What is Insulin Coma Therapy (ICT)?
The hormone insulin was discovered in 1922. It was quickly tested in patients suffering with illnesses for which no treatment was known. In Berlin, between 1928 and 1931, Dr. Manfred Sakel used insulin to reduce the anxiety, nervousness, tremors, vomiting, weight loss, and agitation of patients undergoing opiate withdrawal. With insulin, they became calm, gained weight, and were much more cooperative. At times, when the dose of insulin was high, the patient went into stupor. After such events, the patients were less argumentative, less hostile, and less aggressive. Sakel moved to the University of Vienna, and was assigned to treat patients with schizophrenia, an illness for which no effective treatment was known. He tested the benefits of insulin, reporting that when the patients developed stupor or coma, they lost their psychotic thoughts. His experience was reported to the Vienna Medical Society in January 1933, and by May 1936, favorable reports of the benefits of ICT in schizophren
