Glenside Hospital's role in the introduction of electroconvulsive therapy and psychosurgery to Australian psychiatry.
OBJECTIVE
This paper records the introduction of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) and psychosurgery to Australia at Parkside Mental Hospital (present day Glenside Hospital) in South Australia.


METHODS
A review of treatment provided at Glenside Hospital since its inception in 1870.


RESULTS
The desperate plight of patients and the limited array of interventions leading up to the introduction of ECT and psychosurgery are noted. Their introduction and the early results from the treatments are described.


CONCLUSIONS
Glenside Hospital, as Parkside Mental Hospital, pioneered the use of ECT and psychosurgery in Australia.
Discipline of Psychiatry, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA, Australia. robert.goldney@adelaide.edu.au
Robert
R
Goldney
Rob
R
Adams
D004565:Electroconvulsive Therapy / Q000266:history*; D049672:History, 19th Century; D049673:History, 20th Century; D006778:Hospitals, Psychiatric / Q000266:history*; D006801:Humans; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000266:history*; D011612:Psychosurgery / Q000193:education*; D013021:South Australia