Literature Annotations
 |
Collins, Anne |
| Genre | Investigative Journalism (272 pp.) |
| Keywords | Catastrophe, Communication, Dementia, Depression, Doctor-Patient Relationship, History of Medicine, Hospitalization, Human Worth, Institutionalization, Medical Advances, Medical Ethics, Medical Mistakes, Medical Research, Medical Testing, Mental Illness, Obsession, Pain, Patient Experience, Power Relations, Professionalism, Psychiatry, Psychosomatic Medicine, Psychotherapy, Women in Medicine |
| Summary | A journalistic account of the CIA-funded experiments in "psychic-driving" of Dr. Ewen Cameron at Montreal's Allan Memorial Institute in the 1950's and early 1960's. Cameron investigated "treatment" for various forms of depression, consisting of high-dose electroshock (Page-Russell variant), heavy sedation, and the repetetive playing of patient's or the doctor's recorded voice. Many patients did not respond; some were destroyed by the technique. Particularly moving is the story of Mary Morrow (Chapter 9), a physician-patient whose career was damaged by her experiences. Cameron held the most prominent positions in professional psychiatry; he died unscathed by his questionable research and in pursuit of yet another goal, a mountain peak. |
| Commentary | The CIA interest in these experiments has been explained as a product of concern over the perceived threat of Soviet brain-washing as a weapon of subversion during the Cold War. This account is based on interviews with patient-survivors, their family members, other caregivers, and those involved in the lawsuits pending at the time of writing. In contrast to Harvey Weinstein's autobiographical version of the same events (Father, Son, and CIA, see this database), this account places more emphasis on Cameron and his career. |
| Publisher | Lester & Orpen Dennys |
| Edition | 1988 |
| Place Published | Toronto |
| Annotated by | Duffin, Jacalyn |
| Date of Entry | 03/04/97 |