Web information about electroconvulsive therapy

Joshi is understandably concerned about the bias to much of the information about electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) that can be found on the internet. ¹ However, he and his patients do not need to look even as far as www.patient.co.uk to find reliable information for services users, carers and families, as the College has a range of such materials available on its website (www.rcpsych.ac.uk/mentalhealthinformation.aspx). It has gained a reputation for reliable content written in a style that is accessible to most readers. We have won several commendations at the British Medical Association awards over the past few years and receive consistently complementary feedback from our web readers.

Our ECT page is rather longer than most of our leaflets and perhaps not quite as readable because of the complexity of the issues involved. However, I think it holds up well against most such web-published information on the subject. Although we do not yet have a printed version, a copy can be printed off the internet. Many of our leaflets are available in paper form and I would commend the readers to have a look at these. They are free to individuals who request them and available to purchase in bulk through the Leaflets Department at the College.