Cameron titled this procedure "intrapsychic" (a term derived from the psycho-somatic relationship of hospital patients). They also asked him for clarification about what happened to his father's personal papers and patient records, and he replied, "Well, I didn't destroy the documents. In other words, they really must have seen that there was something wrong and crazy. He served as president of the American Psychiatric Association , Canadian Psychiatric Association ,[2] American Psychopathological Association . And one of these risks was the treatment that he was using. Donald Hebb and Ewen Cameron were competitors; they did not collaborate, though Cameron incorporated Hebb's sensory isolation techniques into his own diabolical arsenal of psychiatry's instruments of torture. After one test he noted: "Although the patient was prepared by both prolonged sensory isolation (35 days) and by repeated depatterning, and although she received 101 days of positive driving, no favourable results were obtained." Ben: The study also said that these treatments, the de-patterning and psychic driving programs including LSD injections, induced comas, sensory deprivation and electroshock had a detrimental impact on patients memories, which, in retrospect, might have been part of the point. Ben: After Marians mom left the Allan, she struggled for the rest of her life to regain her sense of self and mental clarity. He wanted to know if it was possible to wipe a person's mind and reinstall a new personality. Research genealogy for donald ewen Cameron of Melbourne, Victoria, as well as other members of the Cameron family, on Ancestry. So why havent they? [22], During the 1950s and 1960s, Cameron became involved in what has later become known as the MKUltra mind control program, which was covertly sponsored by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)[6] and which eventually led to the publication of the KUBARK Counterintelligence Interrogation manual. Amory: Duncan also has an easy, quiet smile. Her life was sad. Amory: Duncan, one of the two lawyer sons, admits hes familiar with those 12 boxes of papers, and then explains what happened to them. While he didn't name names or give specifics, he did say that papers "related to patients were destroyed.". Amory: And I think you may have given a deposition for that. As time has worn on, its become the families of those victims who shoulder the burden. Ben: As for the CIAs MK-ULTRA program itself, it never had an official end date. There is no such thing as closure. Jim Turner: The most salient point that I recall is that Camerons son told us that he'd taken his father's private records and had destroyed them. The described types were the enemies of society and life. It was reported that none of the patients sent to the Radio Telemetry Lab showed any signs of improvement. We were unable to subscribe you to WBUR Today. [30][bettersourceneeded], In 1980, the Canadian investigative news program The Fifth Estate interviewed two former patients of Cameron's who were among several of his ex patients who were at that time suing the CIA for the long term effects of Cameron's treatment. As soon as his family found out about his death, they burned all the files that this man kept in his possession. Case of Gail Kastner: The shock treatment turned the then 19 year old honours student into a woman who sucked her thumb, talked like a baby, demanded to be fed from a bottle and urinated on the floor. At that point her affluent family abandoned her and she lived in poverty. The psychiatric community could have questioned his methods, but they remained silent. Both of her brothers were heavily into drugs by the age of 10 and dealt with serious mental illness throughout their lives. ", "Brainwashing's Avatar: The Curious Career of Dr. Ewen Cameron,". Peterborough County. In 1943, Cameron was invited to McGill University in Montreal by neurosurgeon Dr Wilder Penfield. They had 11 children: Allan Francis Cameron, John Donald Cameron and 9 other children. Amory: Were bringing you the last installment of our special series: Madness The secret mission for mind control and the people who paid the price. That's how quick it is because it removes your time and space. (McCoy, 2007), According to Leonard Rubenstein, an attorney for plaintiffs [Mrs. David Orlikow et al. [23][24] He is unrelated to another CIA psychiatrist, Alan S. Cameron, who helped pioneer psychological profiling of world leaders during the 1970s and was not associated with the behavioral modification research program. Genealogy profile for Major Donald of 4th Chief Clunes "Old '45" Cameron Major Cameron . [citation needed]. They were destroyed. In theory, he was supposed to help her anxiety, depression, and postpartum depression. [7], Donald Ewen Cameron was born in Bridge of Allan, Scotland, the oldest son of a Presbyterian minister. Amory: The answer might be in the idea of brainwashing itself. It has to do with another of his Adirondack hikes that changed the Cameron family forever. The goal, says CBC, was to reduce the patient to what was called a "childlike state," with some people destroyed so completely that they could no longer walk, talk, or dress themselves Shoelaces? His work had led him to the belief that mental illness could be "cured" like, say, a broken hip might be rehabilitated. John Marks: The Allan Memorial Institute under Cleghorn commissioned a study of his work, which is absolutely or almost absolutely unprecedented in the psychiatric field. The line between fantasy and reality blurred. Duncan: I have no recollection whether there were any papers relating to any of the--. Ben: OK. Fair. Sir Ewen Cameron of Lochiel, 17t. Although society had established sanctions against the spread of infectious diseases, Cameron wanted to extend the concept of contagion to chronic anxiety. Indian River. But none of us trained in psychiatry. Stephen Bennett: If I put one of you, either Ben or Amory, into prison for two, three years, you should be okay because you can have time and space. And, later on to guidebooks for what we now call enhanced interrogation at places like Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib. Amory: We definitely will. When then-CIA director Stansfield Turner testified about the program in 1977, he said (via the Smithsonian) that the bottom line was to develop "the use of biological and chemical materials in altering human behavior." In 2020, director Stephen Bennett released "Eminent Monsters," a film that examined the link between Cameron's work and the torture techniques used by organizations around the world, including the CIA. Ben: But do you even though you had nothing to do with it do you have any feelings of sadness about those folks and what they've gone through? He died of a heart attack while climbing a mountain in the Adirondacks in 1967. Old '45" Cameron Major Cameron (1663 - 1718) family tree on Geni, with over 230 million profiles of ancestors and living relatives. The transcript has been edited from our original script for clarity. Like in Nicaragua, where he was The New York Times Bureau Chief. He never got one. That was in December of 1959, and according to the lawsuit (via the Consumer Law Group), Cameron diagnosed Morrow as having "nervousness and tension." ", And what about the CIA, who had approved and funded the research in the first place? These experiments were typically carried out on patients who had entered the Institute for minor problems such as anxiety disorders and postnatal depression; many were permanently debilitated after these treatments. So what led the CIA to get onto this fantasy? Traces of some survived, including documentation on Sub-project 42 also known as Operation Midnight Climax and sub-project 68. And you see this actual physical manual on how to break down the human mind. with distinction from the University of Glasgow in 1936. Canada's McGill University has owned up to the part it played in MKUltra's Sub-project 68, and they say that it really started before Dr. Ewen Cameron even got involved. I'm sure part of him very much wanted to be the person who cures mental illness. Cameron stated, "Get it understood how dangerous these damaged, sick personalities are to ourselves and above all, to our children, whose traits are taking form and we shall find ways to put an end to them." Cameron began to explore how industrial conditions could satisfy the population through work and what kind of person or worker is best suited to industrial conditions. [25], Cameron had been hoping to correct schizophrenia by "erasing" existing memories and "reprogramming" the psyche. And Mary Morrow? The mentally ill were thus labelled as not only sick, but also weak. Those were right out. Ben: Hebb did an interview with a film producer in the 1980s, saying, quote, Cameron was irresponsible criminally stupid. You can see other fellow humans. 5, p. 2227) As a result of the lawsuit, the CIA agreed to pay $750,000, the maximum allowed under U.S. law, to settle a case without conceding liability. In fact, he might have enjoyed those more. Her family sued, first based on the treatment alone, then again, after discovering she was a part of the MKUltra program. She never did get her children back. [28] His work was inspired and paralleled by the psychiatrist William Sargant, who was also involved with the intelligence services and experimented extensively on his patients without their consent, causing similar long-term damage. Kinzer: Later on, it became the basis for manuals that the CIA provided in the 1980s to police forces in Latin America that were known to practice torture. Duncan: Not really, I certainly don't know anything about the treatments he was using, I didnt know anything about that. And here he is with me many years ago. The personality types are as follows: Cameron believed that a society in which psychiatry built and developed the institutions of government, schools, prisons and hospitals would be one in which science triumphed over the "sick" members of society. Family 9 - Donald CAMERON 34, wife Agnes 30, children John 18, Margaret 13, Ann 12, Donald 10, Christian 8, Alexander 6, Dugald 2, Duncan 1/2 (see Donald Cameron) Family 10 - Duncan CAMERON 30 unmarried, sister Mrs McLENNAN 28 and Catherine McLENNAN 5 She said that at the time, Cameron was something of a celebrity. And that seemed to us to be a highly questionable action for someone to take. Sign up and be the first to find out the latest news and articles about what's going on in the medical field. Advertisement. In the final installment ofMadness," we sit down with Duncan, and we explore the shocking ways his father's methods are still being used today. (laughter). He spoke about Germans, but also to the larger portion of the society that resembled or associated with such traits. The legacy can be seen in the torture techniques employed in Northern Ireland and in Guantanamo Bay. Cameron believed firmly in clinical psychiatry and a strict scientific method. My recollection was that I wasn't able to provide him with much information that he didn't already have. On March 12, her records show she was considered "depatterned": She could no longer stand, speak, could barely swallow, was incontinent, and required treatment by an obstetrician for severe bleeding. The National Post reports that in 1992, 77 of Cameron's patients were awarded an ex gratia settlement of $100,000, and that's all well and good, but claims made by more than 250 other people were rejected for various reasons. Donald Ewen Cameron was the key figure in the Montreal experiments. Montreal's CTV says that by the time she died in 2011, she had spent the last 20 years of her life as an "infant," unable to allow anyone near her head without a terrible reaction. She said: "She wasn't able to talk to me about life and regular stuff. Any documents that related to patient treatment were destroyed? [37], Whether or not Cameron was aware that funding for his experiments was coming from the CIA is unclear; it has been argued that he would have carried out the exact same experiments if funding had come from a source without ulterior motives. Amory: With the information we do have about Cameron, we know this: his so-called treatment didnt cure mental illness, and it didnt control peoples minds. Even as he wrote about Cameron's "warmth [which was] never allowed to appear as intimacy," he wrote about a pretty big blind spot: Cameron had apparently hired a few assistants with "psychopathic personalities.". Amory: Jim Turner was one of two prosecutors on the case. Jean Steel was another one of Cameron's patients, and like the others she didn't sign up to be a part of MKUltra, depatterning, or psychic driving at all. This must be very difficult, very complicated for them. Shes also signed on to the class-action lawsuit against McGill University, the Canadian government, and the CIA. Amory: Duncan knows how to be very careful about what he says. The described types would have to be eliminated from society if there was to be peace and progress. She was left with permanent impairments: She was unable to recognize faces, had impaired spatial recognition, and lost a good portion of her memory. The idea was turning the mind into a fresh slate for the next part of the process, called "psychic driving.". He promoted a philosophy where chaos could be prevented by removing the weak from society. He first solved the problem by wiring the speakers into football helmets and locking them onto patients' heads, but that ended up being not ideal. Ben: Did he have any favorite sayings or idiosyncrasies or things like that that you remember or that made an impression on you when you were younger? [citation needed] He furthermore wanted to understand the problems of memory caused by aging, believing that the aged brain experienced psychosis. Amory: He said he did not destroy documents, that he didn't know about that. Josh Crane Twitter Producer, Podcasts & New ProgramsJosh is a producer for podcasts and new programs at WBUR. Ewen passed away on month day 1915, at age 84 at death place. Cleghorn immediately went and took a long, hard look at what Cameron had actually been doing in his little corner of the university, and he was pretty shocked. Now, a recent court decision has. . Maybe the people responsible are waiting for all of us to forget. Husband of Marielene Schlumberger. Duncan: I mean, it's very different than the caricature that you sometimes read in the press. Hebb submitted his findings to the CIA, and it ended up being just the beginning. This third type needs, This page was last edited on 16 February 2023, at 19:10. She was admitted to McGill's Allan Memorial Institute in 1957, needing help dealing with depression and the loss of her child. His support of Charles Edward Stuart was instrumental in the Jacobite Rising of 1745 Lochiel and the Jacobite cause Amory: This is information that may have proven invaluable in holding Cameron, as well as McGill, the CIA, and the Canadian Government accountable for what happened at the Allan. Ben: Im Ben Brock Johnson, and youre listening to Endless Thread, the show featuring stories found in the vast ecosystem of online communities called Reddit. Two of my sons are lawyers and they say it isnt a good idea.. . Cameron viewed German society throughout history as continually giving rise to fearsome aggression. Allan Memorial Institute in 1957, needing help dealing with depression and loss! 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