AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL MEMORY AND MOOD - EFFECTS OF ELECTROCONVULSIVE-THERAPY

An Autobiographical Memory Interview (AMI) was administered to 75 depr essed inpatients and 16 nondepressed controls. Patients were randomize d to 1 of 4 forms of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) that varied in el ectrode placement and stimulus intensity. Short-term retrograde amnesi a was assessed during the week following the randomized phase. Bilater al ECT produced more marked deficits than right unilateral ECT. At a 2 -month follow-up, persistent amnesic deficits were related to having r eceived a second ECT course and, to a lesser extent, bilateral ECT dur ing the randomized phase. The magnitude of clinical improvement was no t associated with amnesia scores at either time point. There were no d ifferential amnesic effects as a function of the affective valence of memories. It appears that retrograde amnesia for autobiographical info rmation after ECT and mood congruence effects on recall are independen t phenomena. The magnitude and persistence of retrograde amnesia is re lated to how ECT is performed and not to changes in clinical state or the affective valence of memories.