SynthesisThe British journal of psychiatry : the journal of mental science2026
Autobiographical memory after electroconvulsive therapy: systematic review and meta-analysis.
Synthesis in The British journal of psychiatry : the journal of mental science, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
5 citing papers in PubMed.
- Does the Loss of Autobiographical Memories Contribute to the Therapeutic Effect of Electroconvulsive Therapy?Acta psychiatrica Scandinavica · 2026Article
- Clinical Outcomes and Treatment Characteristics of Seizure Threshold-Titrated Electroconvulsive Therapy in Depressive Disorder: A 3.5-Year Retrospective Naturalistic Course-Level Study.Journal of clinical medicine · 2026Article
- Microbiome-Informed Precision Electroconvulsive Therapy: Oral-Gut-Immune Signatures and Seizure Biology as Candidate Predictors of Response-A Narrative Review.Biomedicines · 2026Review
- The postictal systems window hypothesis of electroconvulsive therapy in major depression.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Article
- Brain reserve in memory regions is associated with the preservation of autobiographical memories after electroconvulsive therapy.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundElectroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is the most effective treatment of major depression, but autobiographical memory loss may limit its use. Despite previous attempts to synthesise the literature, the nature of autobiographical memory loss after ECT is still debated.
aimsTo provide an overview of the effect of ECT on autobiographical memory in patients with depression and explore whether the effect is temporary or permanent. Furthermore, we wanted to analyse if ECT parameters or clinical information are associated with this effect.
methodPubMed, EMBASE, PsycINFO and Web of Science databases were searched on 26 January 2024. We included longitudinal studies measuring autobiographical memory before and after ECT in patients with depression compared to patients with depression receiving other treatment or healthy controls. Synthesis approach was a meta-analysis. PROSPERO ID: CRD42021267901.
resultsNine studies were included (432 patients, 173 controls). At post-ECT, we found that ECT patients had larger autobiographical memory loss than controls (standardised mean difference (SMD) = 0.55; 95% CI = 0.35-0.75). Right unilateral (RUL) ECT entailed a small effect on autobiographical memory (SMD = 0.32; 95% CI = 0.06-0.57), while bilateral ECT yielded a large effect (SMD = 0.82; 95% CI = 0.49-1.15). Higher age was associated with smaller effect. Autobiographical memory was stable at long-term follow-up.
conclusionsThe studies suggest that ECT causes autobiographical memory loss in patients with depression. Results also suggest that lost memories are not regained. Furthermore, results support that RUL ECT is less detrimental to autobiographical memory. Strangely, a higher age might mitigate the autobiographical memory loss. Our findings are limited by studies being mainly observational and generally consisting of small sample sizes. Future studies should prioritise long-term follow-up assessments of autobiographical memory.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.