Memory complaint after electroconvulsive therapy: assessment with a new self-rating instrument

Abstract

Memory complaints before bilateral electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), 1 week after ECT, and 6 months after ECT were assessed in 35 patients using a newly developed self-rating scale. Memory complaints that occurred 1 week after ECT differed quantitatively and qualitatively from memory complaints that occurred before ECT. Six months later, memory complaints qualitatively resembled the complaints reported 1 week after ECT and differed sharply from those reported before ECT. It was suggested that a patient's impression of his memory is altered by bilateral ECT and that this altered impression persists in gradually diminishing form for at least 6 months after a typical course of treatment. Since the self-rating instrument used here appeared to differentiate between memory complaints associated with depression (before ECT) and memory complaints associated with amnesia (1 week after ECT), this instrument may be useful in a variety of settings where there is interest in human memory function.