Category: Psychiatry

  • The other founding fathers: the SUPERINTENDENTS of insanity

    Picture this: While the rest of America was busy manifesting destiny, these thirteen madcap mind-menders were cooking up a scheme to rule the nation’s noggins. They met in Philadelphia, because where else would you start a revolution of the psyche? It’s like they looked at the Founding Fathers and thought, “Pfft, amateurs. Watch this!” These…

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  • Benjamin Rush: The Founding Father of American Psychiatry

    Benjamin Rush (1746-1813) wasn’t just a signer of the Declaration of Independence; he was also a pioneering physician who laid the groundwork for modern psychiatry in America. Born near Philadelphia to Quaker parents, Rush received his medical degree from the University of Edinburgh in 1768 before returning to Philadelphia to establish his practice. As a civic…

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  • The Goldwater Rule: A Tale of Psychiatric Scandals and Ethics

    This is the tale of the Goldwater Rule that proves sometimes the doctors are crazier than the patients! In the sweltering summer of 1964, the psychiatric community found itself at the center of a scandal that would shake the very foundations of professional ethics. Barry Goldwater, the Republican candidate for president, was about to become…

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  • Johann Christian Reil: The Mad Genius Who Coined “Psychiatry”

    Johann Christian Reil (1759–1813) wasn’t your average 18th-century doctor. He was the kind of guy who looked at the chaos of the human mind and thought, “You know what this needs? A whole new field of medicine.” And so, in 1808, he coined the term “psychiatry”—a word derived from the Greek psyche (soul) and iatreia (healing), meaning “the healing…

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  • Donald Ewen Cameron: The Man Who Put the “Shock” in Shock Therapy

    Buckle up, buttercups, for the wild ride that is Donald Ewen Cameron. Born in 1901 in Scotland, little Donnie Cameron grew up dreaming of being a doctor. But why cure boring old diseases when you can play God with people’s minds? By the 1950s, our boy Ewen had climbed the psychiatric ladder faster than you…

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  • Egas Moniz: The Controversial Father of Psychosurgery

    AntĂłnio Caetano de Abreu Freire Egas Moniz (1874-1955) was a Portuguese neurologist who left an indelible, if controversial, mark on the field of psychiatry. Born in Avanca, Portugal, Moniz studied medicine at the University of Coimbra, graduating in 1899. Moniz’s career was multifaceted: -Professor of Neurology at the University of Lisbon (1911-1944) -Politician and diplomat,…

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  • Thorazine: chemical straitjacket

    This is the absolutely bonkers tale of Thorazine, the wonder drug that turned mental hospitals into zombie discos! Picture this: It’s the 1950s, and French scientists are busy cooking up antihistamines like they’re trying to win a sneezing contest. But oops! They accidentally create a drug that makes people act like they’ve had a lobotomy…

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  • The Merry-go-round from hell for the mentally unstable

    Picture this: It’s 1810, and ol’ Benny Rush, fresh off his success with the Tranquilizing Chair, thinks to himself, “You know what would really cure madness? A merry-go-round from hell!” Enter the Gyrator, a centrifugal spinning board designed to improve circulation to the brain. Because nothing says “mental health” like being strapped to a giant,…

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  • Sensory Deprivation toilet chair for the Mentally Unstable

    Imagine walking into a room and seeing a contraption that looks like a cross between a medieval torture rack and a porta-potty. Welcome to Benjamin Rush’s Tranquilizing Chair, the 18th century’s answer to the question, “How can we make mental illness even more fun… for us?” In 1810, Rush, the “Father of American Psychiatry” (because…

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  • The mental illness where former slaves say get off my lawn

    Picture this: It’s 1851, and Dr. Samuel A. Cartwright, fresh off his groundbreaking discovery of drapetomania, has stumbled upon another “totally legit” medical condition. Behold, Dysaesthesia aethiopica – the malady that explains why those pesky slaves just won’t work hard enough! Cartwright, armed with his medical degree and a PhD in creative oppression, described this…

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  • the mental illness of refusing to submit to slavery

    In the annals of medical history, there are few tales as delightfully absurd as drapetomania, the “mental illness” that made running away from slavery a diagnosable condition. Because, you know, wanting to escape a life of forced labor and brutal oppression is clearly a sign of insanity… or so thought Dr. Samuel A. Cartwright in…

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  • Haldol: The Grim Reaper’s Sidekick

    Haloperidol, better known as Haldol, is not just a drug—it’s a cultural artifact of medicine’s darker corners. It has worn many hats: psychiatric savior, hospice workhorse, veterinary tranquilizer, and even a lurking specter in the shadowy world of death cocktails. This report dives deep into the multifaceted (and occasionally unsettling) life of Haldol, from its…

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  • insulin Shock and Awe: When Doctors Thought Comas Were Cool

    Insulin Shock Therapy is another medical marvel where they claimed to cure mental illness by nearly killing the patients! Ladies and gentlemen, gather ’round for the medical equivalent of “hold my beer and watch this” – Insulin Shock Therapy! It’s the treatment that proves sometimes the cure really is worse than the disease! Picture this:…

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