The influence of a biological therapy on physicians' narratives and interrogations: the case of general paralysis of the insane and malaria fever therapy, 1910-1950
Braslow, J.T.; Wagner von Jauregg, J.
Bulletin of the History of Medicine 70(4): 577-608
1996
ISSN/ISBN: 0007-5140 PMID: 9001111 Document Number: 469148
The use of malaria fever therapy in the treatment of general paralysis of the insane is examined under the headings: paresis, its nature and cause; Wagner von Jauregg and malaria fever therapy; technique, theory and justification; nonmedical constructions of neurosyphilis and fever therapy; Patton State Hospital; the premalarial era; the malaria era; quantitative descriptive results; alternative explanations. Malaria fever therapy was used by psychiatrists throughout the world between the 1920s and 1940s. The aim of this essay is to explore the ways in which this technology transformed physician's narratives and interrogations of their neurosyphilitic patients.