Buzz
Throughout the ages, medicine has provided us with immense benefits. Rarely do we wake up fearing deadly diseases like smallpox or the most dangerous strains of the flu. Diseases such as syphilis, once a guaranteed killer that could slowly consume the body and brain, are no longer a death sentence. A visit to the doctor and a simple round of antibiotics can cure it in a matter of weeks. Modern medicine has also made injuries and surgeries far less dangerous, with infections no longer posing the threat of death they once did.
Throughout history, strange, gruesome, and even terrifying medical practices have left us in disbelief. In ancient Rome, drinking gladiators' blood was believed to have healing properties. A few centuries ago, tobacco smoke enemas were thought to be a cure-all. But even in the 20th century, bizarre medical practices were still commonplace. Some of these barbaric treatments were not remnants of ancient history, but practices still performed by people who seemed perfectly sane at the time. From lobotomies to consuming radium, here are ten of the strangest medical treatments from the 1900s, with some even continuing into the 21st century.
10. Lobotomies
Arguably the most infamous strange medical procedure of the last century is the frontal lobotomy. Widely recognized as a mind-altering practice that offered little in terms of actual healing, the lobotomy had a fascinating and storied history and was remarkably popular during the 1900s. From a certain point of view, lobotomies were more effective than other available treatments, though they were ethically controversial. For those suffering from delusions and paranoia, a sedative, near-comatose state might have seemed like an acceptable trade. However, the procedure came with severe side effects like seizures and profound personality changes, and many who underwent lobotomies ended up in a state of extreme lethargy for the rest of their often shortened lives, with some patients rendered unable to speak or move.
What began as a complex procedure involving drilling a hole into the skull and injecting ethanol into the brain eventually devolved into a macabre spectacle with the advent of the ice pick lobotomy. One notorious lobotomist, Walter Freeman (pictured above), performed between 2,500 and 5,000 lobotomies on his own, including 25 in a single afternoon. He would line up patients on hospital beds and, in front of a crowd and cameras, perform the procedure on everyone in the room. Although its effects were extreme and led to complete mental dullness, lobotomies were, in a sense, replaced by modern medications that produce similar outcomes. The real question surrounding this bizarre procedure is whether an entirely dulled mental state is a preferable alternative to a condition of total psychosis.
9. Primal Therapy
The concept of primal therapy could easily be mistaken for something out of a surrealist artwork. It involves a patient, under the guidance of their psychiatrist, re-enacting or re-living a traumatic or significant event from their life, with the aim of expressing it in a healthier, more 'normal' way. And by 'normal,' we mean by screaming as loudly, angrily, and passionately as possible, which is why it's also known as 'primal scream therapy.' The goal is to experience and release raw emotions without needing the complexity of words—just scream.
Primal therapy challenges the norms of traditional psychotherapy, arguing that true healing comes from tapping into our deepest, rawest emotions. It’s a blend of therapy and artistic expression. Patients undergoing scream therapy are encouraged not only to scream at the top of their lungs, but also to engage in physical activities like punching bags or rolling on the floor to release pent-up feelings. This unconventional therapy gained popularity during the artistic movements of the 1960s and 1970s, though it has since lost its status as a widely accepted form of treatment.
8. Smash Therapy
For me, the Offspring’s 1994 hit album *Smash* is therapeutic on its own, but for most people, smash therapy is unrelated to 90s punk rock. Instead, it involves the act of literally breaking things. This practice is similar to primal therapy but adds a dose of pent-up rage. The concept is simple: take an angry individual, place them in front of various objects, and tell them to destroy everything in sight.
Smash therapy venues operate outside traditional medical systems and aren't typically found in clinical literature, but they're quickly becoming a trend in the United States and beyond. For example, Smashtherapy.ca describes their services with the line: “Some people just want to watch the world burn. While we can’t burn anything here (yet), we offer the next best thing: smashing stuff into tiny little pieces.”
Smash therapy establishments, also known as “anger rooms” or “rage rooms,” are all the rage these days. While they’re a popular outlet for frustration, it's doubtful they provide any lasting therapeutic benefits beyond the novelty and the fun that could easily be experienced in other ways.
7. Vin Mariani
Vin Mariani was a tonic wine, essentially a French red Bordeaux with a twist: it was infused with cocaine. Originally prescribed to men suffering from exhaustion, it became the precursor to modern energy drinks. First introduced in 1863, it remained popular into the 1900s as a stimulant for the nervous system, though it contained a notably high dose of cocaine.
The idea behind Vin Mariani was to drink two or three glasses a day to support a healthy nervous system. It probably tasted great and likely worked as intended, but with the serious side effects of drug addiction and alcoholism, calling it medicine is a stretch.
6. Methamphetamine
What many don’t realize is that methamphetamine is still classified as a prescription drug in the United States, and it can be prescribed and bought in pill form today. Dexosyn is actual meth. It’s a Schedule II drug in the U.S., meaning it has valid medical uses but comes with a high risk of abuse. Crystal meth, a much stronger version of the amphetamines that were available in the 1960s, was first developed and exploded in use during the 1980s.
While it might surprise you to learn that methamphetamine can be prescribed, it's important to recognize that there are certain serious diseases and disorders where such a powerful stimulant may be necessary, with the decision ultimately left to the patient and their doctor. At the same time, in a world where marijuana is often viewed as a harmful substance with no medicinal properties, this fact certainly seems rather peculiar.
5. Electric Belts
In hospitals and sanitariums during the early to mid-1900s, electric shock therapy was one of the most popular treatments. The idea was to stimulate the nervous system and brain when other treatments failed. Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is still in use today, though in much lighter forms compared to the intense shock therapy of its peak. However, ECT isn't the only bizarre form of electrocution used as medicine.
The most unusual method was probably the electric belt, which was essentially a wire wrapped around a man's genitals. The idea was to apply electric shocks in an attempt to cure erectile dysfunction, essentially 'reviving' the penis with a jolt of electricity!
4. Arsenic
Yes, you read that correctly. The next strange and unusual medical practice on our list is arsenic. Arsenic, a naturally occurring element with an atomic number of 33, is infamous for being a highly toxic poison. However, during much of the 1900s, people used it in efforts to cure numerous ailments, with syphilis being one of the most notable. Alongside mercury, arsenic was once considered one of the best defenses against syphilis, even though both substances could, ironically, prove fatal to the patients they were meant to treat. It wasn't until the 1940s that penicillin became widely available, and arsenic faded into disuse. Still, it was recommended for dermatological issues until the 1960s.
Interestingly, despite arsenic's failure as a cure for many conditions, it is now making a comeback in the realm of medicine. Modern research is exploring arsenic as a potential cancer treatment, showing some promising results as a targeted therapy for specific cancers, rather than as a topical poison for skin conditions.
3. Urine Therapy
The most bizarre medical practice of the 1900s, which still maintains a small following today and is even experiencing a slight resurgence, is urine therapy. One website dedicated to this practice describes it as follows:
For nearly the entire 20th century, hidden from the public eye, doctors and researchers have been discovering through both laboratory experiments and clinical trials that our own urine is an abundant source of essential nutrients, vitamins, hormones, enzymes, and vital antibodies that cannot be found elsewhere. It has been used to treat cancer, heart disease, allergies, autoimmune diseases, diabetes, asthma, infertility, infections, wounds, and more. Yet, we’ve been taught to believe urine is merely a toxic waste product. This contradiction between the medical truth and the public's understanding of urine is absurd and, as the reports you’ve just read illustrate, it could be a matter of life or death for you and your loved ones.
Of course, we don't actually subscribe to such ideas. There's no vast conspiracy to hide the benefits of urine therapy or to swindle you out of money—everything is fine. However, urine therapy did have significant support throughout the 1900s and has experienced periods of popularity and decline over the years.
Urine therapy is the practice of either applying one's own urine to the skin or consuming it in an effort to treat various health conditions. Despite its popularity, it is entirely unproven by scientific research.
2. Mercury
The early 1900s was an era of profit-driven experimentation, as evidenced by many of the items listed here, and the next example is no exception. Whether people were simply seeking financial gain or truly believed they were helping others is a subject of debate, but one thing is certain: some bizarre and obviously hazardous treatments were attempted.
Mercury is one of the deadliest substances known to humanity and wreaks havoc on anyone who comes into contact with it. Exposure to mercury can cause a range of symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, a metallic taste, seizures, death, coughing, hearing loss, and numerous other devastating effects. Yet, astonishingly, people still used it to treat a variety of conditions, from simple cuts to skin diseases, during the 20th century.
However, the most common use of mercury was as a treatment for syphilis. Of course, mercury has absolutely no effect on syphilis—unless it kills the patient before they can transmit the disease. That’s about all it does. Unfortunately, mercury caused immense suffering and claimed many lives during its time as one of the most toxic medical treatments in history.
1. Radioactive Juice
Radithor was the product's brand name, but in reality, it was just a marketing ploy for radioactive quackery in the form of radioactive water or juice. The early 1900s was a period rife with all sorts of quack treatments, from electrocution to the belief that anything radioactive could solve all of life’s problems. A Harvard dropout by the name of William Bailey was one of the first to fully embrace this particular brand of pseudoscience. Bailey not only believed that cancer could be cured by radiation but also recommended radioactive doses to treat conditions such as anemia and depression.
This belief was coupled with the idea that radium was the key to unlocking the healing properties of spring water, and that’s when the trend truly took off. People became convinced that liquids containing small amounts of radium could heal various ailments. In fact, some went so far as to purchase devices designed to ensure their radium was freshly infused into the water, as radium decays quickly in liquid.
Eben Byers took this idea to an extreme, consuming enormous amounts of Radithor. By the 1930s, his bones, especially his jaw, had nearly dissolved. Byers developed abscesses in his brain, holes in his skull, and eventually passed away on March 31, 1932. He was buried in a coffin lined with lead to contain the radiation.
