Evening star., 1941-05-05
Electric Treatment
Used for She'll Shock
In German Army
Hungarian Doctor Tells
Psychiutrie Meeting
OF Cures Obtained
BY THOMAS r. HENRY,
Star staff Correspondent.

RICHMOND, Va, May 5.-A
method by which thousands OF
shell-shocked German soldiers were
cured in a few minutes was de-
srribed to the American Psychiatric
Association here by a hungarian
Army doctor who is placing all his
information at the service of his
adopted country.
He is DR.. Sander Rado, now a
prominent Chicago psychiatrist,
When the tide of battle was turning
against the Central Powers in 1918,
thousands of men were brought to
the hospitals at the rear suffering
from a strange condition in which
they could not walk and could not
use their hands because of extreme
tremorS
The history in most cases was the
same The victims had been in a
trench bombardment, and in many
cases had been knocked senseless
and buried for some time under earth
or debris before being found by res
cuing parties. Usually they reached
the hospitals at the rear weeks or
even months later All that could
be done was discharged them from
the army. They usually regained
the use of their limbs in a few
months in their own homes.
Electric. Shock Given.
Tho t,,rojpr oo;rt oo,oo Dr Dada
said, when German psychiatrist,
DR.. Kaufman, devised an electric
shock treatment in which electrodes
were placed in the hands of pa
tient and a stiff Shock-but not suf-
flcient to produce unconsciousness-
sent through his BODY. This was
preceded for several days by fifth
column technique" Attendants at
the hospital circulated rumors of a
wonderful new cure which had just
been discovered and care was taken
that these rumors reached the pros
pective patients. At the same time
they were guaranteed four months
leave from military service.
The average time required to cure
a case, DR.. Rado said. was seven
minutes. The condition was some
thing deeper than a unconscious
pretenSe to get out of the front
lines, he believes, and claims it
should be given serious conSidera-
ton in American military medicine.
For several minutes before a SOL
dier was actually knocked uncon-
scious, he said, there had been
intense fear, The mans legs threat
ened to cave in under him and he
wanted to turn and run. Military
discipline prevented this. He gritted
his teeth and stood firm. Then
the period of Inconsistencies came,
creating a chaSm with the past
When he came to his sub-con-
scious nervous system proceeded to
live through again and again the
experience of those terrible few
minutes-but with the inhibitions
of discipline removed. The soldier
felt internally the same fear he had
felt during the bombardment.
Screamed in Waking Trance.
This was a very prevalent exam
pie, DR.. Rado said, of a condition
which became very dramatic in a
few cases he witnessed in the Ger
man Army. One was that of
young lieutenant who had been
knocked unconscious and covered
with earth for a few hours.
Every night at about the same
hour he would utter a scream which
would sound through the entire
hospital and, DR.. Rado says, was
the most frightful sound he ever
heard. When orderlies rushed to
the mans bedside they would find
him sitting up, his eyes wide open,
trembling violently. He was living
through the whole experience. He
had screamed in just that way. it
was ascertained, when the blow
had fallen.
Now, says DR.. Rado, it was not
a dream The man was not asleep,
but in a waking trance state hith-
erto undescribed in medical litera-
ture. All efforts to break through
the walls of this trance proved
futile. Finally the man had to be
removed from the hospital in order
to keep anybody else there.
These strange fugues seem to be
largely restricted to war experiences,
he believes. When thoroughly awake
the man had no conception of what
had happened.