Electroshock Treatment Record

This is the first document in the Arkham Sanitarium Project that I find genuinely disturbing. There's something deeply unsettling about the contrast between the neatly delineated rows and columns of a simple paper form and the physical violence of the procedure, even in it's most well meaning therapeutic incarnation.

It goes without saying that electroshock therapy (ECT) is controversial to this day, but I once again want to point out that H.P. Lovecraft's portrayal of Arkham Sanitarium was almost unfailingly positive. This particular piece of prop paperwork should be used sparingly unless you're going for the darker, grittier version of the sanitarium developed by later authors.

Electroshock was rare in the classic era of the 20's and 30's and highly experimental. Real research into the procedure wouldn't happen until the mid 30's, and it wouldn't see widespread adoption until the 50's. A treatment plan would begin with low voltages, the administered shock steadily increased until the patient went into convulsions. After that each session aimed to produce a seizure of at least 15 seconds duration and patients could undergo multiple treatments in a single day.

Voltages ranged from 70-450 volts, duration from .10 to .20 of a second.

You can download the full PDF from Google Documents over here.