Electro Convulsive Therapy: Restoring the Mind

Electroshock Therapy, Restoring The Mind
By Ellen Bloom
Modern psychiatry began in the latter half of the 19th century with the identification, by European neuropsychiatrists, of separate mental disorders. At the time three mental illnesses dominated the clinical scene, neurosyphisis, described as dementia paralytica, dementia praecox (schizophrenia today), and manic depressive insanity. Caretakers of the mentally ill commonly resorted to chains, restraining chairs, cold and hot baths, and seclusion. Morphine, bromides, barbiturates, and chloral hydrate kept patients asleep but did little to heal their illnesses. The mentally ill were housed in large state supported hospitals with full authority to treat inmates. Many experimental and unsafe treatments were done. Bodily infections were considered a cause of mental disorder, so teeth, tonsils, gall bladder and large sections of the colon were removed. Many patients died. Surgical removal of sexual organs, salpingectomy and vas...