The following were believed to be cures for insanity.
Just a list of potential treatments, medications, and ideas that were described as the nail in the coffin for mental illness.
For as long as there have been us, the crazy people, there have been those looking to cure us. From the removal of teeth to the removal from society, the list of potential curative treatments is long and strange.
Some are stranger than others. The following is a list of things I found to be touted as a way to “cure” mental illness, along with the year and a little more information.
Baseball - 1915
As an avid baseball fan, I do believe that watching a game on a warm summer afternoon with a Miller Lite in one hand and a vegan hotdog in the other is very good for my brain and my overall wellbeing. However, I’m reasonably sure that not even Julio Rodrigues’ glorious, beaming, infectious smile can actually cure my neurodivergence, no matter how much I wish that were the case.
Now, these physicians weren’t wrong that playing in a team sport in the fresh air and sunlight probably did have pretty positive impacts on the residents of their hospital. We know that physical activity and teamwork can boost serotonin and help people feel more grounded and connected.
Several years later, “baseball dementia” caught on across the country in Illinois, where doctors, hospital staff, and patients all played together. They were crazy for baseball, which was “preferable to being just plain crazy.”
It’s also interesting to note that I found another example of the asylum-to-the-diamond pipeline. The previous year, Bert Lynn was touted in the newspaper as an upstart in the sport, freshly out of the ‘bin and ready to play ball. I couldn’t find any records of his major league career, though.
Music - 1922
There have seldom been a shortage of Do-Gooder types who want to use their skills to help the poor, unfortunate souls trapped in the nation’s state hospitals. Miss Ethel Tammings is just one of many “pretty young girls” to lend herself to the cause. But not everyone got such a glowing review of her curative chorus!
According to the page-long story, Ms. Tamming’s crisp notes reduced some of the residents to tears and convulsions, while others seemed so wrapt they could hardly look away.
Probably my favorite detail is the fact that the hospital’s directors had prescribed which precise pitch could treat which ailment — and why.
There is, of course, no science behind these breakdowns. However, it is true that music has been shown to have a demonstrably positive impact on mental health, so there’s something to that, anyway.
Carbon Dioxide - 1928
I don’t even know what to make of this. In 1928, literally everyone knew that CO2 was poisonous — it was already being considered as a potential biochemical weapon. A military paper I found from a decade after this article was published stated that “it has been recognized as a poison since ancient times, and has assumed special importance within the last half-century owing to the increased amounts of it produced consequent upon the augmented use of gas for illuminating, cooking, and heating purposes, and upon the introduction of the internal combustion engine.” So why some hospital in San Francisco was using it as a cure is beyond me. I could find no published studies on this experiment.
Vitamin B - 1938
If you, like me, enjoy throwing your money at literally any serum, cream, or goo which promises to keep your skin young forever, you probably worship at the altar of niacinamide. This active ingredient helps reduce acne and generally is alleged to make my face more radiant. But before it was doing all that, it was considered to be a cure for insanity by some of the top brass in medical funding.
We, of course, know better now. According to Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, “nicotinamide is a water-soluble form of vitamin B3 or niacin. It is made in the body by eating niacin-rich foods such as fish, poultry, nuts, legumes, eggs, and cereal grains. Nicotinamide supplements are used to treat skin conditions and niacin deficiencies.”
It does not cure insanity — even though, as we know, vitamins were a very common treatment.
However, a B3 deficiency may have explained some of the symptoms that were (and still are) often associated with insanity, including hallucinations, aggression, and paranoia. At in 1938, it wouldn’t be that hard to have such a deficiency. Consider the time — smack dab in the middle of the Depression, when fresh meats, nuts, and legumes were hard to come by — and the knowledge about complete nutrition. One of the main reasons why grain-based products are fortified now is because of gaps in overall nutrition, including B3 deficiencies.
And finally, I’ll leave you with the advice of this man:
Is he a doctor like Dr. Phil is a doctor? Or like “Doctor” Bronner? Who knows. What I do know is that this man, in 1952, delivered the definitive cure for insanity — for free! In this newspaper column!!! — and to be honest I can’t find much to argue here:
You know what? No notes.