Insulin coma

Insulin coma therapy was a form of psychiatric treatment in which patients were repeatedly injected with large doses of insulin in order to produce daily comas over several weeks. It was introduced in 1927 by Austrian-American psychiatrist Manfred Sakel and used extensively in the 1940s and 1950s, mainly for schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders.

History

Insulin coma therapy was first developed by Manfred Sakel in the early 20th century. Sakel, a Polish-Austrian psychiatrist, discovered the procedure accidentally, having administered insulin to drug addicts, who then went into coma and woke up claiming to be cured. He then applied the same treatment to schizophrenia patients and claimed a 90% success rate.

Procedure

The procedure involved injecting patients with increasingly large doses of insulin in order to induce a coma. This would typically be done six days a week for about two months. The patient would then be brought out of the coma with a glucose solution. The therapy could cause a number of side effects, including obesity, pancreatitis, and brain damage.

Criticism and Decline

Despite its widespread use, insulin coma therapy was controversial. Critics argued that the treatment was dangerous and lacked a sound theoretical basis. In the 1950s, the advent of antipsychotic medications led to a decline in its use. By the 1970s, insulin coma therapy had been largely abandoned.

See Also

• Electroconvulsive therapy
• Lobotomy
• Psychosurgery