Me at the Musée d’Histoire de la Médicine, photo by Ester: It has been a while since we went to the museum of the history of medicine, but there is one very interesting thing that stayed with me from there: the static electricity generator you see above. It is from the time when electrical shock therapy for severe mental illness was rather popular. But according to our tour guide, whom I believe was a doctor, but I didn’t catch her name, they believed that if a high amount of electricity could fix severe mental illness, then a small amount of electricity can fix minor mental illness, like minor depressive episodes and such… Well you have to respect the math skills of whom ever came up with that. Do you think a Van de Graaff generator will make it to the psychiatrist’s office as a treatment option anytime soon?
