{"id":179367,"date":"2025-12-07T13:44:12","date_gmt":"2025-12-07T13:44:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/179367\/"},"modified":"2025-12-07T13:44:12","modified_gmt":"2025-12-07T13:44:12","slug":"lgbt-survivors-tell-of-barbaric-nhs-electric-shock-therapy-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/179367\/","title":{"rendered":"LGBT survivors tell of &#8216;barbaric&#8217; NHS electric shock therapy"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Recent research by Prof Hel Spandler, a leading historian of psychiatry and LGBT+ health, suggests ESAT practice was far more widespread than previously documented. <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">While the BBC has found records confirming more than 250 cases, Prof Spandler&#8217;s analysis of medical archives and oral histories indicates the true figure could be close to 1,000 cases across the UK.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">She explains many treatments were never formally recorded at the time, and describes the treatment as operating like a &#8220;cottage industry&#8221;, with hospitals and clinics quietly replicating the method across the country.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;The treatment was often presented as cutting-edge behavioural science,&#8221; she notes. <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Early versions of aversion therapy were first trialled on animals and then on humans for conditions such as phobias, compulsions, and addictions, for example, using mild shocks to reduce nail-biting or gambling. <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;But in reality,&#8221; she said, when used to treat sexuality and gender expression, &#8220;it caused profound harm and lifelong trauma&#8221;.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Recent research by Prof Hel Spandler, a leading historian of psychiatry and LGBT+ health, suggests ESAT practice was&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":179368,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[103,397,396,61,60],"class_list":{"0":"post-179367","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-healthcare","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-health-care","10":"tag-healthcare","11":"tag-ie","12":"tag-ireland"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179367","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=179367"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179367\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/179368"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=179367"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=179367"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=179367"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}