Asylums. Insulin shock therapy. Metrazol shock therapy. Electric shock treatment. All miracle cures for mental illness, right? If you read the newspaper in the 1940s, you might think so.

While reporting on the “high standard of psychiatric care” at new facilities at the Hillside Hospital in Queens, NY, in October 1941,The New York Timeswrote, “The hospital has pioneered in the use of insulin and metrazol, and also in the electric shock treatment, which has proved useful in shortening the average stay of patients.”

“The electric treatment, they say, at least is not unpleasant, so the patient may be more inclined to cooperate with the physician in future treatments,” saidThe New York Timesin 1940.

If you think these treatments sound more like a horror film, there’s a reason.

The Snake Pit

By the time 9 out of 10 American asylums were utilizing electroconvulsive shock therapy on their patients, according to Mary de Young in her bookMadness, the 1948 filmThe Snake Pitwas ready to rip open the doors on the shocking world of overcrowded asylums and their harsh conditions. The film is based on Mary Jane Ward’s novel of the same name, which captured her experiences at the Rockland Psychiatric Center in New York. She didn’t hold back, and neither did the Academy Award-winning film.

In the story, a young woman becomes confused and hallucinatory. She is administered electric shock treatments in an asylum until her psychiatrist uncovers the trauma that caused her mental illness. But asThe New York Timeswrote in theirreview, “This subject is dynamite. Faint or susceptible people might find it extremely hard to take.” The public’s first glimpse into the treatment of mental illness wasn’t pretty.

“Their picture…is a true, illuminating presentation of the experiences of a psychotic in an institute,” wroteThe New York Timesin 1948. “It is a cryptic but trenchant revelation of a crying need for better facilities for mental care.”

One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest

Just asThe Snake Pit’s indictment of the mental health system helped public perception of mental health treatment evolve, so too did Ken Kesey’s 1962 novel and later the 1975 film,One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest.

“One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest…swayed public opinion the most,” writes de Young. “The effect of this film on public attitudes about electroconvulsive shock treatment, let alone about madness and asylums, was considerable: in post-screening surveys, the majority of audience members considered it barbaric and punitive and would refuse to allow an institutionalized family member or friend to undergo it.”

And this film had an effect on mental health itself, as just a year after Kesey wrote the novel, former President John F. Kennedy signed into law theCommunity Mental Health Act, which began the desistintulization movement that would dismantle asylums and transform mental health treatment through the 1990s.

“The film generated a general distrust of hierarchical medical institutions and helped to modify many of psychiatry’s medical practices over the years,”writesWill Reckase.

But this wasn’t all a positive change. While the horrible conditions in asylums and cruel treatments were rightly questioned, these films also stigmatized people living with mental illness.

“For many mental health professionals the book and film also had a negative effect,”writesJon Swaine. “A 1983 study involving 146 university students found ‘considerable negative changes in attitude’ towards people with mental health problems among those who had seen the film.”

While shows such as “Dr. Phil” are limited in their reality — the shows only lasts an hour and don’t portray the full complexity of therapy — it shows that modern mental health treatments are humane and it’s acceptable to openly discuss your problems.

“Dr. Drew and Dr. Phil have really allowed people to see that mental health is not something that’s to be hidden,” says Mramor. “It’s really made mental health an everyday kind of thing, and people are much more likely to enter into therapy because of it.…It takes the stigma off of mental health treatment.”

13 Reasons Why

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