March 28, 1938

Posted on March 28, 2014 by Joel Byers

On This Date in TWISTED-HISTORY.com! in 1938 in Italy, psychiatrists demonstrated the use of electric-shock therapy for treatment of certain mental illnesses. Unsurprisingly, deviant sexual activity and male homosexuality were two of the first mental illnesses that the medical profession decided to treat with this new technology. The Italian doctors decided the proper course of this medical procedure was to show the patients pictures of the acts they found sexually stimulating and then shock them until their erections went away. Unfortunately for the doctors, the patients treated in this manner did not give up their sinful ways, but instead would beg for an electro-shock to add the extra stimulus they now required. This is also the first time the medical profession was known to say, “If you find your erection lasting more than four hours, please seek additional medical help.”

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About Joel Byers

Born in North Georgia and educated at some very fine public institutions. Real education started after graduating from college and then getting married and raising two boys. Has the ability to see the funny and absurd in most things and will always remark on it, even if it means getting the stink-eye from his victims.
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