Electroconvulsive Therapy Causes Permanent Amnesia And Cognitive Deficits

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Electroconvulsive Therapy Causes Permanent Amnesia And Cognitive Deficits,

Prominent Researcher Admits

Medical News Today December 22, 2006

In a stunning reversal, an article in the journal Neuropsychopharmacology in

January 2007 by prominent researcher Harold Sackeim of Columbia University

reveals that electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) causes permanent amnesia and

permanent deficits in cognitive abilities, which affect individuals' ability

to function.

" This study provides the first evidence in a large, prospective sample that

adverse cognitive effects can persist for an extended period, and that they

characterize routine treatment with ECT in community settings, " the study

notes.

For the past 25 years, ECT patients were told by Sackeim, the nation's top

ECT researcher, that the controversial treatment doesn't cause permanent

amnesia and, in fact, improves memory and increases intelligence.

Psychologist Sackeim also taught a generation of ECT practitioners that

permanent amnesia from ECT is so rare that it could not be studied. He

asserted that most people who said the treatment erased years of memory were

mentally ill and thus not credible.

The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) estimates that more than 3

million people have received ECT over the past generation. " Those patients

who reported permanent adverse effects on cognition have now had their

experiences validated, " said Andre, head of the Committee for Truth in

Psychiatry, a national organization of ECT recipients.

Since the mid-1980s, Sackeim worked as a consultant to the ECT device

manufacturer Mecta Corp. He never revealed his financial interest in ECT to

NIMH, as required by federal law, and, until 2002, did not reveal it to New

York officials as required by state law. Neuropsychopharmacology has endured

negative publicity over its failure to disclose financial conflicts of

journal authors, resulting in the editor's resignation and a promise to

disclose such conflicts in the future; yet there is no disclosure of

Sackeim's long-term relationship with Mecta, nor did Sackeim disclose his

financial conflict when his NIMH grant was renewed to 2009 at approximately

$500,000 per year.

The six-month study followed about 250 patients in New York City hospitals,

an unusually large number; most ECT studies are based on 20 to 30 patients.

Sackeim's previously published studies were short term, making it impossible

to assess long-term effects. " However, in other contexts over the years --

court depositions, communications with mental health officials, and grant

protocols -- Sackeim has claimed to follow up patients for as long as five

years. This raises serious questions as to how long he has actually known of

the existence and prevalence of permanent amnesia and why it wasn't revealed

until now, " Andre said.

Besides finding that ECT routinely causes substantial and permanent amnesia,

the study contradicts Sackeim's oft-published statements that ECT increases

intelligence and that patients who report permanent adverse effects are

mentally ill.

" The study is a stunning self-repudiation of a 25-year career, " Andre said.

Committee for Truth in Psychiatry

http://www.nature.com/npp/journal/v32/n1/pdf/1301180a.pdf

Regards,

Do not follow where the path may lead;

go instead where there is no path and

leave a trail.