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Only time can prove the value of insulin shock treatment. Most patients remain sane afterwards for at least a year; others, who show no good effects immediately after treatment, may take several months to "ripen" into sanity. Best results occur in young patients, between the ages of 17 and 25. But more stable is the sanity won by persons of more mature age, who do not have to contend again with the psychic hazards of adolescence. For schizophrenia victims who have been ill more than six months, there is little hope, although obstreperous patients may become gentler, more obedient after treatment. Quick treatment is important after symptoms emerge.
That insulin is a magic key to sanity, no psychiatrist believes. Says Dr. James Aloysius Flaherty, Dr. Strecker's young assistant: "It is carelessly gambling with a recovery hard-won to send a patient home without making real effort to stabilize the environment to which he must return or to exercise as many safeguarding precautions in planning his immediate course of action as are reasonably possible." Some doctors even press social responsibilities upon their patients in between injections, encourage them to work and play with other patients.
Theory. How "convulsant therapy" works, nobody knows. A score of theories have been offered, both physiological and strictly psychological. Boldest: 1) certain poisons invade the brain cells, cause schizophrenia, and shock treatment helps the body to combat these poisons; 2) the terrible fear of death caused by shock treatment inspires despairing schizophrenics to turn back to life.