The test The forgotten guinea pigs, by Sophie-Andrée Blondin and Lisa Ellenwood, explores the consequences of experiments carried out around the 1950s by psychiatrist Ewen Cameron in Montreal. Massive doses of LSD, forced sleep and a cocktail of barbiturates: the treatments he administered to his patients aimed to destructure their brain to make it similar to that of a baby, in order to then be able to “reprogram” it. Rather, they caused serious consequences for these people.
In an interview about his recently published book, Mme Blondin says she was guided by her desire to understand what leads scientists to commit ethical deviations. The famous Dr Cameron dreamed of curing mental illnesses, underlines the one who also hosts the science show Light yearson Radio-Canada radio.
In an attempt to quickly achieve this goal, this “monster of ambition and insensitivity” nevertheless came to administer extreme treatments to people who had not consented to it, explains the journalist. His patients admitted to psychiatry at the Allan Memorial Institute, on the south side of Mount Royal, were therefore entitled, among other things, to forced sleep treatments and sessions for listening to repetitive messages.
Rather than being treated, several people left this hospital with memory lapses, mood swings and loss of mental acuity. Some of these “guinea pigs” have never been able to take care of their families as they did before.
This story is already known. The podcast Brainwashed dhe CBC, whose French adaptation is hosted by Sophie-Andrée Blondin, reports on this dismal episode which took place in the metropolis. “But we noticed that there were lots of things that we had not explored in depth or told in the show,” she explains.
Climate of fear
Looking back on the past of the Allan Memorial Institute, Mr.me Blondin and Mme Ellenwood wanted to understand more about the context in which Dr.r Ewen Cameron took place.
At the time, the Cold War had plunged the United States into a climate of fear and paranoia. Convinced that the “communist enemy” had found the secret to brainwashing its adversaries, the CIA then attempted to develop methods of controlling the human mind.
She therefore set up the MK-ULTRA program, which extended to Canada, within the framework of which she financed “a vast network of dubious initiatives”, write the authors in their essay. Through a shell company, the American agency notably provided large sums to the Dr Cameron for his work at the Institute. “Did the psychiatrist know where the funds for his research came from? The question remains open, and will likely remain so,” say Mme Blondin and Mme Ellenwood.
The Canadian government also contributed financially to the work of Ewen Cameron.
According to Sophie-Andrée Blondin, this doctor was truly driven by the desire to heal people. By delving into the subject, she concluded in particular that, if he started “ quickly to push treatments to the extreme, this is among other things because psychiatry did not have at the time all the medications that we have today to relieve patients.
The journalist also emphasizes that these experiments were not carried out in secret. By consulting archives, the authors noted that the man did not hesitate to speak openly about it on the radio. “What I tried to do in the book is not to excuse it, but rather to try to understand and provide nuances,” says Mme Blonde.
Wounded families
The fact remains that entire families have been harmed by the passage of one of their loved ones to the Allan Memorial Institute, raises Sophie-Andrée Blondin. “These stories shocked me because they were a lot of women [qui étaient les cobayes du Dr Cameron]. »
Several of them had been admitted to this facility due to what today would be called postpartum depression. Some mothers emerged dysfunctional, unable to care for their children as before.
Sophie-Andrée Blondin mentions in particular the case of Velma Orlikow, who was the patient of Dr Cameron at this institute in 1956 and 1957. Among other things, she received 14 large doses of LSD, which each time caused episodes of disturbing hallucinations. Her daughter Leslie will grow up with a mother who, after her stay at the Institute, will struggle with significant mood swings.
Intergenerational suffering
Like several patients of Dr Cameron, M.me Orlikow therefore accidentally left a sad legacy to his descendants. In the essay, her granddaughter Sarah Anne Johnson describes realizing from childhood that her grandmother was different from everyone else. “If we were in a restaurant or a grocery store, and she was surprised by a smell, or a noise, she became feverish, angry, anxious, she started to scream,” relates Mme Johnson.
According to the journalist, testimonies like that of Sarah Anne Johnson prove that the history of Forgotten guinea pigs is indeed current. However, the patients of Dr Cameron has not received an apology from the Canadian government for what they endured in the Montreal establishment, she laments.
“And as long as there is no taking responsibility, it keeps us playing the film in a loop. It’s a story that is still unresolved,” she adds.