Key points

Our survey found, using four different measures, that 61 to 84 percent of ECT patients report memory loss.

More than half ECT patients reporting memory loss said the loss lasted for more than 3 years.

A "dose effect" (the more ECTs, the more damage) suggests a causal relationship.

The researchers call for cognitive assessment and, where necessary, rehabilitation, for damaged patients.

The third paper 1 from our international survey of 1,144 electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) recipients and family members is published this week, in the peer-reviewed scientific journal Ethical Human Psychology and Psychiatry . The first two papers reported that most recipients felt that the treatment either made no difference or made things worse, 2 and that most were not ad

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