Self-administered Electroconvulsive Treatment With a Homemade Device

Abstract

Two patients with personality disorder and depression attempted to self-administer electroconvulsive therapy with a homemade device. The patients showed no proper psychopathological improvement after these attempts. Both of the patients' temples were seriously burned, and one of them required skin grafting. Both patients rejected to have reasonable psychosocial support, and followed a cult mental health manual in attempting to self-administer electroconvulsive therapy. To our knowledge, this is only the second report of its kind. The intractable psychopathology, poor interpersonal skills, and misleading information seemed to lead to the self-harm behaviors of our 2 patients.

Cosmetic psychiatry: A concept in urgent need of consideration

“…10 Sagan argued that cannabis use, in moderation, was safe and beneficial in healthy people 10 Importantly, whilst Sagan may have felt cannabis helped produce 'serenity and insight', more contemporary evidence suggests it may also cause the opposite to this including disturbed memory and judgement, anxiety and psychosis. 15,16 Iconic American inventor, computer pioneer and founder of Apple, Steve Jobs, allegedly told his biographer that, 'taking LSD was a profound experience, one of the most important things in my life'. 11 He appeared to attribute much of his entrepreneurial success to the mental state enhancements provided by the drug: '[LSD] reinforced my sense of what was importantcreating great things instead of making money…' 11 It is important to note that Jobs' biographer had also described him as being 'depressed' at least once and described his personality in a way suggestive of high trait openness to experienceboth aspects of his personal history that may have contributed to his use of tryptamines.…”

“…Regarding non-pharmacological interventions, passing electricity into the brain is best professionally regulated; self-administered electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) has resulted in burns and skin grafting, without therapeuticity. 16 Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is an increasingly popular performance-enhancing tool for gaming and eSports; 17 unregulated use exposes consumers to risks of inefficacy and harms (e.g. burns) but also financial exploitation.…”