Despite repeated claims, for 50 years, that ECT is safe, the first large-scale prospective study of cognitive outcomes following ECT did not occur until 2007. Prominent ECT advocate Harold Sackeim, et al. (2007), found that autobiographical memory was significantly (p < .0001) worse than pre-ECT levels both shortly after ECT and six months later. At both times the degree of impairment was significantly related to the number of shocks. Women and older people (both of whom are given ECT more frequently; Read, 2004) were particularly impaired. The impairment was also greater among those who received bi-lateral ECT rather than unilateral ECT (bilateral remains the most common form of ECT despite multiple previous findings of greater damage). Even using a conservative definition of two standard deviations worse than pre-ECT scores, 38 (12.4%) met the criterion for ‘marked and persistent retrograde amnesia’ (Sackheim et al., 2007).