Continuous baths and “packs” (wrapping patients in damp linen cloths) were the standard therapies for the mentally ill. Cardiazol shock therapy was added in 1932, insulin shock therapy in 1934, and electroconvulsive therapy in 1937. The concepts for a more “active” and aggressive form of therapy came from the same doctors who weeded out the incurable.

For the patients, electroconvulsive therapy was a cruel procedure. One nurse reports: “Real dramas took place. The patients had to be lifted off the bed by four nurses, whom they clawed at with all their might. They were led, one by one, into a room to be given shock treatment. A nurse held the mouth gag to prevent the tongue from being bitten; a doctor standing in front of the patient applied the anodes.”

The need to save money resulted in the “halving decree” in 1937. Psychiatric institutions were entitled to only half the cost rates of general hospitals.

The neuroleptic therapy common today was not available until 1953. Psychotherapeutic treatment methods were rejected by German psychiatrists.