Disorientation and Bilateral Moderately Suprathreshold Titrated ECT

Thirty-seven inpatients with major depression were assessed for postictal and interictal disorientation after they received 8 of 12 ECTs. In 20 patients, four of the eight assessments were after simulated ECT only. Only real, but not simulated, ECT produced postictal disorientation. Postictal disorientation was greatest after the first treatment, less after the second, and did not change in later assessments. It was shortest for person, longer for place, and longest for time, and showed a temporal time gradient. Interictal disorientation increased with the number of treatments. Two electrical stimulus variables (seizure duration and electrical stimulus intensity) correlated with the length of postictal disorientation. The influence of seizure duration and stimulus variables were independent of each other. The influence of the electrical stimulus variables was independent of the influence of demographic variables. These, however, did affect the length of postictal disorientation.