ECT: Easy Prey, Excessive Profit

     A typical electroshock program for one inpatient in the United States costs between $50,000 and $75,000. ECT can also be administered to an outpatient in a hospital or in a psychiatrist’s office at $300 to $1,000 per session. Anywhere between half a dozen and a dozen sessions are normally given.

     To start with. Many patients are  prescribed a sequence of follow up ECT sessions that continue on and off for years. Electroconvulsive therapy treatments rake in more than $5 billion in the United States every year. The government and private insurance covers most, if not all, of the cost. The mean annual income for all psychiatrists is $150,000 per year, but psychiatrists specializing in electroshock therapy are more likely to earn $300,000 to $500,000 a year.

     ECT is a high profit industry for everyone involved.

     For instance, the cost of an ECT device is only around $20,000 to a  psychiatrist, even though its parts cost the manufacturer closer to $1,000. The FDA has allowed the continued use of these devices by giving them “clearance” — not approval — through a loophole that grandfathers their use into a pre-1976 provision. 

     Nineteen states can therefore continue to electroshock children today. Seven states can shock children under the age of five. Children, of course, are the easiest prey because they can be given ECT without their own informed consent…but with great profit.

(This article is an excerpt from our free downloadable broadsheet Shock Therapy).