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Does electroconvulsive therapy cause brain damage?

Publication ,  Journal Article
Weiner, RD
Published in: Behavioral and Brain Sciences
January 1, 1984

Although the use of ECT has declined dramatically from its inception, this decrease has recently shown signs of leveling out because of ECT's powerful therapeutic effect in severely ill depressed individuals who either do not respond to pharmacologic alternatives or are too ill to tolerate a relatively lengthy drug trial. Notwithstanding its therapeutic benefits, ECT has also remained a controversial treatment modality, particularly in the eye of the public. Given the unsavory qualities associated with the word “electroconvulsive,” claims of possible, probable, or even certain brain damage with ECT have easily found listeners. A careful, nonselective assessment of data covering the areas of pathology, radiology, electrophysiology, biochemistry, and neuropsychology leads both to certain conclusions and to certain unanswered questions. ECT is not the devastating purveyor of wholesale brain damage that some of its detractors claim. For the typical individual receiving ECT, no detectable correlates of irreversible brain damage appear to occur. Still, there remains the possibility that either subtle, objectively undetectable persistent deficits, particularly in the area of autobiographic memory function, occur, or that a rarely occurring syndrome of more pervasive persistent deficits related to ECT use may be present. Clearly, more research directed toward answering these questions needs to be carried out so that the role of ECT can be more rigorously defined. While such research is pending, however, we cannot expect that the conditions that predispose to clinical referrals for ECT will disappear. Given the misery, anguish, and risk of death by suicide, starvation, or debilitation associated with severe depressive illness, for example, it still appears that ECT, at least for the present, must continue to be available. © 1984, Cambridge University Press. All rights reserved.

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Published In

Behavioral and Brain Sciences

DOI

EISSN

1469-1825

ISSN

0140-525X

Publication Date

January 1, 1984

Volume

7

Issue

1

Start / End Page

1 / 22

Related Subject Headings

  • Experimental Psychology
  • 5204 Cognitive and computational psychology
  • 5202 Biological psychology
  • 3209 Neurosciences
  • 1702 Cognitive Sciences
  • 1109 Neurosciences
  • 0801 Artificial Intelligence and Image Processing
 

Citation

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Weiner, R. D. (1984). Does electroconvulsive therapy cause brain damage? Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 7(1), 1–22. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X00025887
Weiner, R. D. “Does electroconvulsive therapy cause brain damage?Behavioral and Brain Sciences 7, no. 1 (January 1, 1984): 1–22. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X00025887.
Weiner RD. Does electroconvulsive therapy cause brain damage? Behavioral and Brain Sciences. 1984 Jan 1;7(1):1–22.
Weiner, R. D. “Does electroconvulsive therapy cause brain damage?Behavioral and Brain Sciences, vol. 7, no. 1, Jan. 1984, pp. 1–22. Scopus, doi:10.1017/S0140525X00025887.
Weiner RD. Does electroconvulsive therapy cause brain damage? Behavioral and Brain Sciences. 1984 Jan 1;7(1):1–22.
Journal cover image

Published In

Behavioral and Brain Sciences

DOI

EISSN

1469-1825

ISSN

0140-525X

Publication Date

January 1, 1984

Volume

7

Issue

1

Start / End Page

1 / 22

Related Subject Headings

  • Experimental Psychology
  • 5204 Cognitive and computational psychology
  • 5202 Biological psychology
  • 3209 Neurosciences
  • 1702 Cognitive Sciences
  • 1109 Neurosciences
  • 0801 Artificial Intelligence and Image Processing