Effects of modified electroconvulsive therapy on autobiographical memory and efficacy in patients with schizophrenia / 中华行为医学与脑科学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To observe the effect of modified electroconvulsive therapy (MECT) on au-tobiographical memory and efficacy in schizophrenic patients. Methods Seventy-four patients with schizo-phrenia were randomly divided into study group (38 cases) and control group (36 cases). The study group was treated with MECT for 10-12 times in combination with single antipsychotic drug,while the control group was treated with single antipsychotic drug. Both groups were treated for 12 weeks. All patients were assessed for autobiographical memory before treatment and at the 4th,8th and 12th week after treatment,and the effi-cacy was evaluated by the positive and negative symptom scale (PANSS). Results (1)The response time of autobiographical event memory in the study group at the 4th and 8th weekends after treatment ((2 058. 84 ±200. 06)ms,(1 883. 61±202. 17)ms)were significantly longer those at baseline((1 765. 27±203. 23)ms) and that at the same periods in the control group(( 1 787. 03 ± 192. 82),(1 762. 01± 195. 25)),and the differences were statistically significant(t=6. 346,2. 545;P<0. 05,t=5. 945,2. 630;P<0. 05),but the re-sponse time of autobiographical event memory in the study group at the 12th weekend after treatment was not statistically significant compared with that before treatment (P>0. 05). ( 2) For each time point after treat-ment,the PANSS scores of the study group and the control group were significantly lower than those at base-line (P<0. 05). The PANSS scores of the study group at each time point after treatment((62. 42±7. 22), (49. 32±5. 54),(43. 63±9. 90)) were significantly lower than those of the control group at the same periods ((71. 78±10. 19),(56. 14±5. 95),(49. 28±9. 31)),and the differences were statistically significant ( t=4. 577,5. 108,2. 525;all P<0. 05). The total effective rate of the study group ( 94. 7%) was significantly higher than that of the control group (80. 6%) (χ2=9. 287,P<0. 05). Conclusions MECT is effective in the treatment of patients with schizophrenia,and it has some damage to their autobiographical memory,but the damage is transient and reversible.