Insulin Shock Therapy

Insulin shock therapy or insulin coma therapy (ICT) was a form of psychiatric treatment in which patients were repeatedly injected with large doses of insulin in order to produce daily comas over several weeks. It was introduced in 1933 by Polish-Austrian-American psychiatrist Manfred Sakel and used extensively in the 1940s and 1950s, mainly for schizophrenia, before falling out of favour and being replaced by neuroleptic drugs.

Insulin coma therapy and the convulsive therapies (electro and cardiazol/metrazol) were collectively known as shock therapy. Although insulin coma therapy had disappeared in the USA by the 1970s, it was still being used at that time in some countries, such as China and the Soviet Union.