I lost a YEAR of memories from electroshock therapy after postnatal depression

HAVING children is meant to be one of the happiest times of your life, but it is also one of the most challenging.

When Lisa Morrison moved from South Africa to Northern Ireland after she got married, she was beginning the next chapter of her life.

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Lisa Morrison suffered with post natal depression after having her children[/caption]

But after she had her children, Lisa said she had some difficulties with her mental health and had experienced post natal depression.

Soon Lisa had relapsed into a previous eating disorder she had suffered with and she says this then set off a ‘chain of events’ which lead to her not being able to remember a whole year of her life.

Lisa has now told how she spent many months of every year in a local inpatient mental health unit.

Speaking to BBC Northern Ireland, Lisa has now revealed that she was treated with several courses of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) over a seven year period.

The treatment, she says, was conducted at Bluestone mental health unit in the Southern Health Trust.

Lisa said: “It’s very difficult to talk about because I have very little memory of this period.

“There are huge gaps around things that I really should remember as a mum and I find that quite distressing.”

Lisa says she was treated well within the unit she was in, but that there was ‘very little meaningful activity’.

“ECT is talked about as a last resort but looking back I have to question whether all other options were exhausted in my case.

“When somebody is putting an electric current through your brain, they are not actually 100 per cent sure of how complex the brain is, I have no memory of a year of my life at all.”

Some patients who have had this treatment have previously complained of memory loss and headaches.

Earlier this year was school in the US was condemned after it said it would be using the therapy on ‘self-harming’ students.

The Royal College of Psychiatrists says the treatment can be ‘life saving’ to patients who suffer with severe depression.

In response to Lisa’s claims, the The Southern Health Trust said: “The trust does not comment on individual cases. ECT remains a very effective treatment option and is not prescribed without very careful consideration.”

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Now Lisa feels as though other options may not have been approached before she was treated[/caption]