Dr William Sargant (1907–88) and the emergence of physical treatments in British psychiatry

Abstract

Dr William Walters Sargant stands out as a firm champion of physical treatments in 20th century British psychiatry. Some saw his ultra-physical approach as evidence of the progress that the speciality of psychiatry had made in moving on from its unscientific beginnings in the 19th century. Other psychiatrists, however, maintained that Sargant's practices were too ‘surgical’, immoral even. Sargant was a flag-bearer for the new treatment methods of insulin coma, electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), psychosurgery and intensive drug therapy. He rebutted the claims of clinicians who argued for a more psychologically or socially driven approach. Moreover, he advocated the eradication of memories from the mind by physical means rather than teasing them out by Freudian analysis.