Robert Galbraith Heath (9 May 1915 - 24 September 1999) was an American psychiatrist. He followed the theory of biological psychiatry that organic defects were the sole source of mental illness, and that consequently mental problems were treatable by physical means. He published 360 papers and three books. One of his first papers is dated 1946.
Heath founded the Department of Psychiatry and Neurology at Tulane University, New Orleans, in 1949 and remained its chairman until 1980. He performed many experiments there involving electrical stimulation of the brain via surgically implanted electrodes. He placed DBS electrodes into the brains of more than 54 patients. People speculate the work was partially financed by the CIA and the US military.
Heath also experimented with the drug bulbocapnine to induce stupor, and LSD, using prisoners in the Louisiana State Penitentiary as experimental subjects. He worked on schizophrenia patients, which he regarded as an illness with a physical basis.
Video Robert Galbraith Heath
Gay conversion therapy and Patient B-19
Heath was experimenting in 1953 on inducing paroxysms (orgasms) onto human brains. During the course of his experiments in deep brain stimulation, Dr. Heath experimented with gay conversion therapy, and claimed to have successfully converted a homosexual patient, labeled in his paper as Patient B-19. The patient, who had been arrested for marijuanna possession, was implanted with electrodes into the septal region (associated with feelings of pleasure), and many other parts of his brain. The septal electrodes were then stimulated while he was shown heterosexual pornographic material. The patient was later encouraged to have intercourse with a prostitute recruited for the study. As a result, Heath claimed the patient was successfully converted to heterosexuality. This research would be deemed unethical today for a variety of reasons. The patient was recruited for the study while under legal duress, and further implications for the patient's well-being, including indications that electrode stimulation was addictive, were not considered.
Maps Robert Galbraith Heath
Published medical articles with Heath as a main contributor
- "Cerebellar stimulation in treating intractable behavior disorders" Curr Psychiatr Ther. 1981;20:329-36
- "The cerebellar pacemaker for intractable behavioral disorders and epilepsy: follow-up report." Biol Psychiatry. 1980 Apr;15(2):243-56.
- "A surgical technique for chronic electrode implantation in humans. Confin Neurol. 1962;22:223-7."
- "Intracranial self-stimulation in man." Science. 1963 Apr 26;140(3565):394-6.
See also
- José Manuel Rodriguez Delgado
- James Olds
- Wilder Penfield
- Taraxein
- Tulane University
- Unethical human experimentation in the United States
- Deep brain stimulation
Notes
External links
- Moan, Charles E. (1972). "Septal stimulation for the initiation of heterosexual behavior in a homosexual male". Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry. 3: 23-30. doi:10.1016/0005-7916(72)90029-8.
- "Pleasure and Brain activity in Man: deep and surface electroencephalograms during orgasm. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease. Volume 154 Number 1
- "The 1970s "gay-cure" experiments written out of scientific history"
Source of article : Wikipedia
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