CRIPPLE WALKS

Greymouth Evening Star, 10 May 1945, Page 4

CRIPPLE WALKS

GIRL CURED BY DRUG.

SYDNEY, March 20,

A 21-year-old Sydney girl who has been crippled for eight months walked perfectly after she had' been drugged with pentothol and psychoanalysed at Prince Alfred Hospital last week. This is believed to be the first time in Australia that pentothol has been used for a case of this type. Pentothol can be used as a deep surgical anaesthetic, or it can be given in a quantity which produces a condition similar to hypnosis. A small dose removes the patient’s inhibitions. The patient is coherent, answers questions honestly, and moves on instruction.

In a semi-darkened room in the psychiatry block.at Prince Alfred Hospital psychiatrists, resident doctors, and students watched the psychoanalysis of the-crippled girl. Eight months previously muscles in her legs had contracted, her legs, had become locked together, and she had not walked since. Doctors had been unable to obtain , any information from her to explain this condition. The girl was given a small injection of pentothal in a vein in her elbow. It took effect in a few seconds. Questioned by the osychiatrist, the girl revealed that'eight months ago she had been criminally assaulted. Her psychological reaction to this caused her inability to walk. The doctors assured her that she could walk if she wanted to, and she need worry no more. The girl then got up from her chair and walked normally. When the effects of the pentothal had gone she could still walk normally. The analysis lasted 20 minutes.