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.