Harold A. Sackeim

Who is Harold A. Sackeim?

Dr. Harold A. Sackeim is an American psychologist and proponent of electroconvulsive therapy,. He has been chief of the department of biological psychiatry at New York State Psychiatric Institute and professor of clinical psychology at Columbia University. He received his Bachelor's degree from Columbia in 1972; in 1974, he received his Master's degree from Oxford University.

Sackeim is co-author of more than 200 publications relating to electroconvulsive therapy and has researched it extensively, finding that excessive shock current correlates with risk of memory loss.

In 2007 Sackeim and his colleagues published the results of a study which followed 250 ECT patients in New York City hospitals. The study found that the most commonly used type of ECT, bilateral, does cause permanent memory loss, as patients have long complained, and results in mental impairment, especially in women and elderly patients.