Electroshock: On How and Why It Lingers on Long After Insulin Coma Shock and Lobotomy Are Gone

2016 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 58-73 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Breeding
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
Nobel Prize ◽  
Electroconvulsive Therapy ◽  
Frontal Lobes ◽  
Electroconvulsive Treatment ◽  
History Of ◽  
Insulin Coma ◽  
Cover Up

Mid-20th century psychiatry routinely touted and performed a trio of barbarisms on unwitting or unwilling citizens; insulin coma shock, ice pick lobotomy, and electroshock were treatments of choice. In the second half of that century, 2 of the 3 were stopped. Insulin coma shock ended because it became too difficult for even the glamour and mystification of psychiatric propaganda to cover up the fact that this horrific treatment was literally killing too many people. Not long after—despite a Nobel Prize to its founder, Egas Moniz, and a period of fame and notoriety to its main United States practitioner, James Freeman—the severing of people’s frontal lobes by an ice pick through their eye sockets was stopped. The leadership of psychiatrist Peter Breggin was key in forcing a halt to lobotomy. So 2 of this terrible 3 have joined a long history of psychiatric atrocities no longer practiced, yet electroshock somehow endures. The lobotomists have been disgraced, but the shock doctors, including people like Max Fink who infamously declared in 1996 that “ECT is one of God’s gifts to mankind” (as cited in Boodman, 1996), carry on. What are the facts about electroshock, also known as electroconvulsive treatment, or electroconvulsive therapy (ECT)? How and why is it still used today? In this essay, I will explore these questions and provide some answers.

One Hundred Years of Empirical Aesthetics

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcos Nadal ◽  
Esther Ureña
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
Golden Age ◽  
The United States ◽  
Gestalt Psychology ◽  
Early 20Th Century ◽  
Motivational Theory ◽  
Reward Value ◽  
History Of ◽  
Functional Psychology

This article reviews the history of empirical aesthetics since its foundation by Fechner in 1876 to Berlyne’s new empirical aesthetics in the 1970s. The authors explain why and how Fechner founded the field, and how Wundt and Müller’s students continued his work in the early 20th century. In the United States, empirical aesthetics flourished as part of American functional psychology at first, and later as part of behaviorists’ interest in reward value. The heyday of behaviorism was also a golden age for the development of all sorts of tests for artistic and aesthetic aptitudes. The authors end the article by covering the contributions of Gestalt psychology and Berlyne’s motivational theory to empirical aesthetics.

Diaspora in the United States: Chinese and Indians Compared

2010 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 286-310 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emily Skop ◽  
Wei Li
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Racial Discrimination ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
The United States ◽  
Foreign Born ◽  
Migration Rates ◽  
China And India ◽  
History Of ◽  
Migrant Groups ◽  
The U.S

AbstractIn recent years, the migration rates from both China and India to the U.S. have accelerated. Since 2000 more than a third of foreign-born Chinese and 40% of foreign-born Indians have arrived in that country. This paper will document the evolving patterns of immigration from China and India to the U.S. by tracing the history of immigration and racial discrimination, the dramatic transitions that have occurred since the mid-20th century, and the current demographic and socioeconomic profiles of these two migrant groups.

Popular Literacy and the Roots of the New Writing

1986 ◽  
Vol 168 (2) ◽  
pp. 31-46 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Willinsky
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
18Th Century ◽  
Writing Programs ◽  
The Past ◽  
New Approaches ◽  
Literacy Crisis ◽  
History Of ◽  
Popular Literacy ◽  
20Th Century United States

The place of writing in the curriculum has recently increased in importance under a series of new approaches based on a processing model of how writers write. An overlooked aspect of these new programs in the schools is the degree to which they parallel aspects of an earlier, popular literacy. In a brief recounting of incidents in the history of literacy with a focus on Renaissance Europe, 17th- and 18th-century England, and the 20th-century United States, three historical elements are brought to light which now play a strong part in the new programs. In these programs literacy (a) is sociable, (b) has its roots in nonstandardized language, and (c) places a premium on performance and publication. Insofar as the new writing takes up these aspects of popular literacy, there is reason to feel that it will work to some degree in meeting the current literacy crisis. However, the traditions of popular literacy have both political and social ramifications which warrant our attention. Popular literacy in the past has been entangled in the sensational and subversive and has not always been well received. This history raises questions as to what can be expected and what is desired of this new thrust in writing. The advocates of the new writing programs need to confront the potential of this increased voice, this latest form of popular literacy, which they have begun to encourage.

No Silver Medal for Nobel Prize Contenders

2016 ◽  
Vol 125 (1) ◽  
pp. 34-38 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nils Hansson ◽  
Heiner Fangerau ◽  
Annette Tuffs ◽  
Igor J. Polianski
Keyword(s):  
20Th Century ◽  
Nobel Prize ◽  
Medical Literature ◽  
Early 20Th Century ◽  
Nobel Committee ◽  
History Of ◽  
Silver Medal ◽  
New Perspective ◽  
First Time ◽  
Carl Koller

Abstract Taking the examples of the pioneers Carl Ludwig Schleich, Carl Koller, and Heinrich Braun, this article provides a first exploratory account of the history of anesthesiology and the Nobel Prize for physiology or medicine. Besides the files collected at the Nobel Archive in Sweden, which are presented here for the first time, this article is based on medical literature of the early 20th century. Using Nobel Prize nominations and Nobel committee reports as points of departure, the authors discuss why no anesthesia pioneer has received this coveted trophy. These documents offer a new perspective to explore and to better understand aspects of the history of anesthesiology in the first half of the 20th century.

Party Leadership Change in the United States House of Representatives

1967 ◽  
Vol 61 (3) ◽  
pp. 675-693 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert L. Peabody
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
House Of Representatives ◽  
The United States ◽  
Leadership Change ◽  
Party Leadership ◽  
History Of ◽  
Committee Assignments

Long periods of one-party domination, increased average tenure in office for Representatives, and the institutionalization of patterns of succession to the Speakership, have all contributed to a tendency toward leadership stability in the 20th-century House of Representatives. The election of Sam Rayburn (D., Texas) and John McCormack (D., Mass.) to the offices of Speaker and Majority Leader in 1940, of Joseph Martin (R., Mass.) to the office of Minority Leader in 1939, and of Leslie Arends (R., Ill.) to the position of Republican Whip in 1943, mark the beginnings of the longest tenures in these four positions for any incumbents in the history of Congress. When changes in top leadership occur—as with the overthrow of Minority Leader Charles A. Halleck by Republican Representative Gerald R. Ford, Jr., in 1965, or the succession of Majority Leader McCormack to the office of the Speaker in 1962 following the death of Rayburn—the consequences are considerable. In the case of revolt, individual careers are made and broken. The organization and policy orientations of a congressional party may be extensively altered. While orderly succession has less dramatic impact, it too has a significant effect on “who gets what, when and how.” Some members move closer to the seats of power and others fall out of favor. Key committee assignments, and hence the development of entire legislative careers, are likely to ride or fall on the outcomes.

The Multinational Corporation

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paula De la Cruz-Fernandez
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Cultural Values ◽  
Multinational Corporations ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
Multinational Corporation ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Us ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of ◽  
Multinational Businesses

A multinational corporation is a multiple unit business enterprise, vertically managed, that operates in various countries, called host economies. Operations beyond national borders are controlled and managed from one location or headquarters, called the home economy. The units or business activities such as manufacturing, distribution, and marketing are, in the modern multinational as opposed to other forms of international business, all structured under a single organization. The location of the headquarters of the multinational corporation, where the business is registered, defines the “nationality” of the company. While United Kingdom held ownership of over half of the world’s foreign direct investment (FDI), defined not as acquisition but as a managed, controlled investment that an organization does beyond its national border, at the beginning of the 20th century, the United States grew to first place throughout the 20th century—in 2002, 22 percent of the world’s FDI came from the United States, which was also home to ten of the fifty largest corporations in the world. The US-based, large, modern corporation, operated by salaried managers with branches and operations in many nations, emerged in the mid-19th century and has since been a key player and driver in both economic and cultural globalization. The development of corporate capitalism in the United States is closely related with the growth of US-driven business abroad and has unique features that place the US multinational model apart from other business organizations operating internationally such as family multinational businesses which are more common in Europe and Latin America. The range and diversity of US-headquartered multinationals changed over time as well, and different countries and cultures made the nature of managing business overseas more complex. Asia came strong into the picture in the last third of the 20th century as regulations and deindustrialization grew in Europe. Global expansion also meant that societies around the world were connecting transnationally through new channels. Consumers and producers globally are also part of the history of multinational corporations—cultural values, socially constructed perceptions of gender and race, different understandings of work, and the everyday lives and experiences of peoples worldwide are integral to the operations and forms of multinationals.

A Short History of Instruction in the Use of Libraries

2013 ◽  
pp. 32-41
Author(s):  
Rosanne M Cordell
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
Information Literacy ◽  
Academic Libraries ◽  
The United States ◽  
Short History ◽  
Academic Context ◽  
The Status ◽  
History Of ◽  
Area Of Study

Instruction in the use of academic libraries has a long history but was not well established as a permanent and formal part of academic libraries in the United States until well into the 20th century. It has taken many forms, but none are likely to be maintained as formal programs unless measures are taken to move them beyond the status of the efforts of single individuals. The development of information literacy as an area of study coincided with the institutionalization of instruction programs and has given academic context and form to the curricula for instruction in the use of academic libraries.

scholarly journals Cholera.

1995 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 48-86 ◽  
Author(s):  
J B Kaper ◽  
J G Morris ◽  
M M Levine
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
South America ◽  
Vibrio Cholerae ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
Clinical Features ◽  
Clinical Microbiology ◽  
The United States ◽  
History Of ◽  
The One ◽  
Made In

Despite more than a century of study, cholera still presents challenges and surprises to us. Throughout most of the 20th century, cholera was caused by Vibrio cholerae of the O1 serogroup and the disease was largely confined to Asia and Africa. However, the last decade of the 20th century has witnessed two major developments in the history of this disease. In 1991, a massive outbreak of cholera started in South America, the one continent previously untouched by cholera in this century. In 1992, an apparently new pandemic caused by a previously unknown serogroup of V. cholerae (O139) began in India and Bangladesh. The O139 epidemic has been occurring in populations assumed to be largely immune to V. cholerae O1 and has rapidly spread to many countries including the United States. In this review, we discuss all aspects of cholera, including the clinical microbiology, epidemiology, pathogenesis, and clinical features of the disease. Special attention will be paid to the extraordinary advances that have been made in recent years in unravelling the molecular pathogenesis of this infection and in the development of new generations of vaccines to prevent it.

Naming Violence in United States Colonialism

2019 ◽  
Vol 53 (1) ◽  
pp. 157-193
Author(s):  
Taylor Spence
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Sexual Violence ◽  
Great Plains ◽  
Northern Great Plains ◽  
The Us ◽  
Us Government ◽  
History Of ◽  
Nineteenth Century United States ◽  
Cover Up

Abstract This article reexamines a highly public dispute between a powerful and well-connected Episcopal bishop and his missionary priest, men both central to the government’s campaign of war and assimilation against Indigenous Peoples in the Northern Great Plains of the nineteenth-century United States. The bishop claimed that the priest had engaged in sexual intercourse with a Dakota woman named “Scarlet House,” and used this allegation to remove the priest from his post. No historian ever challenged this claim and asked who Scarlet House was. Employing Dakota-resourced evidence, government and church records, linguistics, and onomastics, this study reveals that in actuality there was no such person as Scarlet House. Furthermore, at the time of the incident, the person in question was not a woman but a child. The church created a fictional personage to cover up what was taking place at the agency: sexual violence against children. After “naming” this violence, this article makes four key historical contributions about the history of US settler colonialism: It documents Dakota Peoples’ agency, by demonstrating how they adapted their social structures to the harrowing conditions of the US mission and agency system. It situates the experiences of two Dakota families within the larger context of settler-colonial conquest in North America, revealing the generational quality of settler-colonial violence. It shows how US governmental policies actually enabled sexual predation against children and women. And, it argues that “naming violence” means both rendering a historical account of the sexual violence experienced by children and families in the care of the US government and its agents, as well as acknowledging how this violence has rippled out through communities and across generations.

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