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NHS Hospitals Used Shock Therapy on 250+ Teens
5 Dec, 2025
Summary
- Over 250 individuals endured electric shocks in NHS hospitals.
- The therapy aimed to alter sexual preferences and gender identity.
- Survivors report lasting physical and psychological pain from the 1965-1973 treatments.
New findings indicate that more than 250 individuals were subjected to painful electric shock treatments within NHS hospitals between 1965 and 1973. These treatments were specifically intended to alter patients' sexual preferences and gender identities, causing significant distress.
Survivors, some of whom were teenagers at the time, have shared harrowing accounts of the profound physical and lasting psychological pain endured. One individual described shocks so intense they led to a loss of consciousness and a multi-day hospital stay.
In response to this investigation, the government is expected to examine the historical application of electric shock aversion therapy within the NHS. While professional bodies have abandoned this practice, conversion practices remain legal in the UK.
