Medical Discovery:
The Main points from my presentation about Psychiatric Illness:
- Initially Psychiatric Illness was thought to be a condition primarily related to a chemical imbalance or physical abnormality in the brain
- The peak of the therapeutic revolution occurred in the post war years; the decade of the 1950. This era unsurprisingly what followed the dire state of metal hospitals in the 1930s and 1940s where patient treatment was comparable to that of prison inmates: 12ft walls surrounding exercise areas, locked boots and patients locked to the confines of their rooms.
- The extreme measures of incarceration were considered necessary given the unimaginable mental suffering which patients felt. Schizophrenic fits, manic depressive psycho-motor excitement and anorexic depressed patients were not uncommon in everyday life in these institutions.
- The severity of these cases gave rise to intense treatments due to the desperate nature of the psychiatric field. These, named the physical treatments, include: insulin induced comas, prolonged narcosis, drug induced epileptic fits, electric shock therapy and the notorious lobotomy. Although these claimed to be effective one comment from a psychiatrist suggests this apparent success was related more to the desperate nature if the field rather than the actual improvement in patients well being. Dr Henery Rollin said "so carried along were we by the claims made that we played our part with enthusiasm in the rush to recommend patients even for lobotomy. I was guilty of recommending the operation for twenty or so of my patients and nothing I have done weighs more heavily on my conscience. The basis for my guilt lies in the fact that not only did I not see any lasting benefits in one single case, but the consequences of the operation in some cases was quite appalling - including post operative epilepsy, cerebral hemorrhage and probably worst of all post-operative personality change, mainly characterised by dis-inhibition"
- Soon after this revolution in Psychiatric Illness there was a series of discoveries of drugs which to this day are not fully understood but offer huge advantages to patients suffering from various mental illnesses. Including Antidepressants for the depressed, Benzodiazepines for anxiety, chlorpromazine for Schizophrenia and Lithium for Manic depressives.
- For information on the discovery of these drugs look to Rachel's page :)
