WINNER of YOUNG WRITER'S COMPETITION

Abstract

William Walters Sargant (1907–1988) is credited, for better or for worse, with putting physicalist psychiatry on the map – at the expense of the dictum primum non nocere (first do no harm). He was an outspoken supporter and practitioner of what he termed the ‘practical rather than philosophical approaches’ to the treatment of mental illness. This paper examines Sargant's fascinating career, beginning with the reasons behind lifelong passion for radical psychiatry, then discusses the various physical treatments he pioneered and publicized during his three decades at St Thomas’ including prolonged electroconvulsive therapy, insulin coma therapy, dangerous combinations of antidepressants and, most notably, prefrontal leucotomy. His heady mix of dogma and charisma enabled him to get away with flying in the face of evidence-based medicine – but not without courting the considerable controversy and contempt that was to so blacken his reputation posthumously. This paper ends with comments on misguided and misplaced enthusiasm in the history of therapeutics, acknowledgement of Sargant's positive contributions to psychiatry and finally a reminder not to be tempted to pass post hoc judgement on the man or his legacy all too quickly.