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Shock, Surgery and Cerebral Asymmetry

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

James Inglis*
Affiliation:
Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada

Extract

The main contention of this paper is that some of the transient side-effects of electroconvulsive therapy on human memory resemble, in kind if not in degree, those more severe and chronic learning defects that are known to appear as an incidental result of temporal lobectomy in man. If this claim can plausibly be supported it would imply a pressing need for the more systematic study of other modes of therapeutically effective ECT that would interfere as little as possible with the normal activity of those parts of the human brain that are essential for adequate learning and memory function.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1970 

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