ECT 'It has ruined my life':

'It has ruined my life': Woman who underwent electro-shock therapy in the 1980s now campaigns against the practice

A woman who was administered controversial electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is campaigning to ban the mental health treatment.

Jacqueline Dunn, 47, of Sutton, wants to ban the treatment she said has ruined her life and left her suffering with memory loss and other problems.

The treatment is still offered by South West London and St George's mental health trust (SWLStG), which covers Kingston, Merton, Richmond, Sutton and Wandsworth.

Formerly of Ormesby, near Middlesborough, Miss Dunn was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia when she was a teenager, but believes she suffered from bi-polar disorder and depression.

She said: "I got really ill and I thought I was Jesus in the time leading up to the ECT treatment. I dressed up as him and everything, I really believed I was him and became very religious.

"It got to the point where I even baptised my feet in the toilet."

When she was 17, in 1985, Miss Dunn was taken to the now-demolished St Luke's Hospital in Middlesborough and underwent ECT in hope that it would improve her condition.

ECT was first used in the 1930s to treat patients with severe depression. The patient is first given anaesthetic and muscle relaxants before putting in a mouth guard to stop them from biting their own tongue.

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Dr John Read, from the University of Liverpool, believes the treatment will eventually be consigned to the "rubbish bin of historical treatments".

He told the BBC: "It's not in any way addressing the cause of their depression. It's systematically and gradually wiping out their memory and cognitive function."

But an SWLStG spokeswoman said: "Electroconvulsive therapy is an evidence-based, NICE-approved treatment to be used under specific circumstances and can have benefits for certain patients, particularly for people with severe depression who have not responded to other forms of treatment.

"We follow NICE clinical guidance on the use of ECT, and its use in the trust is accredited by the Royal College of Psychiatry."

The Mind charity says ECT "can be an effective treatment" for people with severe depression, for whom no other treatment has worked.

Mother-of-two Miss Dunn added: "I remember being taken into a room on the ward and being given a needle in my hand. Something was put in my mouth before they anaesthetised me.

"When I woke up I had a horrible headache and that has never gone away.

"I had so much going for me before I had the treatment and really loved doing the smaller things in life.

"My big passion was walking, I did it every day, but since the shock therapy I don't have the drive to do it and that's really upsetting for me.

"I'm horrified that this is still being done on people. It has ruined my life."