Lobotomy, electroshock and 5 more creepy psychotherapies that were popular in the past

1. Trepanation

Our ancestors began to make holes in skulls in the Stone Age. So they tried relieve headaches, cure epilepsy, and get rid of "possession by evil spirits." Archaeologists have been able to find traces of bone healing on some of the remains of that period - trepanation holes were smooth around the edges. That is, someone still managed survive after the intervention, but how the procedure affected health, science is still not known.

In the Middle Ages, there was a belief that the loss of reason causes a stone in the brain. People took the metaphor literally and tried to get rid of the disease by making holes in the skulls. Hieronymus Bosch even captured the popular procedure in one of his paintings. She is so called - "Removing the stone of stupidity."

During the Renaissance and until the beginning of the 19th century, trepanation

tried treat fractures and head injuries. Moreover, it was carried out, as a rule, at the patient's home. When in the 19th century such operations began to be performed in hospitals, it became clear that the mortality rate from them was high. The number of procedures dropped sharply, and over time, trepanation was no longer used to treat mental disorders.

2. Imprisonment

At the beginning of the 17th century in Europe it was accepted isolate those who frightened the townspeople or simply did not correspond to the prevailing foundations in society. Sick people with disabilities and mental disorders also ended up in prisons along with criminals and vagrants. Often, those who were considered dangerous or violent were chained to the walls of the cells.

Thanks to the development of medicine, the attitude towards patients has improved over time. For example, in 1792, the chief physician of the Parisian men's shelter Bicêtre became Philip Pinel. He carried out his first bold reform, removing the shackles from patients - many of them were in captivity for 30-40 years.

3. Bloodletting and vomiting

Hippocrates can be called the father of the European tradition of bloodletting. Healer believedthat four fluids flow in every body: blood, phlegm, yellow and black bile. As long as their number is in balance, a person feels good. As soon as the balance is disturbed, the body is attacked by diseases. In ancient times, it was believed that excess blood is the most dangerous, because almost all health problems were tried to be solved by bloodletting. From other "surplus" offered get rid fasting, bowel cleansing and inducing vomiting.

Mental disorders were also treated in this way. For example, in the 18th century applied at the Bethlem Royal Hospital, known as Bedlam. One of her patients at one time was the writer Alexander Kruden. In his book, he recalled a meager diet and saidthat "the usual prescriptions of the Bethlehem doctor are purge and vomit, purge and vomit again, and sometimes bleeding."

4. Fever treatment

Even the ancient Greeks noticed that after a strong heat, the symptoms of some diseases disappear. Until science understood the nature of bacteria and microorganisms, physicians tried treat people for syphilis, tuberculosis, and mania by giving them a high fever.

For example, in the 1890s, the Austrian psychiatrist Julius Wagner-Jauregg introduced pathogen tuberculosis patients whose mental clouding was caused by neurosyphilis. When the substance was recognized as toxic, the doctor did not calm down and began to infect malaria patients - it could be controlled with drugs. In 1917, he vaccinated nine people with progressive paralysis, a late form of neurosyphilis. Six of them went into remission. By the way, for this Wagner-Jauregg received Nobel Prize.

5. insulin coma

Method submitted in 1927 for the treatment of schizophrenia. Some psychiatrists then called its radical, but the procedure was started anyway. Proponents of this therapy believed that insulin It has a good effect on brain function, so huge doses of the hormone were administered to patients. Due to a sharp drop in blood glucose, a person who was not lucky enough to be in a mental hospital lost consciousness for several hours.

Patients constantly complainedthat the procedure is unpleasant and dangerous. Only in 1957 the medical journal The Lancet criticized approach is understudied. But it was too early to rejoice. Insulin coma was replaced by another terrible method - electric current.

6. Electroshock therapy

In the XX century to the procedure resorted to for the treatment of severe depression, mania, catatonia and other diseases. Exposure to electricity changed the chemical composition of the brain, and some symptoms of mental disorders did disappear. But the current filed without anesthesia, so patients experienced terrible pain. In addition, due to high doses, the therapy had serious side effects - from memory loss to seizures and bone fractures.

Today electroshock therapy too usebut it's much safer. Under general anesthesia, weak impulses are passed through the brain, which cause a short-term seizure. The procedure is resorted to only in cases where other methods of treatment have been exhausted.

7. Lobotomy

The first such operation held in 1935 in Portugal. The patient's white matter was separated from other parts of the brain, so at first the doctors called the procedure a leucotomy, from the Greek word for white. It was believed that this could alleviate the symptoms schizophrenia, depression and other serious illnesses. For 20 years in the USA and Europe fulfilled about 60 thousand operations, and in 1949 the inventor of the method even received for him the Nobel Prize.

The side effects of the lobotomy showed up almost immediately. Patients became lethargic and passive, often had difficulty concentrating. In some cases, the consequences were fatal. When the first antipsychotic drugs were developed in the 1950s, operations gradually began to be abandoned. And only twenty years later appeared a full-scale study that showed the inconsistency of the method: 73% of people who once survived a lobotomy, years later, were still in hospitals or at home under the supervision of relatives.