ECT Damage Is Easy To Find If You Look For It

SHOCKED! ECT

Home
About Me
Effects of ECT
ECT News
Hall of Shame
Personal ECT Stories
Forced Electroshock
Trends in ECT
Studies, Statistics, Reports
Self-Help / Alt. Depression Treatment
ECT Bulletin Board

back to
depression community

send this page to a friend

Bilateral and Unilateral ECT: Effects on Verbal and Nonverbal Memory

article

References

1. Greenblatt M: Efficacy of ECT in affective and schizophrenic illness. Am J Psychiatry 134: 1001-5, 1977.

Abstract: The author reports on studies of the comparative efficacy of ECT, the newer psychotropic drugs, and combinations of both in the treatment of depression and schizophrenia. He concludes that ECT is indicated for acutely suicidal and other severely impaired depressive patients but not necessarily for schizophrenic patients, although ECT has been successful with some schizophrenic patients for whom drugs were ineffective.

2. Freedman AM, Kaplan HI, Sadock BJ (eds): Comprehensive Textbook of Psychiatry, 2nd ed. Baltimore, Williams and Wilkins Co. 1975.

3. Harper RG; Wiens AN: Electroconvulsive therapy and memory. J Nerv Ment Dis 161: 245-54, 1975.
Abstract: Recent research on the effects of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) on memory is critically reviewed. Despite some inconsistent findings, unilateral nondominant ECT appears to affect verbal memory less than bilateral ECT. Adequate research on multiple monitored ECT is lacking. With few exceptions, the research methodologies for assessing memory have been inadequate. Many studies have confounded learning with retention, and only very recently has long term memory been adequately studied. Standardized assessment procedures for short term and long term memory are needed, in addition to more sophisticated assessment of memory processes, the duration of memory loss, and qualitative aspects of memories.

4. Squire LR: Title: ECT and memory loss. 134: 997-1001, Am J Psychiatry 1977.
Abstract: The author reviews several studies that clarify the nature of the memory loss associated with ECT. Bilateral ECT produced greater anterograde memory loss than right unilateral ECT and more extensive retrograde amnesia than unilateral ECT. Reactivating memories just before ECT did not produce amnesia. Capacity for new learning recovered substantially by several months after ECT, but memory complaints were common in individuals who had received bilateral ECT. Other things being equal, right unilateral ECT seems preferable to bilateral ECT because the risks to memory associated with unilateral ECT are smaller.

5. Dornbush RL, Williams M: Memory and ECT, in Psychobiology of Convulsive Therapy. Edited by Fink M, Kety S, McGaugh J, et al. Washington DC, VH Winston & Sons, 1974.

6. Squire LR; Chace PM: Memory functions six to nine months after electroconvulsive therapy. Arch Gen Psychiatry 12: 1557-64, 1975.

advertisement

Abstract: Memory functions after electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) were assessed in 38 former patients who had received bilateral treatment, right unilateral treatment, or hospitalization without ECT six to nine months previously. Results of six different tests of delayed retention and remote memory provided no evidence for persisting memory impairment. Nevertheless, persons who had received bilateral ECT rated their memory as impaired significantly (P less than .05) more often than did persons in the other follow-up groups. Although considerable effort was made to maximize the sensitivity of the memory tests, it is possible that, long after ECT, some impairment of memory remained that was not detected by these tests. Alternatively, it is hypothesized that the impairment of recent and remote memory initially associated with bilateral ECT could cause some persons to become more alert to subsequent memory failures and then to underestimate their memory abilities.

7. D'Elia G. Unilateral electroconvulsive therapy, in Psychobiology of Convulsive Therapy. Edited by Fink M, Kety S, McGaugh J, et al. Washington DC, VH Winston & Sons, 1974.

8. Squire LR; Slater PC; Chace PM: Retrograde amnesia: temporal gradient in very long term memory following electroconvulsive therapy. Science 187: 77-9, 1975.
Abstract: A newly designed remote memory test has been used to assess the temporal dimension of prolonged retrograde amnesia. Patients given a course of electroconvulsive treatments for relief of depressive illness exhibited a temporal gradient of retrograde amnesia after five treatments. Memories acquired up to about 3 years before treatment were impaired, but memories acquired 4 to 17 years before treatment were not affected. The results suggest that the neural substrate of memory gradually changes with the passage of time after learning and that resistance to amnesic treatment can continue to develop for years.

9. Bidder TG; Strain JJ; Brunschwig L: Bilateral and unilateral ECT: follow-up study and critique. Am J Psychiatry 6: 737-45, 1970.

10. Strain JJ; Brunschwig L; Duffy JP; Agle DP; Rosenbaum AL; Bidder TG: Comparison of therapeutic effects and memory changes with bilateral and unilateral ECT. Am J Psychiatry 125: 50-60, 1968.

11. Cronin D; Bodley P; Potts L; Mather MD; Gardner RK; Tobin JC: Unilateral and bilateral ECT: a study of memory disturbance and relief from depression. J Neurol 33: 705-13, 1970.

12. Frombolt P. Christensen AL, Stromgren LS: The effects of unilateral and bilateral electroconvulsive therapy on memory. Acta Psychiatr Scand 49:466-478, 1973.

13. Dornbush R; Abrams R; Fink M: Memory changes after unilateral and bilateral convulsive therapy (ECT). Br J Psychiatry 548: 75-8, 1971.

14. Berent S; Cohen BD; Silverman A: Changes in verbal and nonverbal learning following a single left or right unilateral electroconvulsive treatment. Biol Psychiatry, 10:95-100, 1975.

15. Cohen BD; Noblin CD; Silverman AJ; Penick SB: Functional asymmetry of the human brain. Science 162: 475-7, 1968.

16. Halliday AM, Davison K, Browne MW, et al: A comparison of the effects on depression and memory of bilateral ECT and unilateral ECT to the dominant and nondominant hemispheres. Br J Psychiatry 114:997-1012, 1968.

17. D'Elia G; Lorentzson S; Raotma H; Widepalm K: Comparison of unilateral dominant and non-dominant ECT on verbal and non-verbal memory. Acta Psychiatr Scand 53: 85-94, 1976.
Abstract: An intraindividual, double-blind cross-over comparison of the effects of dominant (D) and non-dominant (ND) temporo-parietal unilateral electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) was performed in connection with the second and third treatment, the type of electrode placement being allocated at random. Four memory tests were used. The 30 Word-Pair Test is an audio-visual verbal recall test, the 30 Figure Test is a mainly visual recognition test with easily verbalized items. The 30 Geometrical Figure Test and the 30 Face Test are nonverbal recognition tests of visual complex and unfamiliar material. Compared with dominant ECT, non-dominant ECT has a more negative influence in the complex non-verbal visual tests, whereas dominant ECT has a more negative effect on verbal memory. In the non-verbal tests, as compared with the verbal ones, the encoding (or learning) is relatively more influenced and the retention (or storage) relatively less. An impairment either of complex apperceptive function or of memory may be responsible for the relatively lower performance in non-verbal tests after non-dominant ECT.

18. Inglis J: Shock, surgery and cerebral asymmetry. Br J Psychiatry 117: 143-8. 1970.

19. McAndrew J; Berkey B; Matthews C: The effects of dominant and nondominant unilateral ECT as compared to bilateral ECT. Am J Psychiatry 124: 483-90, 1967. 20. D'Elia G: Memory changes after unilateral electroconvulsive therapy with different electrode positions. Cortex 12: 280-9, 1976.
Abstract: In the course of a series into the effects of unilateral electroconvulsive therapy on memory functions, double-blind cross-over intraindividual comparison were performed after the second and third treatment in patients suffering from depressive syndrome. The main aim of the project, which is still in course, was to explore the possibility of a further reduction of the side-effects of this antidepressant method. Three separate comparisons were performed between unilateral nondominant temporo-parietal ECT and (a) unilateral dominant temporo-parietal ECT, (b) unilateral non-dominant fronto-parietal ECT, (c) unilateral non-dominant fronto-fronto ECT (Figure 1). The treatments were given under total anaesthesia and with subtotal muscle relaxation. Four memory tests were administered three hours after the second and the third ECT, the treatment methods being allocated at random. The 30 Word-Pair Test is mixed audio-visual recall verbal test. The 30 Figure Test is mainly visual recognition test with items which can be easily verbally patterned. Further, two visual recognition tests, the 30 Face Test and the 30 Geometrical Figure Test, composed of not easily verbalized items were administered. For each test, three memory scores were obtained, immediate memory score (IMS, immediately after the presentation of the items, three hours after ECT), delayed memory score (DMS, three hours after IMS) and their difference, forgetting score (FS). IMS is considered to be a function of the hypothetical memory variable, learning, and FS a function of the variable retention. DMS is related to both learning and retention. When non-dominant and dominant temporo-parietal ECT are compared, there are, after non-dominant ECT, significantly lower IMS and DMS in the 30 Face Test but only lower IMS in the 30 Geometrical Figure Test. The difference in DMS for the 30 Word-Pair Test is in the opposite direction (Figure 2). In the comparison between non-dominant temporo-parietal vs non-dominant fronto-frontal ECT, a slightly, non-significant, lower IMS in the 30 Face Test is apparent (Figure 4). Other important trends are not found in any of the studies (Figures 2-4). The results show that differential effects are obtained with different memory material when dominant and non-dominant electrode positions are used in unilateral ECT. The results are discussed in relation to the question whether high level perceptive function or memory is involved in the encoding-storage of complex non-verbal material in the non-dominant hemisphere.

21. D'Elia G; Widepalm K: Comparison of frontoparietal and temporoparietal unilateral electroconvulsive therapy. Acta Psychiatr Scand 50: 225-32, 1974.

22. Milner B: Psychological defects produced by temporal lobe excision. Res Publ Assoc Res Nerv Ment Dis 36:244-257, 1958.

23. Osterrieth P: Le test de copie d'une figure complexe. Arch Psychol 30:206-356, 1944.

24. Milner B, Teuber HL: Alteration of perception and memory in man: reflections on methods in Analysis of Behavioral Change. Edited by Weiskrantz L. New York, Harper & Row, 1968.

25. Teuber HL, Milner B, Vaughan HG: Persistent anterograde amnesia after stab wound of the basal brain. Neuropsychologia 6:267-282, 1968.

26. Squire LR; Slater PC: Anterograde and retrograde memory impairment in chronic amnesia. Neuropsychologia 16: 313-22, 1978.

27. Milner B: Hemispheric specialization: scope and limits, in The Neurosciences Third Study Program. Edited by Schmitt PO, Worden FG. Cambridge, Mass, MIT Press, 1974.

28. Winer BJ: Statistical Principles in Experimental Design. New York, McGraw-Hill Book Co, 1962.

29. D'Elia G; Raotma H: Is unilateral ECT less effective than bilateral ECT? Br J Psychiatry 126: 83-9, 1975.

30. Stromgren LS: Unilateral versus bilateral electroconvulsive therapy. Acta Psychiatr Scand Supplement 240, 1973, pp 8-65.

31. American Psychiatric Association Task Force Report: Electroconvulsive Therapy. Washington, DC, APA, 1978.

32. Cronholm BJ, Ottosson JO: Experimental studies of the therapeutic action of electroconvulsive therapy in endogenous depression. Acta Psychiatr Neurol Scand Supplement 145, 1960, pp 69-97.

top | sitemap | send page to a friend

HealthyPlace.com Depression Center Links
home ~ site map

HealthyPlace.com Homepage
Chat ~ Forums ~ Communities
HealthyPlace.com Films ~ HealthyPlace.com Radio ~ News
Site Map ~ Web Tour ~ Advertise ~ Email Us
send this page to a friend

We subscribe to the HONcode principles of the Health On the Net Foundation.