Was Electroconvulsive Therapy Used as Discipline?

Andrew Scull says electroconvulsive therapy was used in the 1950s and 1960s as a tool of discipline in the hospitals. It was also used therapeutically, but overwhelmingly it was used as a tool of discipline and control.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest fairly successfully recreates the poverty of the rooms patients lived in. Staff very often put patients down, did not listen, poked fun at them, or were physically abusive, although the physical abuse stays off screen. The same features marked the hospitals. Boredom filled daily life, but putting boredom on screen turns an audience off rather fast.

An abusive element ran through a lot of mental hospitals and was almost inevitable. The people with the most contact with patients were the lowest paid, least respected ward attendants, and very few were even RNs. In the large state mental hospitals, the doctor-to-patient ratio meant patients hardly ever saw a physician. The chief psychiatrist in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest was the real head of Oregon State Mental Hospital, the role was his introduction to acting, and the performance was remarkable. The film still carries a lot of exaggeration.