Electroconvulsive Therapy with Schizophrenics Cognitive Dysfunction and Psychomotor Effect: A Study in Ghana

Abstract

The aim of the study was to investigate the effect of eletroconvulsive therapy (ECT) on cognitive function in schizophrenics. Eighty-nine subjects made up of 60 acute schizophrenics and 29 normal, subjects were used for the study. Thirty of the schizophrenics were on phenothiazine and were also referred for ECT; the other 30 were on phenothiazine alone. Electroconvulsive therapy was administered twice a week for three weeks. Subjects were tested on memory, problem-solving and psychomotor tests after each ECTIt was observed that ECT-phenothiazine patients performed poorer than phenothiazine alone patients as well as normal subjects on memory tests after Ear. It was also found that after ECT, the ECT-phenothiazine patients had poorer scores on psychomotor tests than the phenothiazine alone patients as well as the normal, subjects. Females in the ECT-phenothiazine group had poorer scores than males in the same group on problem solving tests.There was no evidence to support the hypothesis that after ECT, auditory tests will suffer more than visual recognition tests. The results generally indicated that ECT has adverse effects on memory, problem solving and psychomotor activities. The memory problems associated with ECT were found to be transient.