Ireland has officially banned the use of electroshock treatment, also known as electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), on minors under its Mental Health Act enacted in May 2026, according to the Citizens Commission on Human Rights International (CCHR). The new law prohibits the administration of ECT to anyone under 18, safeguarding young people from a procedure that delivers up to 460 volts of electricity through the brain, which can cause severe memory loss and cognitive and brain damage.
The ban marks a significant human rights advance, according to CCHR, which has long advocated against the practice. The group helped secure the first U.S. law banning ECT on minors under 12 in California in 1976, and later in Texas on minors under 16 in 1993. In Western Australia, CCHR's efforts led to a ban on ECT for those 14 and younger in 2014, with criminal penalties for violators.
Jan Eastgate, President of CCHR International, praised Irish officials for recognizing the need to prohibit ECT on minors, raising the age to 17. "However, like thousands who called for ECT to be banned in the U.S. under the FDA's Final Rule in 2018, the ban should be extended to all ages. CCHR is committed to achieving this," she said.
The Human Rights Institute in Ireland noted that the adoption of the Mental Health Act is one of the country's significant developments in the advancement of human rights, reconsidering the relationship between health, human dignity, and public responsibilities of the state. The Irish Mental Health Commission added that "the most significant right potentially affected by this legislation is the right to liberty and personal security."
In the United States, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has cleared ECT devices for those 13 and older for three limited conditions, but the procedure is broadly administered off-label. The newly formed Stop ECT Coalition, comprising health and human rights organizations, is urging a review of how ECT devices remain on the market. ECT devices were "grandfathered" into FDA regulation in 1976 as a Class III high-risk device, bypassing modern standards requiring premarket approval with clinical trials proving safety and efficacy. In 2018, the FDA reduced the risk classification to moderate risk (Class II) without such trials. The Coalition emphasizes that this incorrect classification allowed ECT devices to be used on children as young as five, pregnant women, seniors, and veterans, and that involuntary application, still occurring in some U.S. facilities, has been condemned by the United Nations and World Health Organization as a human-rights abuse.
Dr. John Read, Professor of Clinical Psychology at the University of East London, has extensively reviewed ECT studies. He notes that some early proponents argued ECT works by reducing intelligence or erasing traumatic memories, describing it as "brain-damaging therapeutics." He and colleagues published a review of over a hundred studies demonstrating that the effects of ECT on the brain are similar to a closed-brain injury. Robert Rubinstein, a former psychiatry professor at the University of California, San Francisco, compared ECT to "kicking a Swiss watch," and psychiatrist Dr. Niall McLaren stated, "No psychiatrist needs to use ECT."
A mental health strategy plan drafted by the World Health Organization's Department of Mental Health and Substance Use warned of ECT's health risks, including brain damage, cardiovascular complications, memory impairment, and even death, stating that ECT should be banned for children and non-consenting use may constitute torture.
"Ireland's ban on electroshock treatment for minors marks a significant step forward in protecting vulnerable young people from a damaging procedure. While this decision advances human rights and personal liberty in the mental health industry, advocates like CCHR and the Stop ECT Coalition continue to call for a complete ban," Eastgate said.
