Manfred Sakel
A controversial medical pioneer who accidentally discovered that induced comas could temporarily calm the torment of severe mental illness.
1900–1957 (age 57)·Austrian-American neurophysiologist and psychiatrist·Birthday: June 6·The Lost Generation
Biography
Manfred Sakel was a Vienna-based physician focused on treating morphine addiction when he made an accidental, alarming observation. A diabetic patient who received an overdose of insulin slipped into a coma, and upon waking, showed markedly reduced withdrawal symptoms. Sakel wondered if this shock to the system could reset other troubled minds. He began deliberately inducing hypoglycemic comas in patients with schizophrenia, reporting dramatic, if often temporary, recoveries. His insulin shock therapy spread rapidly across the world in the 1930s and 40s, hailed as the first physical treatment for psychosis in an era of therapeutic despair. The procedure was dangerous and crude, with a significant mortality risk, but it represented a decisive turn away from pure custodial care toward aggressive biological intervention in psychiatry, paving the way for electroconvulsive therapy and later psychopharmacology.
The Lost Generation
1883–1900
Came of age during World War I. Disillusioned by the carnage, they rejected the certainties of the Victorian era and built modernism from the wreckage — in art, literature, and politics.
Manfred was born in 1900, placing them squarely in The Lost Generation. The events that shaped this generation — world wars, depression, and rapid industrialization — shaped the world they entered and the choices available to them.
#1 When Manfred Was Born
The biggest hits of 1900
Manfred's Life & Times
The world at every milestone
1900Born
Boxer Rebellion in China
President: William McKinley
1905Started school
Einstein publishes the theory of special relativity
President: Theodore Roosevelt
1913Became a teenager
The Federal Reserve is established
President: Woodrow Wilson
1916Could drive
The Battle of the Somme claims over a million casualties
President: Woodrow Wilson
1918Could vote
World War I ends; Spanish flu pandemic kills millions
President: Woodrow Wilson
1921Turned 21
First commercial radio broadcasts
President: Warren G. Harding"My Man" — Fanny Brice
1930Turned 30
Pluto discovered
Gas: $0.20/galHome: $3,510President: Herbert Hoover"Body and Soul" — Paul WhitemanBest Picture: All Quiet on the Western Front
1940Turned 40
The Blitz: Germany bombs London
Gas: $0.18/galHome: $2,938Min wage: $0.30/hrPresident: Franklin D. Roosevelt"I'll Never Smile Again" — Tommy DorseyBest Picture: Rebecca
1950Turned 50
Korean War begins
Gas: $0.27/galHome: $7,354Min wage: $0.75/hrPresident: Harry S. Truman"Goodnight Irene" — Gordon Jenkins & The WeaversBest Picture: All About Eve
1957Died at 57
Sputnik launches the Space Age
Gas: $0.31/galHome: $10,550Min wage: $1.00/hrPresident: Dwight D. Eisenhower"All Shook Up" — Elvis PresleyBest Picture: The Bridge on the River Kwai
Key Achievements
- Developed and introduced insulin shock therapy for schizophrenia in 1927, the first widely used somatic treatment for psychosis.
- Published his seminal work 'The Pharmacological Shock Treatment of Schizophrenia' in the 1930s, influencing global psychiatric practice.
- His work helped shift psychiatry toward investigating biological causes and treatments for mental disorders.
Did You Know?
He initially used insulin shock to treat morphine withdrawal symptoms before applying it to psychosis.
He fled Europe after the Nazi annexation of Austria and continued his work in the United States.
Insulin shock therapy was a standard treatment in many hospitals for over two decades before being superseded.
The treatment involved putting patients into daily comas for weeks, requiring intensive nursing care.
“The coma is not the cure, but a door to a mind that can be reached.”
