In 2018, Weber County Rep. Jake Sawyer underwent electroconvulsive therapy. He was told the treatment was safe, effective and that the long-term side effects were minimal. That’s not what he experienced.
“My vocabulary is not what it used to be,” Sawyer said. “I've lost many, many, many years of memories.”
Electroconvulsive therapy induces brain seizures to treat treatment-resistant mood disorders, such as severe depression or bipolar disorder.
Since undergoing the procedure, Sawyer found comfort in Facebook groups for people struggling with severe side effects like memory loss.
This legislative session, he wants to go a step further, proposing HB100 to ban the treatment for minors.
Dr. Jeremy Kendrick is one voice that Sawyer has talked to about the procedure.
Kendrick is the medical director at the treatment-resistant mood disorders clinic at the University of Utah’s Huntsman Mental Health Institute, one of the state’s most robust centers for electroconvulsive therapy. He likens the process to chemotherapy. It’s an invasive treatment with the potential for harmful side effects, he said, but it’s also attempting to treat a serious problem.
“The alternative is potentially suicide,” Kendrick said. “So for us, it becomes a life-saving treatment that has a lot of problems with it.”
Memory loss is a well-known side effect.
“You are using the body's own electric system through an induced seizure to basically wake the brain up right,” Kendrick said. “And it does impact memory encoding.”
But Kendrick said there isn’t much clinical evidence showing longer-term side effects. On average, cognitive performance remains the same before and after the treatment. But he also said that isn’t what it feels like for some.
He said personal experiences with electroconvulsive therapy are just as important as clinical studies, whether or not they match up. And while the memory loss side effect can be a deal breaker for some, the results can also be worth it.
“I think that's the real zinger here,” Kendrick said. “If it didn't work so darn well, you know, I don't think people would choose to undergo it.”
It’s also important for Kendrick that this procedure isn’t the first option, especially for minors, the focus of Sawyer’s bill. Because the treatment is so invasive, it should be used more like a last line of defense.
Rep. Sawyer said he isn’t sure that’s happening.
“I feel like we're just using it at every opportunity,” Sawyer said.
Ultimately, both Kendrick and Sawyer emphasized the same thing.
“I think awareness is the biggest thing,” Kendrick said. “I have had patients come to me, like, I had no idea that this was even being discussed.”
Sawyer said the most important part is to have a conversation.
In a perfect world, he said his bill would get passed. For now, it has yet to even get a committee hearing. But he’s also trying to get the treatment onto a list of items the Legislature will examine between the 2026 and 2027 legislative sessions.
“I am fine with whichever way the bill goes,” Sawyer said. “So long as I feel like we have had a robust and informed conversation.”
Ethan Rauschkolb is an intern with Amplify Utah and KUER covering the Utah State Legislature and other local news.
