Reid W H
Texas Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation, Austin 78711.
Tex Med. 1993 May;89(5):58-62.
Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is a safe, effective, valuable treatment for serious affective disorders (eg, major depression). Sometimes indicated for other, occasionally nonpsychiatric, medical conditions, ECT is a moderately complex procedure for which training is provided routinely during psychiatric residency. Although temporary confusion and amnesia are expected immediately after treatment, no reliable data suggest that permanent memory loss or cognitive deficit is caused by modern ECT. Indeed, because severe depression itself often causes both memory and cognitive deficits, ECT's remarkable therapeutic effectiveness is associated with long-term improvement in cognition, learning ability, and memory for many patients. Controversy over safety and effect on memory is fueled largely by public misinformation.
电休克疗法（ECT）是一种用于治疗严重情感障碍（如重度抑郁症）的安全、有效且有价值的疗法。ECT有时也适用于其他一些情况，偶尔也用于非精神科的医疗状况，它是一个中等复杂程度的程序，在精神科住院医师培训期间会常规提供相关培训。尽管治疗后即刻会出现短暂的意识混乱和失忆，但没有可靠数据表明现代ECT会导致永久性记忆丧失或认知缺陷。事实上，由于严重抑郁症本身常常会导致记忆和认知缺陷，ECT显著的治疗效果对许多患者而言与认知、学习能力和记忆的长期改善相关。关于其安全性和对记忆影响的争议很大程度上是由公众错误信息引发的。
