Injecting sodium amytal into a patient's arm, Mill Hill Emergency Hospital, The Ridgeway, Mill Hill, Barnet, Greater London
A doctor, observed by a nurse and sister, injecting sodium amytal into a patient's arm. Sodium amytal was used in Word War Two for the treatment of 'hysteria'. It has sedative-hypnotic properties that were used to calm patients down. It is one of a type of drug also known for their use a 'truth serums', because of the relaxed state they induce in patients. What at the start of World War Two was called hysteria, shell shock or war neurosis was later described using the term 'combat fatigue', as the rate of soldiers having breakdowns became alarming. Today this condition would be called Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
Location
Greater London BarnetPeriod
World War Two (1939 - 1945)Themes
