Hossein Namdar Areshtanab
1* 
, Saeed Alinejad Machiani
1 , Hossein Ebrahimi
1 , Parvin Sarbakhsh
2 , Sakineh Goljarian
4 , Seyyed Gholamreza Noorazar
3 1 Department of Psychiatric Nursing, Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran
2 Department of Statistics and Epidemiology, Faculty of Public Health, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran
3 Department of Psychiatry, Facultyof Medicine, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran
4 Department of Physiotherapy, Faculty of Rehabilitation, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran
Abstract
Abstract
Introduction:Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is the oldest procedure among the early biological
treatments introduced in psychiatry. However, the most debated and treatment-limiting adverse
effect of ECT is amnesia. Therefore, due to the restriction of the use of drugs to manage amnesia
in patients undergoing ECT, the present study investigated the effect of reflexology on amnesia.
Methods:In this randomized controlled trial, 68 patients who met the inclusion criteria were
randomly allocated to intervention and control groups. The intervention group received foot
reflexology with olive oil 20 minutes a day for 3 days, while the control group was given a
gentle foot rub with olive oil 20 minutes a day for 3 days. The amnesia rate of all patients was
measured by the Galveston Orientation and Amnesia Test (GOAT) 30 minutes after the end of
ECT. The data were analyzed using SPSS software version 11.5 and t-test, chi-squared test, and
repeated measures ANOVA.
Results:The results showed that reflexology significantly increased recalling scores in the
intervention group compared to the control group. Foot reflexology seems to be effective in
managing amnesia in patients after ECT.
Conclusion:Foot reflexology, as a relatively simple, inexpensive, and non-invasive technique
with few side effects, can be used to manage amnesia in patients after ECT.