THE EFFECT OF CONVULSIVE TREATMENT ON MEMORY
IRENE SHERMAN M. D.1,
JOHN MERGENER M. D.1, , and
DAVID LEVITIN M. D.1
1 The department of psychiatry of the University of Illinois College of Medicine, and the psychiatric division of the Illinois Neuropsychiatric Institute.
Ten patients, nine classified as schizophrenic and one as manic-depressive, were given standard and other memory tests before, during and after a full course of from ten to sixteen grand mal convulsions induced electrically in four instances and chemically in six.
The tests were given one day before treatment was begun, the day following the fifth or sixth treatment, and at the end of the course of treatment.
The induced grand mal seizures had no significant effect upon immediate or recent memory as tested by standard and other memory tests.
