ETC patient here. This anecdote sounds like what occurs in clinical depression, actually. After ECT you may forget you ever read the book, and happily start it again. He is describing what in clinical discrete cases is anteretrogade amnesia.
As opposed to being distracted emotionally or intellectually.
See the movie Memento…
More to the point, read the hellish diaries ofClive Wearing.
Interesting paper. I have a vague recollection of having read it before, as a matter of fact.
This shocked me a bit, since I frequently take lorazepam to help me sleep. (Usually just 0.5 mg.) I thought Lorazepam was similar to Valium, but I guess all three are similar to each other.
The drug is restricted here, so I have to get it at hospital where they will only give me a 30 days’ supply. So … I got them to up it to 30 x 1 mg instead of 30 x 0.5 mg. Even the 1 mg tabs are tiny, so hard to bite in half, and I end up taking 1 mg! 
I guess even 1 mg is a tiny dose — how much should I take to get a good recreational high?