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Memory Changes After Unilateral and Bilateral Convulsive Therapy (ECT)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

Rhea Dornbush
Affiliation:
From the Division of Biological Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry, New York Medical College, and the International Association for Psychiatric Research, Inc., Five East 102nd Street, New York, N.Y. I0029 U.S.A
Richard Abrams
Affiliation:
From the Division of Biological Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry, New York Medical College, and the International Association for Psychiatric Research, Inc., Five East 102nd Street, New York, N.Y. I0029 U.S.A
Max Fink
Affiliation:
From the Division of Biological Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry, New York Medical College, and the International Association for Psychiatric Research, Inc., Five East 102nd Street, New York, N.Y. I0029 U.S.A

Extract

Memory deficit persists as the principal undesirable side effect of convulsive therapy. In an attempt to minimize this deficit Lancaster, Steinert and Frost (1958) introduced unilateral electrode placement to the non-dominant hemisphere as an alternative to the standard bilateral placement of electrodes. They suggested that clinical improvement with unilateral placement was the same as for bilateral ECT, but that memory impairment was less severe.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1971 

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