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Short-Term Cognitive Effects of Unilateral and Bilateral ECT

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

Michael Alan Taylor  and
Richard Abrams
Michael Alan Taylor*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Health Sciences/The Chicago Medical School, 3333 Green Bay Road, North Chicago, Illinois 60064, USA
Richard Abrams
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Health Sciences/The Chicago Medical School, 3333 Green Bay Road, North Chicago, Illinois 60064, USA
*
∗Correspondence
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Summary

We administered an extensive battery of primarily non-memory neuropsychological tasks to 37 patients with endogenous depression, randomly assigned to either bilateral (B/ECT) or unilateral (U/ECT) electroconvulsive therapy. Testing was done prior to therapy and again shortly after the sixth induced seizure. The two groups did not significantly differ in cognitive impairment, either before or after treatment, and within-group cognitive changes following treatment were small. We conclude that neither B/ECT nor U/ECT substantially worsen non-memory cognitive performance in depressed patients, yet both result in significant clinical improvement.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 146 , Issue 3 , March 1985 , pp. 308 - 311
Copyright
Copyright © 1985 The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

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