Donald Ewen Cameron: Psychiatry As Manipulation
There is a big contradiction around Donald Ewen Cameron’s name. On the one hand, he is remembered as one of the most important psychiatrists in history. He was neither more nor less than the first president of the World Psychiatric Association as well as the American Psychiatric Association and the Canadian Psychiatric Association.
On the other hand, he was also the protagonist of one of the darkest episodes in psychiatry. In many circles he is remembered as the “father of torture”. This nickname was given to him for having initiated some of the most barbaric thought experiments known to exist.
A group of people in Canada are currently encouraging review of the events in which Donald Ewen Cameron attended. Most are relatives of the victims of this psychiatrist. What they are looking for is that what happened is made fully public and, finally, that it is sanctioned historically and morally.
We invite you here to review the life of this psychiatrist. Find out which of his actions have been and continue to be heavily censored.
Who was Donald Ewen Cameron?
Donald Ewen Cameron was born in Bridge of Allen, a small town in Scotland, on December 24, 1901. He studied medicine at the University of Glasgow and graduated in 1924. He then majored in psychology.
In 1926, he emigrated to the United States thanks to a fellowship in psychiatry offered by the Phillips Clinic, based in Baltimore. He later practiced in various institutions in the United States, Canada and Europe, becoming a leading figure in the field of psychiatry.
Donald Ewen Cameron has produced several publications during these years, all academic and not proposing any major innovation. However, in 1937 he published a particularly striking article on epilepsy.
At the time, people with epilepsy were considered to be mentally ill. In his text, Cameron talks about treatments that he believes have resulted in improvements.
These treatments included practices aimed at completely dehydrating patients and infecting them with malaria. And this, in addition to the indiscriminate application of insulin, electroshocks and lobotomies. Cameron then put aside his purely academic texts to embark on a path full of controversies.
A CIA man
At the outbreak of World War II, the US OSS (Office of Strategic Services) recruited Donald Ewen Cameron. This organization is the forerunner of the CIA. In 1943, Cameron moved to Canada to establish the Department of Psychiatry at McGill University in Montreal. He also became the director of the Allan Memorial Institute.
In the latter institution, several macabre thought experiments were carried out between 1950 and 1965. They were headed by Donald Ewen Cameron, and most of these investigations were carried out underground and were largely funded by the CIA and the Canadian government.
Cameron implemented a brain “deprogramming” treatment. For development, they have relied on various mental health patients including children, women with postpartum depression and schizophrenics, among others.
The treatment consisted of three phases. In the first, a coma was induced for a period of up to three months or more. The second phase consisted of the application of electric shocks which caused severe amnesia. Finally, during the third phase, the patient was isolated in a cell where he was administered high doses of LSD.
At this point, the patient was ready to have his mind “reprogrammed”. Many of them behaved like babies, to the point of sucking their thumbs like young children do.
The treatment left the patients absolutely helpless and unable to make decisions. This is why Cameron is considered “the father of torture”. An unscrupulous man capable of pushing his research to the limit, leaving aside all ethics and morals.
A crime against humanity without consequences?
It is not known how many people in total were deprogrammed. In Canada, the number of victims is a minimum of 100, but the exact number is not known. Many patients who are victims of this harassment have died or never recovered and are therefore completely submissive.
The North American government is known to have compensated nine patients with permanent damage. In Canada, 77 victims received financial compensation for such torture and at least 12 other patients received extrajudicial compensation, but with non-disclosure clauses.
In May 2018, for the first time, the families of the victims met. Together, they decided to file a complaint against the Canadian government. Their main objective is for the state to publicly recognize its participation in these events. That he apologizes and pledges to prevent such a situation from happening again.
Meanwhile, Donald Ewen Cameron passed away in 1967, his prestige remaining intact. He died climbing a mountain. Upon the news of his death, his family burned all the files that this man kept in their possession.
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