The Effect of Electroconvulsive Therapy on Autobiographical Memory

Fraser, Louisa; O’Carroll, Ronan E.; Ebmeier, Klaus P.

doi:10.1097/yct.0b013e3181616c26

Cited by 166 publications

(96 citation statements)

References 34 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…A number of researchers have found that autobiographical memory problems are more likely to persist than other types of memory problems after ECT. There is some question, however, about whether these memory losses are a result of the depressive illness or ECT (Fraser, O'Carroll, & Ebmeier, 2008). When the effects of ECT on autobiographical memories were assessed by standardized tests of performance and the subjective experience of patients, conflicting results emerged (Fraser, O'Carroll, & Ebmeier, 2008).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Electroconvulsive Therapy: The Struggles in the Decision-Making Process and the Aftermath of Treatment

Smith

Vogler²,

Zarrouf

et al. 2009

Issues in Mental Health Nursing

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The perceptions of patients and their family members about electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) are crucial to understanding the meaning attached to having ECT and the impact it has on quality of life. Thus, in this qualitative study, patients and their family members described their perceptions of having electroconvulsive therapy (ECT). The experience occurred in two distinct periods in the patient's life: making the decision to have ECT and the physical and emotional aftermath of treatment. One of the most important themes in the study was a need for patients and families to be better informed about the risks of ECT.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Electroconvulsive Therapy: The Struggles in the Decision-Making Process and the Aftermath of Treatment

Smith

Vogler²,

Zarrouf

et al. 2009

Issues in Mental Health Nursing

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…9,10 Subjective memory complaints are not always well correlated with deterioration of objective measures of memory. 8,11 Nevertheless, studies have associated subjective memory complaints after ECT with performance in an autobiographical interview conducted several months after ECT. 12,13 Mood state has been related to subjective memory complaints after ECT.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…12,13 Mood state has been related to subjective memory complaints after ECT. 8,11,14 Depression is associated with subjective memory disturbances, 15 and long-lasting cognitive deficits can persist and cause functional impairment in remitted patients who were never treated with ECT. 16 In general, impairment in executive functioning and attention has been found to be more stable cognitive deficits persisting despite improved clinical status, whereas the cognitive functions of memory, verbal fluency measures, and psychomotor speed have been suggested to be more related to clinical state.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Subjective Memory Immediately Following Electroconvulsive Therapy

Brus¹,

Nordanskog²,

Båve³

et al. 2017

J ECT

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

OBJECTIVES The aims of the present study were to describe the short-term rate of subjective memory worsening (SMW) and identify factors of importance for SMW in a large clinical sample treated for depression with electroconvulsive therapy (ECT). METHODS This register-based study included 1212 patients from the Swedish National Quality Register for ECT. Subjective memory worsening was defined as a 2-point worsening on the memory item of the Comprehensive Psychopathological Rating Scale from before to within 1 week after treatment. Associations between patient characteristics and treatment factors were examined using logistic regression. RESULTS Subjective memory worsening was experienced in 26%. It was more common in women than in men (31% vs 18%; P < 0.001) and more common in patients aged 18 to 39 years than in patients 65 years or older (32% vs 22%; P = 0.008). Patients with less subjective memory disturbances before ECT had a greater risk of SMW. Patients in remission after ECT had a lower risk of SMW. A brief pulse width stimulus gave higher risk of SMW compared with ultrabrief pulse (odds ratio, 1.61; 95% confidence interval, 1.05-2.47). CONCLUSIONS Subjective memory worsening is reported by a minority of patients. However, young women are at risk of experiencing SMW. Ultrabrief pulse width stimulus could be considered for patients treated with unilateral electrode placement who experience SMW. Each patient should be monitored with regard to symptoms and adverse effects, and treatment should be adjusted on an individual basis to maximize the clinical effect and with efforts to minimize the cognitive adverse effects.This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives License 4.0 (CCBY-NC-ND), where it is permissible to download and share the work provided it is properly cited. The work cannot be changed in any way or used commercially without permission from the journal.

Funding agencies: Swedish Research Council [523-2013-2982]; Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research

show abstract

“…Systematic reviews identify autobiographical memory (AM) difficulties as the ECT side-effect that is of most concern to patients (Dybedal et al, 2014;Fraser et al, 2008;Goodman, 2011;Rose et al, 2003). These reviews also agree that, due to the complexity of AM function, reliably measuring its loss following treatment represents a methodological challenge.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Unravelling Autobiographical Retrograde Amnesia Following Bitemporal Electroconvulsive Therapy: Effect of Treatment versus Effect of Time

Semkovska¹,

O’Grady²

2017

PSYCH

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Objective: To reliably quantify the autobiographical retrograde amnesia directly attributable to the effect of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) independent from normal and depression-associated changes in autobiographical memory consistency. Method: By use of retrospective case-control study design, 19 severely depressed inpatients never treated with ECT who received pharmacotherapy (noECT group) were individually matched to similarly depressed 19 patients treated with standard, bitemporal electrode placement, ECT (B-ECT). The two groups were compared at Pre-Treatment, at PostTreatment and at three months Follow-Up on their performance on the Semantic, Episodic-Extended and Episodic-Specific Components of the Columbia Autobiographical Memory Interview-Short Form (CAMI-SF). Effects of treatment group and time on the three components were tested with 2 × 3 repeated-measures analyses of variance. Depression severity, assessed using the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale, was investigated as possible covariate. To explore the results' clinical significance, individual CAMI-SF performances were compared to available normative data. Results: At Pre-Treatment, the two groups were comparable on all three CAMI-SF components. In both groups, a significant effect of time explained decreased performance at PostTreatment and Follow-Up on all components (p-values < 0.0001). No significant effect of treatment was observed on the Semantic and Episodic-Extended components (p > 0.16). The B-ECT retrieval consistency on the EpisodicSpecific component was significantly worse at both Post-Treatment (p = 0.009) and Follow-Up (p = 0.012) relative to the noECT group. Ratios of im- paired retrieval consistency were higher in the B-ECT group than in the noECT group at Post-Treatment only. On individual level, bitemporal ECT was associated with a clinically significant decrease in Episodic-Specific autobiographical memory recall at Post-Treatment in 37% of participants and, for about 26%, this specific impairment persisted for at least three months after end of treatment. Depression severity did not influence observed results. Conclusion: ECT-associated autobiographical amnesia is limited to specific personal episodes, does not affect all patients and is reversible for some.

show abstract

The Effect of Electroconvulsive Therapy on Autobiographical Memory

Abstract: Further research is required to determine memory loss associated with ECT, controlling for the direct effects of the depressive state.

Cited by 166 publications

References 34 publications

Electroconvulsive Therapy: The Struggles in the Decision-Making Process and the Aftermath of Treatment

Electroconvulsive Therapy: The Struggles in the Decision-Making Process and the Aftermath of Treatment

Subjective Memory Immediately Following Electroconvulsive Therapy

Unravelling Autobiographical Retrograde Amnesia Following Bitemporal Electroconvulsive Therapy: Effect of Treatment versus Effect of Time

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About