A Material History of Electroshock Therapy : Electroshock Technology in Europe until 1945.
The article considers the history of electroshock therapy as a history of medical technology, professional cooperation and business competition. A variation of a history from below is intended; though not from the patients' perspective (Porter, Theory Soc 14:175-198, 1985), but with a focus on electrodes, circuitry and patents. Such a 'material history' of electroshock therapy reveals that the technical make-up of electroshock devices and what they were used for was relative to the changing interests of physicians, industrial companies and mental health politics; it makes an intriguing case for the Social Construction of Technology theory (Bijker et al., The social construction of technological systems: new directions in the sociology and history of technology. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 1987).
Institut für Geschichte der Medizin und Ethik in der Medizin der Charité, Thielallee 71, 14195, Berlin, Germany. lara.rzesnitzek@charite.de.
Lara
L
Rzesnitzek
, Schmiedgasse 2, 86853, Langerringen, Germany.
Sascha
S
Lang
D004565:Electroconvulsive Therapy / Q000266:history*; D005060:Europe; D049673:History, 20th Century; D006801:Humans
History of psychiatry; National Socialism; convulsive therapy; history of electroconvulsive therapy; shock therapies