Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-fbnjt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T07:30:59.607Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Electricity: A History of its use in the Treatment of Mental Illness in Britain During the Second Half of the 19th Century

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

A. W. Beveridge  and
E. B. Renvoize
A. W. Beveridge*
Affiliation:
West Fife District General Hospital, Dunfermline, Bootham Park Hospital, York
E. B. Renvoize
Affiliation:
Bootham Park Hospital, York
*
∗West Fife District General Hospital, Bellyeoman, Whitefield Road, Dunfermline, Fife KY12 0SU
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The use of electricity in British psychiatry during the second half of the 19th century is examined. An account is given of the clinical and theoretical aspects of electrical therapy. Factors leading to its use and eventual decline are considered.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 153 , Issue 2 , August 1988 , pp. 157 - 162
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1988 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Allbutt, C. (1872) The West Riding Lunatic Asylum Reports, vol. 2.Google Scholar
Althaus, J. (1857) On the therapeutical use of electricity by induction. The Lancet, ii, 162–164; 187–190.Google Scholar
Althaus, J. (1873) A Treatise on Medical Electricity. London: Longmans, Green & Co.Google Scholar
Althaus, J. (1899) Treatment of old age. The Lancet, i, 151–152.Google Scholar
Anon (1863) A mirror of the practice of medicine and surgery in the hospitals of London: Guy's Hospital. The Lancet, i, 62–63.Google Scholar
Anon (1866) A mirror of the practice of medicine and surgery in the hospitals of London. National Hospital for the Paralysed and Epileptic. The Lancet, ii, 576–577.Google Scholar
Anon (1871a) Psychological retrospect. Journal of Mental Science, 17, 423–425.Google Scholar
Anon (1871b) Review of A Practical Treatise on the Medical and Surgical Uses of Electricity, including Localized and General Electrization by Beard, George M. & Rockwell, A. D. (1871). Journal of Mental Science, 17, 266–271.Google Scholar
Anon (1874) Psychological retrospect. Journal of Mental Science, 20, 130–131.Google Scholar
Anon (1883a) Review of A Practical Treatise on Electro-Diagnosis in Diseases of the Nervous System by Hughes Bennett, (1882) Journal of Mental Science, 29, 106–108.Google Scholar
Anon (1883b) Review of Behandlung der Psychosen mit Elektricität. Von Dr Tigges, in Sachsenberg (Zeitschrift für Psychiatrie, xxxiv., Band, 6 Heft). Journal of Mental Science, 29, 415–424.Google Scholar
Anon (1883c) Notes and news. Journal of Mental Science, 29, 318–319.Google Scholar
Anon (1888) Review of Electro-therapeutics by Wilhelm Erb (1887). The Lancet, i, 75.Google Scholar
Anon (1889) An exposure of electrical quackery. The Lancet, i, 949–950.Google Scholar
Anon (1895) Electricity in medicine. The Lancet, ii, 587–588.Google Scholar
Ardnt, R. (1892) Electricity. In Dictionary of Psychological Medicine (ed. D. H. Tuke). London: J. & A. Churchill.Google Scholar
Bartholomew, R. (1887) Medical Electricity. Edinburgh: Young J. Pentland.Google Scholar
Beard, G. M. (1873) The treatment of insanity by electricity. Journal of Mental Science, 19, 355–360.Google Scholar
Beard, G. M. & Rockwell, A. D. (1871) A Practical Treatise on the Medical and Surgical Uses of Electricity, Including Localized and General Electrization. New York: William Wood & Co.Google Scholar
Berli∗é, M. A. (1849) Du traitement de l'alienation mentale dans les asiles d'Angleterre. Annales Medico-Psychologiques, 5, 224–244.Google Scholar
Beveridge, A. W. & Renvoize, E. B. (1988) A brief history of the use of electricity in the treatment of mental illness. British Journal of Clinical and Social Psychiatry (in press).Google Scholar
Bowers, B. (1982) A History of Electric Light and Power. Stevenage: Peter Pereginus Ltd.Google Scholar
Cerletti, U. (1950) Old and new information about electroshock. American Journal of Psychiatry, 107, 87–94.Google Scholar
Colwell, H. (1922) An Essay on the History of Electrotherapy and Diagnosis. London: Heinemann.Google Scholar
De Watteville, A. (1884) A Practical Introduction to Medical Electricity. (2nd edn). London: H. K. Lewis.Google Scholar
De Watteville, A. (1885) Practical remarks on the use of electricity in mental disease. Journal of Mental Science, 30, 483–488.Google Scholar
Digby, A. (1985) Madness, Morality and Medicine. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Duchenne, G. (1855) De l'Electrisation localisée et de son Application à la Psysiologie, à la Pathologie, et à la Thérapeutique. Paris: J. B. Baillière.Google Scholar
Dunsheath, P. (1962) A History of Electrical Engineering. London: Faber and Faber.Google Scholar
Horder, T. G. (1891) Marvellous cures by electricity (letter). The Lancet, ii, 746.Google Scholar
Ireland, W. W. (1875) Psychological retrospect. Journal of Mental Science, 20, 615–626.Google Scholar
Lewis Jones, H. (1900) On the application of electricity in medical and surgical practice. The Lancet, i, 695–699.Google Scholar
Lewis Jones, H. (1901) The use of general electrification as a means of treatment in certain forms of mental disease. Journal of Mental Science, 47, 245–250.Google Scholar
Maxwell, J. C. (1873) A Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Meyer, M. (1869) Electricity in its Relations to Practical Medicine. Translated by Hammond, William A. New York: D. Appleton & Co.Google Scholar
Newth, A. H. (1873) The galvanic current applied in the treatment of insanity. Journal of Mental Science, 19, 79–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Newth, A. H. (1874) Review of A Treatise on Medical Electricity by Julius Althaus. Journal of Mental Science, 20, 99–111.Google Scholar
Newth, A. H. (1878) The electro-neural pathology of insanity. Journal of Mental Science, 24, 76–82.Google Scholar
Newth, A. H. (1884) The value of electricity in the treatment of insanity. Journal of Mental Science, 30, 354–359.Google Scholar
Poore, G. V. (1874) Abstract of Lectures on Electro-Therapeutics . The Lancet, ii, 3–5; 300–302.Google Scholar
Poore, G. V. (1875) Abstract of Lectures on Electro-Therapeutics . The Lancet, i, 115–117.Google Scholar
Robertson, A. (1884) Case of insanity of seven years' duration: treatment by electricity. Journal of Mental Science, 30, 54–57.Google Scholar
Russell Reynolds, J. (1870a) Lectures on the clinical uses of electricity. The Lancet, i, 331–333; 367–368; 539–540; 575–577.Google Scholar
Russell Reynolds, J. (1870b) Lectures on the clinical uses of electricity. The Lancet, ii, 109–110; 321–323; 529–532.Google Scholar
Rutherford, W. M. (1871) Lectures on experimental physiology. The Lancet, i, 75–78.Google Scholar
Sainsbury, H. (1893) Therapeutic retrospect. Journal of Mental Science, 39, 449–450.Google Scholar
Scull, A. (1979) Museums of Madness. London: Allen Lane.Google Scholar
Stainbrook, E. (1948) The use of electricity in psychiatric treatment during the nineteenth century. Bulletin of the History of Medicine, 22, 156–177.Google Scholar
Steavenson, W. E. & Lewis Jones, H. (1892) Medical Electricity: A Practical Handbook for Students and Practitioners. London: H. K. Lewis.Google Scholar
Talbott, J. (1970) A Biographical History of Medicine. New York: Grune and Stratton.Google Scholar
Tuke, D. H. (ed) (1892) Dictionary of Psychological Medicine London: J. & A. Churchill.Google Scholar
Wiglesworth, J. (1887) On the use of galvanism in the treatment of certain forms of insanity. British Medical Journal, ii, 506–507.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.