Treatment or Terror? The History of Psychiatry's Midcentury "Miracle Cures"

Our latest Mental Health in Minutes segment explores the history of psychiatric treatments, from the infamous lobotomy to lesser-known oddities like malaria fever treatment. Listen to learn more as we uncover some of the strangest skeletons in psychiatry's closet… 

Content Warning: This episode includes discussion of psychiatric abuse, depression, and psychosis. 

Resources: 

Anne Harrington, Mind Fixers: Psychiatry’s Troubled Search for the Biology of Mental Illness (New York, London: W. W. Norton & Company, 2019). 

Charles Kellner, “Patient education: Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) (Beyond the Basics),” UptoDate, March 28, 2023. Ed. Peter P. Roy-Byrne and David Solomon. https://www.uptodate.com/contents/electroconvulsive-therapy-ect-beyond-the-basics. 

Emma Dibdin, “The Controversial History of the Lobotomy,” Psych Central, May 6, 2022. Reviewed by Marc S. Lener, MD. https://psychcentral.com/blog/the-surprising-history-of-the-lobotomy#recap. 

Glenn Frankel, “D.C. Neurosurgeon Pioneered 'Operation Icepick' Technique,” The Washington Post, April 7, 1980. https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1980/04/07/dc-neurosurgeon-pioneered-operation-icepick-technique/d861181c-3af5-4779-96c3-f514b3a7f6cd/. 

“How ECT Relieves Depression,” Johns Hopkins Medicine, June 19, 2018. https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/news/articles/how-ect-relieves-depression. 

Jack El-Hai, “Race and Gender in the Selection of Patients for Lobotomy,” Wonders and Marvels, https://www.wondersandmarvels.com/2016/12/race-gender-selection-patients-lobotomy.html. 

James D. Page, “Treatment in mental disorders,” University of Rochester, 1949. Accessed in the National Library of Medicine Digital Collections. https://collections.nlm.nih.gov/catalog/nlm:nlmuid-8700838A-vid. 

“Lobotomy,” Encyclopedia Britannica, https://www.britannica.com/science/lobotomy. 

Max Fink and William Karliner, “Primary Sources: Insulin Coma Therapy,” PBS, http://www.shoppbs.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/nash/filmmore/ps_ict.html. 

Patriarca C, Clerici CA, Zannella S, Fraticelli C. Ugo Cerletti, Pathologica and electroconvulsive therapy [published online ahead of print, 2021 Sep 23]. Pathologica. 2021;113(6):481-487. doi:10.32074/1591-951X-263. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8720400/. 

Renato M. E. Sabbatini, “Ladislas J. von Meduna: A Brief Biography,” Brain & Mind Magazine republished on CerebroMente.org, December 1997/March 1998. https://cerebromente.org.br/n04/historia/meduna_i.htm. 

Singh A, Kar SK. How Electroconvulsive Therapy Works?: Understanding the Neurobiological Mechanisms. Clin Psychopharmacol Neurosci. 2017;15(3):210-221. doi:10.9758/cpn.2017.15.3.210.