Electricity: a History of Its Use in the Treatment of Mental Illness In
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British Journal of Psychiatry 1988, 153, 157-162 fifty in elderly met for hospital groups within a Electricity: A History of its use in the logist, 1, 87-95. Roaaars, N. & of a screening Treatment of Mental Illness in Britain tie/s Journal of During the Second Half of the 19th Century titutionalization *5-157. A. W. BEVERIDGE and E. B. RENVOIZE RUSSELL, L. & in the general I Disease, 168, The use of electricity in British psychiatry during the second half of the 19th century utional analysis is examined. An account is given of the clinical and theoretical aspects of electrical therapy. :7 A critique of Factors leading to its use and eventual decline are considered. ion. Journal of tily relationships "On the occurrence of cases which refuse to yield The developments in electrical science had a major as 34th Annual to any ordinary remedy, the mandate `let them be impact on the everyday life of the Victorian popula y of America, electrified' has often been issued, too frequently, tion, with the creation of electrical lighting and the rather with a vague hope of obtaining relief from gradual introduction of electricity into workplaces and under stress: an extraordinary remedy than from any well defined homes via the central mains. As one contemporary entia patients. view of its real influence" bIding-Bird, 1841 we are moving from the Age of 19. 461-471. Colwell, 19221. observed: "it seems Relatives of the Steam to the Age of Electricity" Anon, 1883a. The Gemnzotogis:, The use of electricity in medicine has followed a medical profession were keen to harness this exciting patients. ctive burden of cyclical course throughout the centuries Steavenson new power to treat their itudinal study. & Lewis Jones, 1892; CoIwell, 1922; Beveridge and Renvoize, 1988. Clinicians have approached The general medical interest electrical renewal of methods with great enthusiasm, only to in the therapeutic application of electricity h Associate; abandon them when they fail to produce results. In yaI Victoria the second half of the 19th century, British asylum In Paris in the l850s, Guillaume Duchenne 1855 doctors began using electricity to treat their patients. published his successful results using electrical The use of electricity by British psychiatry during this methods in the treatment of disease. His work A period irexamined here, and the factors that led to Treatise on Localised Electrization and its its use and eventual decline outlined. Application to Pathology and Therapeutics had a major impact on the medical profession, and The impact of nineteenth-century according to Tuke 1892 "did most to renew the developments other in electrical science on Victorian society employment of electricity in medicine". Three workers also contributed to the reawakening of The 19th century saw major developments in the interest in electricity at this time. In 1848, Du Bois science of electricity. In 1831, Michael Faraday Reymond published his physiological work discovered the induction current, which provided the Investigations on Animal Electricity Tuke, 1892, first continuous electrical current, and this quickly and in 1854, Moritz Meyer described the clinical led to the production of practical machines for applications of electricity in his book Electricity converting mechanical into electrical energy. In 1873, Applied in Practical Medicine Meyer, 1869. Robert James Clerk Maxwell published A Treatise on Remak, who coined the terms ectoderm, endoderm, Electricity and Magnetism in which he expressed his and mesoderm, and was the first to describe theories on electromagnetism and light. In 1875, ascending neuritis, made a careful study of the Graham Bell invented the telephone, and in 1878 therapeutic effects of different types of electrical Joseph Swan developed a practical incandescent current Colwell, 1922; Talbott, 1970. Remak, who filament lamp. In 1882, the Electrical Lighting Act published the results of his work in Galvanotherapie was passed, and in the same year Brighton became in 1858 Stainbrook, 1948, recommended the use the first English city to have a permanent electricity of the constant current in "morbid conditions of the supply. The following year, electric tramways began brain accompanied by disordered mental functions" service at Kew. The closing decade of the century Althaus, 1873. saw the Electrical Exhibition at the Crystal Palace British clinicians began applying electrical methods in 1892 Dunsheath, 1962; Bowers, 1982. to their patients, and successes, especially in 157 S 158 BEVERIDGE AND RENVOIZE neurological disorders, were claimed Althaus, 1873. least as able as doctors to care for the insane. Over An `Electrical Room' had been established at Guy's the century, the medical profession fought to Hospital in London, and leading doctors such as Sir establish its right to be the sole and legitimate agency William Gull Anon, 1863, Thomas Addison, and for administering to the needs of the mentally Golding-Bird used electricity to treat their patients disordered. By the latter half of the 19th century, Colwell, 1922. Other London hospitals, such as St doctors were winning the battle, and even the York Bartholomew's Lewis Jones, 1900, and the National Retreat was being run by a medical superintendent Hospital for the Paralysed and Epileptic Anon, Digby, 1985. The asylum doctors had argued that 1866, also established electrical rooms. insanity was primarily a physical disorder of the Several weighty treatises on the subject of medical brain and thus necessitated physical remedies, which electricity appeared in the literature Russell could only be administered by the medically qualified. Reynolds, 1870a,b; Rutherford, 1871; Altbaus, 1873; They sought to consolidate their position as the Poore, 1874, 1875; Dc Watteville, 1884; Bartholomew, natural carers for the insane by the increasing 1887; Anon, 1888. The authors stressed the com professionalisation of their activities. The Medico- plexity of the subject and the amount of study needed Psychological Association was set up in 1841, the to master this form of therapy. Althaus 1899 Asylum Journal was founded in 1853, and regular emphasised the artistry involved in applying electric academic meetings began to take place. By such techniques: "4n application of the constant current means, lay people were excluded from the debate to the brain . t. is, in a certain sense, an artistic about the care of the mentally disordered. performance which requires not only knowledge but The psychiatrists' espousal of electricity served also much ptactice and some talent like a good several purposes. They were impressed with the musical performance. A man who labours with successful results reported by their medical colleagues love and care and has the discrimination to select one and thus, by using similar techniques, they hoped of the methods described by me or several of them to gain some of the prestige of general medicine. will in the nature of things obtain better results They were utilising the very latest scientific know than another whose heart is not in his work, who ledge in the interests of their patients, and thus acts by mere routine, and who is devoid of the deserved to be considered on an intellectual and elements of an artistic disposition or true clinical social par with their medical peers. They were also instinct". harnessing the mysterious new power of electricity The medical profession were at pains to distinguish which was making such an impact on Victorian their involvement with electric methods from the use society. The asylum doctors' advocacy of electricity of such methods by lay people, who were derided also reinforced their claim to be the sole agency for as "quacks" Anon, 1889; Horder, 1891. One the care of the mentally disturbed. They argued that columnist for The Lancet wrote: "Even from the electrical methods required a scientific discipline for lowest point of view - that of pecuniary profit - it their application and thus doctors, with their is surely unwise to place in the hands of unqualified `scientific' training, were the ideal candidates for persons, work which would be far better done by administering electrical therapy. The literature fre members of the medical profession. Besides, with quently warned against the mere dabbler, and unqualified medical electricians there is no security emphasised the complexity and technical nature of that they will not sooner or later undertake the the subject. The pursuit of electric treatments was treatment of cases on their own account, promising also consistent with the asylum doctors' view of cures, or selling electric or magnetic appliances, or madness as a disease of the brain, which required advertising themselves in public prints" Anon, physical interventions. 1895. Asylum doctors in the 19th century had very little in the way-of effective remedies to treat the ever- growing admitted to their The asylum doctors' adoption of number of patients hospitals. pharmacopoeia was limited, and electricity to treat mental disorder Their drugs were used for their sedative rather than The 19th century saw the building of a large number curative properties. Thus they were keen to employ of asylums throughout the country to house the any new therapy that seemed to offer therapeutic mentally afflicted in Victorian society. Scull 1979 success. Electricity appeared to hold such a promise, and Digby 1985, among others, examined the rise and reports from Europe and America were encour of the asylum doctors during this period. The aging. Two French clinicians, Teilleux and Auzouy, example of the York Retreat, established in 1792 by were credited by Tuke 1892 for giving "electricity Samuel Tuke, demonstrated that lay people were at a prominent place in psychiatry". The Journal of ELECTRICITY IN TREATING MENTAL ILLNESS 159 Mental Science contained regular accounts of clinical possible to send a current up or down both practice abroad and British doctors became aware extremities at the same time". He described 15 cases, of the work of the other European and American 9 of whom were said to benefit from electrotherapy.