Electroconvulsive Therapy Causes Permanent Amnesia and Cognitive Deficits, Prominent Researcher Admits


NEW YORK, Dec. 21 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- 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.
"[T]his 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 Linda 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.
The article is available at the following link:Please note: this is a PDF file and you need Adobe Reader to access it.

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

I could have told him that! It stinks :wacko:

Labrat,

The major importance about THIS particular article is WHO is reporting this side effect.

Harold Sackeim has been the so called leading expert on ECT. He has taken in $1000's for studies and now he is being called on the carpet. He is not a medical doctor. He has a PHD. He has known all along that ECT causes brain damage but now he is finally admitting it.

There is much more about Mr. Sackeim and his backpeddeling found @ http://www.zaprap.org/

May his soul be flayed in the heat of a thousand suns.

I wonder if some day we will get a better accounting of VNS 'user errors'. Tangentially, I wonder if extremely long term studies (10+ years) of lobectomy patients is going to continue to show a greater trend of patients whose seizure control was not stable (ie. permanent).

I hate to tell you this but Sackeim's name is also plastered on the VNS studies....

I am aware who he is, but thousands of people knew his "new revelation" and live with it everyday. Some days it just bothers me more than others. I'll never be the same person or the person I would've been. I guess it's called life. We all suffer from something to lesser or greater degrees.

Hi Birdbomb, Remember me from a long time ago. I just want to say hi and see how you are doing. I didn't want to read about the effects of ECT because I had several treatments. All that I want to say is that it permanently wipe out some memories but since I have the VNS implant there will be no more damage.
December will be the two year anniversary that I had the surgery. This device was a life saver, even though I had to pay for the procedure. Take care. Patrick

Thank you for the update, Patrick. I am very glad it's working for you! Now, don't be a stranger! :D

Thanks Birdbomb.