The History of Lipótmezö, the Site of the First Convulsive Therapy (original) (raw)
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The beginnings of modern psychiatric treatment in Europe
European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience, 2008
Convulsive therapy (COT) is a major European contribution to the psychiatric armamentarium and biological psychiatry. COT was introduced in psychiatry by László Meduna, a Hungarian neuropsychiatrist. All subsequent publications about the first patient treated with COT, Zoltán L (ZL), were based on Meduna’s papers and autobiography. After 4 years of catatonic stupor, ZL received camphor-induced COT which resulted in full remission and discharge from the institution. The aim of this paper is to reconstruct ZL’s case history from the original case notes—partly written by Meduna himself—which were recovered from the archives of the National Institute of Psychiatry and Neurology. The case notes show that ZL repeatedly received COT between 1934 and 1937, first with camphor and then with cardiazol induction. After the first course of COT the catatonic stupor was resolved and the psychotic symptoms subsided. However, the remission lasted for only a few months and was followed by a relapse. Despite repeated courses of COT, ZL never became symptom free again, was never discharged and died in the Institute in 1945. This historical case is discussed from both the diagnostic and therapeutic points of view, and an attempt is made to explain the possible reasons for the discrepancies found between Meduna’s account and ZL’s case notes.
The British Journal of Psychiatry, 2009
SummaryThe Hungarian psychiatrist Laszlo Meduna was the first who induced epileptic fits to influence the course of mental illness. The following account, based on a review of Meduna's recently unearthed files and his writings, traces the beginnings of convulsive therapy.
Convulsive therapy in Brazilian psychiatric practice
Revista de Enfermagem Referência, 2019
Context: From 1920 to 40, traditional psychiatry in Brazil focuses on convulsive practices as an innovative treatment to reduce symptoms of mental illness. Objective: To analyze the techniques of application of convulsive therapies disclosed in two major medical journals. Methodology: Documental study, with a qualitative approach. The historical sources were the Brazilian Archives of Neurology and Psychiatry (ABNP) and the Annals of the Institute of Psychiatry (IPUB) from 1928 to 1947. Critical analysis was based on data triangulation and thematic organization. Results: Twenty-seven publications were found in both journals. The publications were gathered in groups according to the techniques used [cardiazolic shock (14); malariotherapy (5); insulin shock (4); cardiazolic shock associated with insulin shock (2); electroconvulsive therapy (1); cardiazolic shock associated with electroconvulsive therapy (1)]. Conclusion: The journals had contributed to the dissemination of scientific development on the biological therapies, with the publishing of studies to guide their implementation. They aimed to establish correlations between mental illnesses, their symptoms, and the effects of each convulsive treatment technique, without any explicit reference to the participation of nursing professionals.
Electroconvulsive therapy in a Hungarian academic centre (1999-2010)
Psychiatria Danubina, 2013
Since the 1930s, the Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy at Semmelweis University (DPPSU) in Budapest has played a leading role in convulsive therapy in Hungary. The aim of this study was to describe the pattern of ECT use at the DPPSU over an 11-year period. Analysis of the medical notes of all patients treated with ECT in this academic centre between 1999 and 2009. During the study period, 28,230 patients were admitted to the DPPSU, of whom 457 (1.6%) received ECT. More than 50% of patients receiving ECT were diagnosed with schizophrenia. The percentage of female patients receiving ECT significantly exceeded that of the male patients, above what was expected in view of the diagnostic mix. The data indicate that in the first decade of the 21(th) century, ECT use shows a declining tendency in this Hungarian academic centre. The mean number of treatment sessions was relatively low and nearly the same across diagnostic groups. ECT was mainly used as a last resort for treatment-...
The origins of electroconvulsive therapy: Prof. Bini's first report on ECT
Journal of Affective Disorders, 2010
In August 1939, at the 3rd International Neurological Congress in Copenhagen, Professor Lucio Bini reported on the first use of electricity to induce a seizure for therapeutic purposes in psychotic patients. At that time, the discovery of ECT amounted to a therapeutic revolution, helping millions of mentally ill patients and furthering the scientific understanding of several disorders. Although electricity had been used to treat several physical ailments and mental disorders, electricity, rather than the convulsive crisis, was considered therapeutic. In modern times von Meduna was the first to clearly recognize the therapeutic value of 'complete' seizures, but it was thanks to Cerletti's dedication to biological research and Bini's contribution that ECT became one of the most effective and safe treatments available. ECT remains a highly effective and safe treatment option and thousands of papers have been published on ECT since the original report by Bini. To celebrate this anniversary, we translated Prof. Bini's original report as an abstract presented in Copenhagen in 1939.
Acta Clinica Croatica, 2020
Summary In 1937, Ugo Cerletti and Lucio Bini performed electroconvulsive treatment (ECT) in Rome for the first time. That was the time when different types of ‘shock therapy’ were performed; beside ECT, insulin therapies, cardiazol shock therapy, etc. were also performed. In 1938, Cerletti and Bini reported the results of ECT. Since then, this method has spread rapidly to a large number of countries. As early as 1940, just two years after the results of the ECT had been published, it was also introduced in Croatia, at Sestre milosrdnice Hospital, for the first time in our hospital and in the then state of Yugoslavia. Since 1960, again the first in Croatia and the state, we performed ECT in general anesthesia and continued it down to the present, with a single time brake.
The Development of Electroconvulsive Therapy
2013
Deborah Sevigny-Resetco Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), otherwise referred to as electroshock therapy, was first utilized as a treatment for schizophrenia in 1938 and its use has been surrounded by controversy ever since [1]. From the time this somatic therapy was introduced, it has been continually commended and criticized by both the scientific community and society as a whole. This paper will trace ECT from its origins in Rome to its integration in the United States; evaluating its development, as well as the contributions and the conflicts that accompanied it [2]. The brief history of ECT is as riveting as is it disconcerting; it is filled times of both rapid progress and stagnation. The effectiveness of ECT is evident in its success as a viable medical treatment however; simultaneously the implications of its misuse cannot be ignored. In an attempt to reconcile the ramifications of ECT with the benefits it has produced both in the past and to this day, this paper will juxtapose its successes and shortcomings throughout history. In 1926, twelve years prior to the invention of ECT, Constance Pascal, a woman Parisian psychiatrist in France, introduced the term 'shock' into psychiatry. The meaning of this term for her arose from the idea that mental illnesses were caused by what she referred to as "mental anaphylactic reactions" and that shock could restore the brain and the autonomic nervous system [1]. Subsequently in 1933, a physician named Manfred Sakel was working with schizophrenic patients and developed what he referred to as "shock therapy" [1]. This idea echoed Pascal, but utilized insulin as the shocking agent to induce comas to restore the brain [1, 3]. After treating one patient with insulin shock therapy for three weeks with no improvement, one more injection of insulin induced an epileptic seizure so severe it had to be stopped by the administration of glucose. After the episode, when the patient's memory returned and the confusion diminished, it appeared his symptoms of schizophrenia had subsided. After four more weeks of treatment, the man was released and deemed normal [1]. With this new tie between epilepsy and schizophrenia, electroshock therapy was underway. In Genoa, Ugo Cerletti who had been studying the role of the hippocampus as a function of epilepsy (starting in 1931) learned of Sakel's discovery, began connecting it to his own research, and was inspired by a colleague Gaetano Vaile to use electricity to stimulate seizures. With the assistance of Lucio Bini, Ferdinando Accornero, and Mario Felici: Cerletti was able to refine his experiments of electroshock in dogs and by 1938 the team was prepared to treat their first human [3].In April, a device built by the Acroni Company administered 80 volts for .25 seconds to the patient, however after three tries the man still retained consciousness. A week later, the experiment was retested on the same man, this time with 92 volts for .5 seconds: the patient lost consciousness. After eight minutes the patient regained full consciousness, was responsive, and had no memory of the treatment that had occur; the experiment had been a success [1]. From that point on, electroconvulsive therapy spread rapidly. ECT was introduced into the United States by one of Cerletti's follower's Renato Almansi [3]. In the U.S alone, within two years 7000 individuals had received ECT and by 1941 fortytwo percent of U.S mental institutions had ECT machines [2, 3]. ECT began to evolve almost immediately after its introduction. There were four machines that developed; the classic alternating current, the controlled amperage alternating current, the unidirectional pulsating current, and the "brief stimuli" apparatus [3]. The diagnoses that