[150 years of psychiatric therapy]

The treatment of insane persons in the last century is briefly described. A more liberal and unrestrained treatment was introduced at the turn of the century, and chiefly agriculturally oriented insane asylums were established at that time. The question of persons trained to care for subjects afflicted with insanity was increasingly gaining in importance, and the aim was to have available a pool of skilled nursing personnel. Treatment by inducing artificial fever is outlined in addition to a brief description of a more activ treatment of patients by the Simon-Gütersloh method. In 1925, a "neuro-psychiatric dispensary" was established in the Soviet Union. Later, there were introduced such methods as insulin shock treatment and electroconvulsive therapy and, more recently, treatment with psychopharmaceuticals, the latter being drugs used in the treatment of emotional disorders in modern psychiatric hospitals. Inpatient and outpatient treatment is further developed with the establishment of day/night hospitals, and the need is pointed out to develop a system of care for mental patients on the model of that which exists in the Soviet Union.