Decline
Insulin coma therapy was used in most hospitals in the United States and the United Kingdom during the 1940s and 1950s, but the numbers of patients were restricted by the requirement for intensive medical and nursing supervision and the length of time it took to complete a course of treatment. For example at one typical large British psychiatric hospital, Severalls Hospital in Essex, insulin coma treatment was given to 39 patients in 1956. The same year 18 patients received modified insulin treatment, whilst 432 patients were given electroconvulsive treatment.
In 1953 British psychiatrist Harold Bourne published a paper entitled "The insulin myth" in the Lancet, in which he argued that there was no sound basis for believing that insulin coma therapy counteracted the schizophrenic process in a specific way. If treatment worked, he said, it was because patients were chosen for their good prognosis and were given special treatment: "insulin patients tend to be an elite group sharing common privileges and perils".
In 1957, when insulin coma treatment use was already declining, the Lancet published the results of a randomized, controlled trial where patients were either given insulin coma treatment or identical treatment but with unconsciousness produced by barbiturates. There was no difference in outcome between the groups and the authors concluded that, whatever the benefits of the coma regime, insulin was not the specific therapeutic agent.
Read more about this topic: Insulin Shock Therapy
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