The Sleep Room
By Jon Stock

William Sargant, a prominent British psychiatrist from the 1930’s to 1970’s, was diametrically opposed to psychotherapy. Indeed, Sargant would seem to have had more in common with Mengele than Freud.

This nonfiction account details Sargants work with shock therapies, many of which were administered without the patient’s consent after being put in a barbiturate-induced sleep under the pretense of narcosis.

The treatments Sargant favored were acutely distressing for patients, particularly insulin shock therapy and hundreds of lobotomies. Many of his treatments were legitimate torture methods used by the Soviets during interrogations, like inducing seizures with cardiazol, presumably to treat schizophrenia. Later, his work would attract intelligence agencies like the CIA, especially for research in brainwashing and mind control for the now-infamous MK-Ultra campaign.

While the subject matter is extremely fascinating, I found the information to be quite densely packed. The language is rather dry and there doesn’t seem to be a cohesive through-line to the narrative, given the nonlinear retelling of events, which can be quite jarring. Details often become cumbersome and confusing as the text devolves into meandering tangents and side stories, many of which don’t include Sargant at all. Personal anecdotes from patients are interesting but feel to be at best tangential non sequiturs.

While I did learn a lot from this one, I hesitate to recommend it as a stand-alone read, unless you’re doing a research project on related material. Still, I’m glad I read it and am shocked, if you can forgive the pun, by the things I’ve learned.

Thank you to Abrams Press for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

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