Dr Steven Jones, Professor of Mental Health and Director of Public Health at the University of Chester and Colin Jones, former ECT and mental health nurse for Cheshire and Wirral Partnership Malarial therapy for General Paralysis of the Insane, (GPI), introduced into psychiatric hospitals in Britain in 1922, signalled a conceptual shift from psychological towards physical treatment of mental illness. ‘Big’ advances – insulin sleep therapy, electroconvulsive therapy, and psychosurgery followed, with little apparent empirical basis.

This session is specifically on convulsive therapy in the UK with some of the major questions around the efficacy and ethics of physical treatments of the period 1922-1944, which are formative to modern concepts of pharmacotherapy and physical treatment.

Attendees will gain awareness of the major treatments of an important historical period for psychiatry, and opportunity to reflect compassionately on the experience of patients and consider contextually the ethics around the introduction of new treatments prior to our present ethical and regulatory frameworks.

It will also raise awareness of issues around patient consent, through consideration of the historical administration of treatments thought to be beneficial yet potentially seriously harmful, to patients in an era before the advent of modern medical and research ethics.

Admission is free but booking encouraged for refreshment and seating purposes. Please contact fhsc.histsoc@chester.ac.uk or call 01244 512126 to confirm your place. The University of Chester Riverside Museum will also be open from 1-4pm on this date and all welcome to visit (no booking needed).