Can I purposely induce memory loss?

Excessive Memory loss from ECT?

• I feel that my memory loss from ECT is excessive. My physician just blows it off when I ask him about it. I do realize that memory loss is an unfortunate side effect, but I feel mine is more than normal. I would like to hear from someone who has had ECT with memory loss or someone with a family member who has had memory loss. ECT along with meds has given me my life back and I don't want to stop. I would just like to compare my memory loss with someone else who has had ECT,

• Answer:

  It has been generally accepted that right unilateral ECT is a clinically effective treatment that produces less impairment of new learning capacity and less amnesia for remote events than bilateral ECT. However, since right unilateral ECT is specifically associated with impairment in nonverbal memory (e.g., memory for spatial relationships, faces, designs and other material that is difficult to encode verbally, and since most studies of ECT and memory loss have employed verbal memory tests, the actual extent of memory loss associated with right unilateral ECT has remained somewhat unclear. It has been suggested that the amnesic effects of left or right unilateral ECT may be similar to the effects of left or right temporal lobe dysfunction. Accordingly, if memory were assessed with nonverbal tests specifically sensitive to right temporal lobe dysfunction, the amnesic effect of right unilateral ECT might prove to be as great as or even greater than that of bilateral ECT.