On four different measures, memory loss as a result of the ECT was reported by between 61 and 84 percent of patients, and by 51 to 73 percent of relatives. For example, 71 percent of patients reported reduced ability to retain new information (anterograde amnesia) and 80 percent reported loss of autobiographical memories of events before ECT (retrograde amnesia). Even when memory loss is acknowledged, it is often described as temporary. But in our survey, most (65 percent) of those people reporting anterograde amnesia said it lasted for more than three years. There was no evidence that memory loss had reduced in recent years, as often suggested.