A review of recent literature is presented to investigate the effect of electroshock treatment on memory. The conclusions so far are not explicit. There is enough evidence of memory disturbance after ECT. The objectively established memory dysfunctions diminish after some time or they may even disappear. The more concrete specification of these dysfunctions is rather complicated as result of the problems concerning the uniformity of psychological concepts, methodological differences in various studies, defficiencies in evaluation and diversity in the investigated samples as well as in the application of ECT. The subjective complaints of the patients are often not in concordance with their objective achievements. Next to negative effects there are also positive effects of the ECT on memory described.