The electroshock triangle: disputes about the ECT apparatus prototype and its display in the 1960s

Abstract

<jats:p> In the early 1960s, a climate of public condemnation of electroconvulsive therapy was emerging in the USA and Europe. In spite of this, the electroshock apparatus prototype, introduced in Rome in 1938, was becoming hotly contended. This article explores the disputes around the display of the electroshock apparatus prototype in the summer of 1964 and sheds new light on the triangle of personalities that shaped its future: Karl and William Menninger, two key figures of American psychiatry in Topeka; their competitor, Adalberto Pazzini, the founder of the Sapienza Museum of the History of Medicine in Rome; and, between them, Lucio Bini, one of the original inventors of ECT, who died unexpectedly that summer. </jats:p>

Electroconvulsive Therapy Applications on Children in the 1940s

“…Because these studies were performed by Cerletti's assistants in Rome, and judging from the voltage and time of the electrical applications they reported (120 V, and 1/10 seconds), we may infer that the machines used in the study were Arcioni's alternating current devices, produced from the Bini-Cerletti original apparatus model. 6,27,32 Cerletti and Bini's (1938) article introducing the apparatus 4 was referenced by Hemphill and Walter's 1941 work, so we may wonder if Bini-Cerletti's device was the machine used in the United Kingdom as well. As for the French experience, Heuyer et al' 1942 article was referenced by Accornero and Anderson in 1948 and by Cerletti at the conference in Paris in 1950.…”

“…We also have records of Bini administering malaria therapy 24 . Cerletti also acknowledged Accornero as having “attended and participated in our work on ‘electroshock therapy’ since the beginning.” 23 Accornero and Bini presented their research at the Congress of Münsingen (Switzerland) in 1937, 25,26 the conference where Bini announced that the Roman team of neuropsychiatrists had built a brand new electrical device and was ready to test it on human beings 10,27 . After Cerletti's insights, Accornero and Bini had gone to observe hogs shocked by electricity at the Roman slaughterhouse, and they presumably had assembled the rudimental ECT device prototype together 27 .…”

“…Cerletti also acknowledged Accornero as having “attended and participated in our work on ‘electroshock therapy’ since the beginning.” 23 Accornero and Bini presented their research at the Congress of Münsingen (Switzerland) in 1937, 25,26 the conference where Bini announced that the Roman team of neuropsychiatrists had built a brand new electrical device and was ready to test it on human beings 10,27 . After Cerletti's insights, Accornero and Bini had gone to observe hogs shocked by electricity at the Roman slaughterhouse, and they presumably had assembled the rudimental ECT device prototype together 27 . In 1970, Accornero left a famous written testimony of the very first ECT application that Cerletti's team made on Enrico S. in April 1938 28 .…”

“…10,27 After Cerletti's insights, Accornero and Bini had gone to observe hogs shocked by electricity at the Roman slaughterhouse, and they presumably had assembled the rudimental ECT device prototype together. 27 In 1970, Accornero left a famous written testimony of the very first ECT application that Cerletti's team made on Enrico S. in April 1938. 28 From 1941 to 1944, Accornero served in World War II by directing a military hospital in Cagliari, Sardinia, and then was sent to Slovenia.…”

“…After Cerletti's retirement, because of friction with his mentor concerning intellectual property rights on the ECT invention and because the new Director Mario Gozzano was lining up his own team at the Clinic and thus keeping him apart, Bini gave up his academic career. 6,27 Cerletti mentioned Accornero and Anderson's ECT applications on children in an international venue at least once, at the Congrès international de psychiatrie in Paris in 1950. After referencing his friend Heuyer's research, Cerletti reported that "no results have been obtained" by his 2 assistants on "14 cases of 'early dementia praecox'."…”