Department of Acute Psychiatry, Blakstad Hospital, Vestre Viken Hospital Trust, 1309 Rud, Norway.
Med Hypotheses. 2011 Dec;77(6):1000-3. doi: 10.1016/j.mehy.2011.08.032. Epub 2011 Sep 7.
Electroconvulsive treatment (ECT) has developed over 70 years to a modern, effective way of lifting depressive moods. Memory loss after electroconvulsive treatment is the only remaining relevant criticism of the treatment modality when considering the overall rate of remission from this treatment compared to all other treatment modalities. A depressive state impedes memory. After treatment memory improves on several qualities of cognition. However, comparing a person's memory ability from the months before depression started to the level after a course of ECT is never done, of obvious reasons. There are great clinical difficulties explaining who would develop memory problems, regardless of stimulation techniques, age or sex of the patient.
The memory loss seen in some patients undergoing electroconvulsive treatment (ECT) is not explained by the treatment alone. After ECT unpleasant memories are disclosed rapidly and the patient may unconsciously try to defend herself by extending memory repression to other areas of memory. This may be unrelated to treatment modality, number of sessions or severity of depression. Psychological factors may partly explain why some patients unfold memory problems when the depression is rapidly lifted, rather than the treatment modality itself.
电抽搐治疗（ECT）已经发展了 70 多年，成为一种现代、有效的治疗抑郁情绪的方法。与其他所有治疗方法相比，电抽搐治疗的总体缓解率，记忆丧失是电抽搐治疗唯一剩下的相关批评。抑郁状态会阻碍记忆。治疗后，认知的几个方面的记忆力会提高。然而，由于明显的原因，从未有人将一个人在抑郁开始前几个月的记忆能力与接受一疗程 ECT 后的记忆能力进行比较。有很大的临床困难来解释谁会出现记忆问题，无论刺激技术、患者的年龄或性别如何。
在接受电抽搐治疗（ECT）的一些患者中，所看到的记忆丧失不能仅用治疗来解释。在 ECT 之后，不愉快的记忆会迅速被揭示出来，患者可能会无意识地试图通过将记忆压抑扩展到记忆的其他领域来保护自己。这可能与治疗方式、治疗次数或抑郁的严重程度无关。心理因素可能部分解释了为什么一些患者在抑郁迅速缓解时会出现记忆问题，而不是治疗方式本身。
