Treatment of Methamphetamine Dependence with Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT) in Iran: A Critical Note

OBJEVTIVE This comment article reviews the literature to explore whether the use of ECT for the treatment of methamphetamine dependence can be justified by scientific rationale and/or evidence. METHOD This article reviews the literature on the use of ECT in addictive disorders. It describes a patient with methamphetamine dependence treated with ECT. It then offers a historical review of the moral and ethical difficulties encountered in the treatment of addictive disorders. It proposes a dynamic understanding as to why clinicians might deploy such brutal actions in the face of hopeless and emotionally intense encounters. RESULTS We found no scientific evidence or justification for ECT as a treatment of methamphetamine dependence or as the first line treatment for methamphetamine-induced psychiatric comorbidities. CONCLUSION the current available evidence does not support using ECT for the treatment of addictive disorders, and hence is unethical, unacceptable and inhumane and warrants immediate social and political attention.