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Most relatives of ECT recipents reported that their loved one experienced memory loss after treatment.

The memory loss usually lasted more than three years, which suggests it is permanent.

A minority reported that ECT helped, but most thought it either made no difference or made things worse.

Most relatives reported negative effects on their relationships with the ECT recipients, and on themselves.

I have previously discussed the responses of patients to our international survey on electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), in relation to efficacy, memory loss, other adverse effects, information given to patients and families, the self-reported causes of the problems for which ECT was given, and women's experiences with ECT.

This article1 is different. It presents the responses of 286 relatives and friends of the ECT recipients, from 22 countries, and has been published in the British Psychological Society’s peer-reviewed journal Psychology and Psychotherapy.

While 45 percent of respondents reported an improvement in the specific problem for which ECT had been prescribed, 42 percent thought it had made the problem worse.

Sixty-one percent reported that the treatment diminished the patients’ overall quality of life, and 34 percent believed the treatment had caused brain damage.

On three measures of memory, between 51 percent and 73 percent reported memory loss in their relative or friend, while 8 percent to 11 percent reported memory improvement. For example, the majority (73 percent) reported retrograde amnesia (loss of life........

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