1940

Joseph Wortis, David Impastato, and Lauretta Bender pioneer ECT at Bellevue; over 8-year period beginning in 1942, Bender administered ECT to over 100 children in her Unit (PQ6), some as young as 4. Her goal was to use ECT to make the children more amenable to therapy and counseling. Criticism came in 1954 from researchers who interviewed parents who reported that that ECT had made things worse for their children; study implied Bender ignore the potentially catastrophic risks of ECT for children; it was borne out by interviews with the children themselves, who displayed anger, humiliation, and pain (which Bender never commented on) (Oshinsky, 230-237). Bellevue abandoned ECT for children in 1956 when Bender moved to Creedmoor State Hospital, where she began experimenting with LSD on children. Bellevue resumed ECT on limited basis in 2015. (234-237).