Fooling Others or Oneself? A History of Therapeutic Fads and Its Current Relevance

Abstract

The author addresses the consequences of therapeutic overzealousness in light of the early 20th century historical accounts of Dr. Serge Voronoff's ill fated adventure in restoring potency in European males and Dr. Henry Cotton's misguided foray into the physical treatment of schizophrenia in New Jersey. The implications of these mishaps for the modern practice of psychiatry are discussed in view of the challenges that continue to beset the field.

Surgery for the treatment of psychiatric illness: the need to test untested theories

“…In his early years at the Trenton Hospital he removed mechanical restraints, installed fire alarms, opened a nursing school, introduced occupational therapy and hired social workers. 6 He was, however, particularly dismayed by the general pessimism that surrounded the care of the seriously mentally ill, partly because of the prevailing quasi-genetic doctrines of degeneration, which, for example, were associated with the name of Henry Maudsley, the founder of the other hospital in which I work.…”