Pushbutton Psychiatry : A Cultural History of Electric Shock Therapy in America, Updated Paperback Edition

This volume uncovers the roots of electroshock in America, an outgrowth of western patriarchal medicine with primarily female patients. The authors trace the history of electroshock in the United States in three historic stages: from an enthusiastic reception in 1940, to a period of crisis in the 1960s, to its resurgence after 1980. Early American experiments with electrical medicine are also examined, while the development of electroshock in America is considered through the lens of social, political, and economic factors. The revival of electroshock in recent decades is found to be a product of growing materialism in American psychiatry and the political and economic realities of managed medical care. The new material in the Updated Paperback Edition describes the resurgence of electroshock in the private psychiatric sector as a treatment of choice for depression. From The Publisher: This Volume Uncovers The Roots Of Electroshock In America, An Outgrowth Of Western Patriarchal Medicine With Primarily Female Patients, With A New Epilogue Bringing The Research Up To The Present. Preface -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction: Electricity, Psychiatry, And American Culture -- Part 1: Electrotherapeutic Origins Of Pushbutton Psychiatry -- 1: Eighteenth Century: The Electric Stage -- 2: Nineteenth Century: The Woman On The Couch -- Part 2: Electroconvulsive Century -- 3: Birth And Triumph Of Pushbutton Psychiatry: Electroshock, 1938-1965 -- 4: Rage Against The Machine: The Decline Of Electroshock, 1966-1980 -- 5: Pushbutton Triumphant: The Rebirth Of Electroshock, 1981-1999 -- Epilogue: Into The Twenty-first Century -- Bibliography -- Index. By Timothy W. Kneeland, Carol A.b. Warren. Previous Ed.: Westport, Conn.; London: Praeger, 2002. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Contents 6 Preface 8 Acknowledgments 16 Introduction: Electricity, Psychiatry,and American Culture 18 Part I: The Electrotherapeutic Origins of Pushbutton Psychiatry 30 1 The Eighteenth Century: The Electric Stage 32 2 The Nineteenth Century: The Woman on the Couch 50 Part II: The Electroconvulsive Century 70 3 The Birth and Triumph of Pushbutton Psychiatry: Electroshock, 1938–1965 72 4 Rage Against the Machine: The Decline of Electroshock, 1966–1980 92 5 Pushbutton Triumphant: The Rebirth of Electroshock, 1981–1999 114 Epilogue: Into the Twenty-First Century 132 Bibliography 136 Index 160 Content: Preface Acknowledgments Introduction: Electricity, Psychiatry, and American Culture Part I: The Electrotherapeutic Origins of Pushbutton Psychiatry 1 The Eighteenth Century: The Electric Stage 2 The Nineteenth Century: The Woman on the Couch Part II: The Electroconvulsive Century 3 The Birth and Triumph of Pushbutton Psychiatry: Electroshock, 1938-1965 4 Rage Against the Machine: The Decline of Electroshock, 1966-1980 5 Pushbutton Triumphant: The Rebirth of Electroshock, 1981-1999 Epilogue: Into the Twenty-First Century Bibliography Index.