MINIMIZING ECT COGNITIVE SIDE EFFECTS: CURRENT CLINICAL REALITY AND FUTURE PERSPECTIVES (A REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE WITH AUTHOR COMMENTS AND RECOMMENDATIONS) PART I (THEORETICAL)

Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is a safe and highly effective method of treatment for the most severe psychiatric disorders, especially affective ones. But its clinical use is associated with cognitive side effects, which sometimes can be severe and disabling. This limits the efficacy of ECT and undermines the patient’s compliance with ECT. Due to this, minimizing ECT cognitive side effects continues to be an important clinical task. In this review, we thoroughly discuss various hypotheses about the pathophysiology of ECT’s cognitive side effects, and ways to prevent their development