Imagine putting a diabetic friend into a coma with their insulin shot just so you could shush them up for about an hour. That is one of the treatments created for the mentally insane in the past.
Insulin shock therapy was a tool in the past that psychiatric hospitals would use to calm down an unruly patient. A coma was induced by injecting the patient with enough insulin to overdose them, causing a coma. It was believed that doing this would help the brain stay calm and the patient's emotions and mental state would be reset, according to the blog Crazy Mermaid. However, we should ask if the brain is actually "resetting" itself and the patient is calm due to brain loss and memory loss due to going into insulin shock.
This treatment was not just once, or twice it could have multiple sessions, each about a half an hour to an hour each.
According to Julie Boehlke at Live Strong a healthy sugar blood level is between 83 and 100, insulin shock can cause the blood sugar levels to drop to below 60. When the blood sugar is below 60 is can cause dizziness,shaking ,pale skin,nervousness, aggressive,disoriented,and sweating,therefore a patients blood sugar would have to be dangerously lower (willingly) than 60 to slip into a coma.
The goal of this therapy was to cause an Insulin shock in the patient. Insulin shock is caused by a person, mainly who is diabetic (because it is assumed only a diabetic person would be injecting insulin into themselves), injects too much insulin causing their blood sugar to fall below safe levels resulting in them slipping into a coma, or a seizure.
Because some of the signs of going into shock where symtoms of the mental illness they were trying to
these symptoms were probably (in my opinion) seen as being displayed because of the patients diagnosis, causing the nurses and doctors to associate their outbursts with their mental illness rather than the patient going into shock. Showing that people are so blinded by their fear and hatred of the mentally ill than they lose all common sense.
The dangers of this therapy were death, seizures, organ and tissue damage, and according to Boehlke, while the patient is in the coma from the insulin shock deliberately given to them, their organs have begun to shut down. Also, the brain is the first to start to shut down, causing brain damage which is redundant for they are trying to silence a mentally ill patient meanwhile they are causing brain damage.
The search for silence from the insane even though it may cause irreversible damage indicates that physical damage is more desirable than having a mentally ill/insane patient. A mentally ill person's health is not taken into consideration, only the silencing of them is validated.
The dangers of Insulin shock therapy were realized and it was discontinued but still to this day people feel it was beneficial to the mentally ill, for it kept them quiet.
Click Here for a document from one of the doctors in the past who used Insulin Shock Therapy as a treatment.
Click Here for a document from one of the doctors in the past who used Insulin Shock Therapy as a treatment.
Click here to watch a clip from A Beautiful Mind
This treatment was not just once, or twice it could have multiple sessions, each about a half an hour to an hour each.
According to Julie Boehlke at Live Strong a healthy sugar blood level is between 83 and 100, insulin shock can cause the blood sugar levels to drop to below 60. When the blood sugar is below 60 is can cause dizziness,shaking ,pale skin,nervousness, aggressive,disoriented,and sweating,therefore a patients blood sugar would have to be dangerously lower (willingly) than 60 to slip into a coma.
The goal of this therapy was to cause an Insulin shock in the patient. Insulin shock is caused by a person, mainly who is diabetic (because it is assumed only a diabetic person would be injecting insulin into themselves), injects too much insulin causing their blood sugar to fall below safe levels resulting in them slipping into a coma, or a seizure.
Because some of the signs of going into shock where symtoms of the mental illness they were trying to
these symptoms were probably (in my opinion) seen as being displayed because of the patients diagnosis, causing the nurses and doctors to associate their outbursts with their mental illness rather than the patient going into shock. Showing that people are so blinded by their fear and hatred of the mentally ill than they lose all common sense.
The dangers of this therapy were death, seizures, organ and tissue damage, and according to Boehlke, while the patient is in the coma from the insulin shock deliberately given to them, their organs have begun to shut down. Also, the brain is the first to start to shut down, causing brain damage which is redundant for they are trying to silence a mentally ill patient meanwhile they are causing brain damage.
The search for silence from the insane even though it may cause irreversible damage indicates that physical damage is more desirable than having a mentally ill/insane patient. A mentally ill person's health is not taken into consideration, only the silencing of them is validated.
The dangers of Insulin shock therapy were realized and it was discontinued but still to this day people feel it was beneficial to the mentally ill, for it kept them quiet.
Click Here for a document from one of the doctors in the past who used Insulin Shock Therapy as a treatment.
Click Here for a document from one of the doctors in the past who used Insulin Shock Therapy as a treatment.
Click here to watch a clip from A Beautiful Mind
References
Boehlke, Julie. "What Is Insulin Shock?." LIVESTRONG.COM. 14 Aug. 2017. Web. 19 Dec. 2017. <https://www.livestrong.com/article/18233-insulin-shock/>
Reimers, Elliot. "Insulin Shock Causes, Symptoms, Prevention and Treatment | Nutrition Beast." Nutrition Beast. 12 Oct. 2013. Web. 19 Dec. 2017. <https://nutritionbeast.com/2013/10/insulin-shock-causes-symptoms-prevention-treatment/>
Team Epainassist. "What is Insulin Shock|Causes|Symptoms|Treatment|Prevention|Complications." ePainAssist. 20 Jun. 2016. Web. 19 Dec. 2017. <https://www.epainassist.com/shock/what-is-insulin-shock>
Reimers, Elliot. "Insulin Shock Causes, Symptoms, Prevention and Treatment | Nutrition Beast." Nutrition Beast. 12 Oct. 2013. Web. 19 Dec. 2017. <https://nutritionbeast.com/2013/10/insulin-shock-causes-symptoms-prevention-treatment/>
Renato M.e. Sabbatini. "The History of Shock Therapy in Psychiatry." Cerebromente.org.br. 30 Jan. 2008. Web. 19 Dec. 2017. <http://www.cerebromente.org.br/n04/historia/shock_i.htm>
Other Articles In This Journal Bernice Scharmer. "Insulin Shock Therapy : AJN The American Journal of Nursing." LWW. n.d. Web. 19 Dec. 2017. <http://journals.lww.com/ajnonline/Fulltext/1941/10000/Insulin_Shock_Therapy.9.aspx>
Bipolar: Crazy Mermaid's Blog. "Insulin Shock Therapy." Bipolar: Crazy Mermaid's Blog. 3 Dec. 2012. Web. 19 Dec. 2017. <https://crazymer1.wordpress.com/2012/12/03/insulin-shock-therapy/>
N.a. "Things that have given psychiatry a bad name #2 Insulin Coma Therapy «." Frontierpsychiatrist.co.uk. n.d. Web. 19 Dec. 2017. <http://frontierpsychiatrist.co.uk/things-that-have-given-psychiatry-a-bad-name-2-insulin-coma-therapy/>
Steinfeld, Julius. "INSULIN SHOCK THERAPY IN SCHIZOPHRENIA." Jamanetwork.com. 9 Jan. 1937. Web. 19 Dec. 2017. <https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/274863>
Wikipedia Contributors. "Insulin shock therapy." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 17 Dec. 2017. Web. 19 Dec. 2017. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insulin_shock_therapy>
McMurray,B.. "Insulin Shock Therapy." prezi.com. n.d. Web. 19 Dec. 2017. <https://prezi.com/strnp4c8wo4l/insulin-shock-therapy/>
Boehlke, Julie. "What Is Insulin Shock?." LIVESTRONG.COM. 14 Aug. 2017. Web. 19 Dec. 2017. <https://www.livestrong.com/article/18233-insulin-shock/>
Reimers, Elliot. "Insulin Shock Causes, Symptoms, Prevention and Treatment | Nutrition Beast." Nutrition Beast. 12 Oct. 2013. Web. 19 Dec. 2017. <https://nutritionbeast.com/2013/10/insulin-shock-causes-symptoms-prevention-treatment/>
Team Epainassist. "What is Insulin Shock|Causes|Symptoms|Treatment|Prevention|Complications." ePainAssist. 20 Jun. 2016. Web. 19 Dec. 2017. <https://www.epainassist.com/shock/what-is-insulin-shock>
Reimers, Elliot. "Insulin Shock Causes, Symptoms, Prevention and Treatment | Nutrition Beast." Nutrition Beast. 12 Oct. 2013. Web. 19 Dec. 2017. <https://nutritionbeast.com/2013/10/insulin-shock-causes-symptoms-prevention-treatment/>
Renato M.e. Sabbatini. "The History of Shock Therapy in Psychiatry." Cerebromente.org.br. 30 Jan. 2008. Web. 19 Dec. 2017. <http://www.cerebromente.org.br/n04/historia/shock_i.htm>
Other Articles In This Journal Bernice Scharmer. "Insulin Shock Therapy : AJN The American Journal of Nursing." LWW. n.d. Web. 19 Dec. 2017. <http://journals.lww.com/ajnonline/Fulltext/1941/10000/Insulin_Shock_Therapy.9.aspx>
Bipolar: Crazy Mermaid's Blog. "Insulin Shock Therapy." Bipolar: Crazy Mermaid's Blog. 3 Dec. 2012. Web. 19 Dec. 2017. <https://crazymer1.wordpress.com/2012/12/03/insulin-shock-therapy/>
N.a. "Things that have given psychiatry a bad name #2 Insulin Coma Therapy «." Frontierpsychiatrist.co.uk. n.d. Web. 19 Dec. 2017. <http://frontierpsychiatrist.co.uk/things-that-have-given-psychiatry-a-bad-name-2-insulin-coma-therapy/>
Steinfeld, Julius. "INSULIN SHOCK THERAPY IN SCHIZOPHRENIA." Jamanetwork.com. 9 Jan. 1937. Web. 19 Dec. 2017. <https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/274863>
Wikipedia Contributors. "Insulin shock therapy." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 17 Dec. 2017. Web. 19 Dec. 2017. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insulin_shock_therapy>
McMurray,B.. "Insulin Shock Therapy." prezi.com. n.d. Web. 19 Dec. 2017. <https://prezi.com/strnp4c8wo4l/insulin-shock-therapy/>