Adverse effects of electroconvulsive therapy

Common adverse effects of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) include muscle pain (associated with the muscle relaxant used before the procedure), headaches and transient confusion (lasting for approximately one hour after treatment).

Many patients have difficulty forming new memories during a treatment course of ECT; they may also already have cognitive impairments due to their underlying disorder. After the course of ECT, memory impairment generally returns to normal; memory may be improved during remission compared to pretreatment functioning. A small proportion of patients experience prolonged confusion or impairment in recall of remote autobiographical memories after a course of ECT. In general, both intra- and post-treatment memory problems are less with unilateral than bilateral ECT, and particularly less with ultra–brief current ECT.