prohibited through legislation." More recently, Western Australia banned it for under-14s in 2014, the Australian Capital Territory banned it for under-12s, and Ireland banned it for anyone 18 and under in May 2026.
Survivors describe the damaging effects. Eastgate, who received ECT as a teenager after an undiagnosed underactive thyroid was mislabeled as depression, experienced searing head pain, failed to recognize her mother, and lost memories of friends and parts of her education. She called it "like a grenade going off in her body." Recently, Paris Jackson spoke about undergoing nine "painful" ECT sessions in three weeks, experiencing severe head pain and amnesia, with no memory of visits or conversations with friends despite photographic evidence. Utah Rep. Jake Sawyer received ECT in 2018 and reported long-term damage and memory loss: "My vocabulary is nowhere near what it used to be, and making new memories is vastly more difficult than it was before."
Eastgate concludes, "All electroshock methods for all ages should be prohibited."
