Blake Morrison’s review of Jon Stock’s book The Sleep Room (Shocking tales from 1960s psychiatry, 9 April) mentioned that Celia Imrie was admitted to a psychiatric unit in 1966, when she was 14. I was too, in the same year and at the same age – in my case, a large acute adult ward at Stratheden hospital in Fife, their adolescent unit having no beds at the time. I was an inpatient for three weeks and am for ever indebted to the consultant psychiatrist who managed my admission, treatment and discharge to a safer environment.
Morrison’s review of Stock’s exposé of William Sargant and 1960s psychiatry reinforces my sense of good fortune, against all the odds at the time.
My relatively benign experience of psychiatric drugs was initially high doses of Largactil, which knocked me out, so were quickly reduced. But the “dark alchemy of drugs and electricity” was all around, and my terror that I might be subjected to electroconvulsive therapy treatment and the dire post-treatment after-effects that I witnessed in my fellow inpatients never left me. That it was acceptable for a vulnerable adolescent to be subjected to this speaks itself for the barbarism of those with influence and power in mental health practice at the time.
Stock’s calling out of the horrors is, I suspect, the tip of the iceberg. William Sargant is not alone in his being “possessed” of self-interested furor therapeuticus – “the rage to heal”. It’s a universal driver that gives priceless energy and motivation, but needs vigilant and collaborative professional regulation to function safely – along with committed investment for child and adolescent mental health services as well as adult mental health services, whose waiting lists sadly lengthen every day.
Alison Tudor Hart
London
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