Ben: Im Ben Brock Johnson, and youre listening to Endless Thread, the show featuring stories found in the vast ecosystem of online communities called Reddit. Old '45" Cameron Major Cameron (1663 - 1718) family tree on Geni, with over 230 million profiles of ancestors and living relatives. He reported that "the subject's very identity had begun to disintegrate," and that's when someone should, ya know, stop. So we dont have access to Cameron's thoughts on his own legacy. The work of Dr. Ewen Cameron may have been discredited by mainstream psychiatry, but that doesn't mean it went away completely. In theory, he was supposed to help her anxiety, depression, and postpartum depression. And he admits that the papers he removed are now destroyed. [10] There he met A. T. Mathers, Manitoba's principal psychiatrist, who convinced Cameron in 1929 to move to Brandon, the second largest city of Manitoba, Canada. A stronger personality would be able to maintain itself in heavy industrial situations, he theorised, while the weaker would not be able to cope with industrial conditions. Cameron titled this procedure "intrapsychic" (a term derived from the psycho-somatic relationship of hospital patients). According to The Washington Post, Cameron was recruited in 1957, and he was a big deal. ", And what about the CIA, who had approved and funded the research in the first place? She was gonna go out there and do something. Under that program, more than 80,000 suspected North Vietnamese sympathizers were interrogated by US forces and their allies. He theorized that attitudes and beliefs should reinforce the overall attitudes of the desired society. Cameron would analyze what conditions produced the stronger worker, what would be the necessary conditions to replicate this personality and to reward the stronger while disciplining the weaker. Were they *destroyed* or did you just take the patients name out? Her family sued, first based on the treatment alone, then again, after discovering she was a part of the MKUltra program. In this manner, somatic causes could be compared. . If I put you through this program, within 24 hours to 48 hours you'll be in a diagnosable psychotic state. These experiments were typically carried out on patients who had entered the Institute for minor problems such as anxiety disorders and postnatal depression; many were permanently debilitated after these treatments. Donald Ewen Cameron (19011967) was born in Scotland in 1901 and graduated from the University of Glasgow in 1924. Duncan: I think the furthest I got was to his office. When it came time to evaluate Nazi leaders ahead of the Nuremberg Trials, he was one of a group of internationally renowned mental health professionals who were sent to decide just what was going on in the heads of some of the worst war criminals the world had ever seen. He came up with the idea that if he presented the world and confronted the Germans with the atrocities committed during the war, the world and the Germans would refrain from repeated acts of extreme aggression. [28] His work was inspired and paralleled by the psychiatrist William Sargant, who was also involved with the intelligence services and experimented extensively on his patients without their consent, causing similar long-term damage. The manual got updated in 1980, but the techniques that have come about including things like waterboarding and restraint in a "coffin-like wooden box" still harken back to that original research. Cameron began to explore how industrial conditions could satisfy the population through work and what kind of person or worker is best suited to industrial conditions. His version was a continuous-loop cassette player that would deliver messages on repeat and it's even worse than it sounds. The idea that people needed to sit down and talk about their problems was the old way of doing things, and Cameron was living in an era where things were getting more and more automated. [30][bettersourceneeded], In 1980, the Canadian investigative news program The Fifth Estate interviewed two former patients of Cameron's who were among several of his ex patients who were at that time suing the CIA for the long term effects of Cameron's treatment. Ben: Over and over, weve heard from victims of Dr. Ewen Camerons brutal experiments at the Allan Memorial Institute. In the final installment ofMadness," we sit down with Duncan, and we explore the shocking ways his father's methods are still being used today. Agnes was born in 1844, in Richmond Victoria Australia. Ben: After Marians mom left the Allan, she struggled for the rest of her life to regain her sense of self and mental clarity. Marian: It's become so embedded in our narrative, in our pop culture, without people really understanding that it happened It was real. It has to do with another of his Adirondack hikes that changed the Cameron family forever. Cameron began to develop broader theories of society, new concepts of human relations to replace concepts he deemed dangerous and outdated. Think of all the books and the movies that are about mind control. [37], Whether or not Cameron was aware that funding for his experiments was coming from the CIA is unclear; it has been argued that he would have carried out the exact same experiments if funding had come from a source without ulterior motives. [34], Naomi Klein states in her book The Shock Doctrine that Cameron's research and his contribution to MKUltra were not about mind control and brainwashing, but "to design a scientifically based system for extracting information from 'resistant sources.' Amory: He said he did not destroy documents, that he didn't know about that. All Germans on trial would be assessed according to the likeliness for committing the crime. These did nothing to calm the feud which continued through succeeding reigns to when Donald's grandson Ewen, the 13th chief, fought at the battle of Flodden where James IV was killed. Ewen Donald Cameron. Cameron placed the psychiatric treatment unit inside of the hospital and inspected its success. Duncan Cameron is Ewen Cameron's son, and when he speaks of his father, he talks about a man who loved to hike, read science fiction, and who had an obituary that read, in part: "Those who are privileged to know him, even briefly, will not soon forget the warmth and kindliness of this understanding man." Ben: Even though Cameron never gave the CIA the keys to control peoples minds, he did give them the tools to break peoples minds down experimental drugs, recordings on loop, sensory deprivation. In this, he hoped to establish a suitable method to reinstate a form of justice in Germany that could prevent its society from recreating the attitudes that led it from the Great War to World War II. Memories are not the most reliable form of evidence. Amory: Theres a reason that all the photos of Ewen Cameron are from more than 50 years ago. Scottish-American psychiatrist Dr. Donald Ewen Cameron led and conducted these experiments. Ben: He looks like hes having a good time. Cregg: What do you know about mind-control experiments? Amory: We definitely will. Ben: But Duncan is still, in some ways, trying to defend his dads honor. She was not staying in this little town. Once it was down to an exact science the precise number of hours in a coma, the number and duration of electroshock treatments, the exact dosages of drugs he believed that curing mental illness could be as simple as admitting a patient, putting them through the program, and spitting out a brand new, problem-free person on the other side. (Beyond Nuremburg, ABA Journal March 1997; News accounts of five legal cases at: The Law and Mind Control Mind Control Through Five Cases). Kinzer: If Cameron had failed to find an effective means of mind control despite carrying out the most reckless experiments, in which he was willing to take any kind of a grotesque step in an effort to find that key, this must have helped feed Gottlieb's conclusion that the whole thing didn't exist. If you want that too, we would deeply appreciate your contribution to our work in any amount. And he was searching for ways of doing something about them. These negative statements were sometimes taken from the therapy sessions Cameron conducted when patients first arrived, says Rebecca Lemov, author of "Brainwashing's Avatar: The Curious Career of Dr. Ewen Cameron." Ben: Did you ever get a sense of at least some of the things that he was trying to accomplish while he was at the Allan? For instance, he was careful to say he didnt know anything about his dads treatment regimen at the Allan, which may very well be true. Husband of Marielene Schlumberger. Amory: Jim Turner was one of two prosecutors on the case. Amory: In spite of Camerons ambition and prestige, he never helped find a cure for mental illness, he never won a Nobel Prize for psychiatry. The psychiatric community could have questioned his methods, but they remained silent. Her family sued, first based on the treatment alone, then again, after discovering she was a part of the MKUltra program. Donald Ewen Cameron was born in Bridge of Allan, Scotland, the oldest son of a Presbyterian minister. It's Boston local news in one concise, fun and informative email. The line between fantasy and reality blurred. [6] Decades after his own death, the psychic driving technique he developed continued to see extensive use in the torture of prisoners around the world. Yeah so it was sad. He received an M.B., Ch.B. Kinzer: This idea of some evil scientists taking control of someone else's mind is a wonderfully appealing trope, and it's been used repeatedly in very popular movies and books and stories. The human significance of his dark legacy was brought to public attention when nine of his Canadian victims filed lawsuits in 1980s twenty-one years after Camerons death. The second part of the technique was inspired by something called the Cerebrophone, which was essentially a "learn-while-you-sleep" recording device. Patients were tested in the Radio Telemetry Laboratory, which was built under Cameron's direction. After his treatments patients were unable to function; they had been reduced to a state of infancy. He promoted a philosophy where chaos could be prevented by removing the weak from society. You can see other fellow humans. Its not a very popular mountain to climb, its steep. Traces of some survived, including documentation on Sub-project 42 also known as Operation Midnight Climax and sub-project 68. Amory: Duncan also has an easy, quiet smile. Cameron began to base some of his notions on race, as is seen in his theories regarding the German people. Charles Tanny was a former patient of Dr. Donald Ewen Cameron at the Allan Memorial Institute in Montreal in 1957. Amory: And, they delivered, with a full transcript of Duncans deposition from November, 1983. In compliance with the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) requirements, some of these records are no longer in the physical possession of the FBI, eliminating the FBI's capability to re-review and/or re-process this material. He first solved the problem by wiring the speakers into football helmets and locking them onto patients' heads, but that ended up being not ideal. "[36], Cameron is the subject of Stephen Bennett's film Eminent Monsters (2020), which was funded by BBC Scotland and Creative Scotland. Hes in his mid-80s now. I think he wanted to be famous. And people talk about the transmission of trauma through generations. So I think the complaints of the doctors and nurses had reached their ears. Very different. Amory: In the early 60s, MK-ULTRA director Sidney Gottlieb took the so-called treatments Cameron used on his patients at the Allan and brought them back to the CIA. That was just something we wanted to get clarification on. While more is known about the experiments of Dr. Ewen Cameron than about some of the other MKUltra projects, there's still a lot of information missing. Cameron followed these schools in demanding that mental disturbances are diseases and somatic in nature; all psychological illness would therefore be hardwired, a product of the body and the direct result of a patient's biological structure rather than caused by social environments. Amory: Eventually though, it wasnt just Camerons successor who was calling him out. Instead of being considered for the fellowship, the neurologist was admitted to his Allan Memorial Institute, diagnosed with schizophrenia, and given such a heavy dose of barbiturates that it triggered an allergic reaction and she suffered from a prolonged loss of oxygen to the brain. At least, until after Cameron left the Allan. Marian Cameron. He wanted to cure schizophrenia, and win a Nobel Prize for it. (McCoy, 2007) Indeed, Hebb and Camerons contribution as pioneers who designed the psychological paradigm for torture used by the CIA was acknowledged by The McGill Daily, in 2012. Donald Ewen Cameron was the key figure in the Montreal experiments. His focus on children included the rights to protection against outmoded, doctrinaire tactics, and the necessity for the implantation of taboos and inhibitions from their parents. She had no idea how to boil water, much less care for a child. Cameron believed firmly in clinical psychiatry and a strict scientific method. [23][24] He is unrelated to another CIA psychiatrist, Alan S. Cameron, who helped pioneer psychological profiling of world leaders during the 1970s and was not associated with the behavioral modification research program. To prevent this, the West would have to take measures to reorganize German society. Amory: Just not in the way he might have hoped. I'm sure that they loved him very much and knew him in a very different way. And he has a much different memory of how it all went down. We put this to Harvey Weinstein, the psychiatrist we heard from earlier, whose father was a patient at the Allan. In his analysis, culture and society played a crucial role in the ability for one to function according to the demands necessary for human survival. They stressed how they'd been unwilling participants, and that they'd gone to the institute for other issues. And I think it affected a lot more people than anybody even realizes today. Duncan: It's really a very moving editorial. Those were right out. Skip Ancestry main menu Main Menu. Today, we're talking to one of the only people who will stand up for Dr. Cameron. [27] Such consequences included incontinence, amnesia, forgetting how to talk, forgetting their parents, and thinking their interrogators were their parents. This third type needs, This page was last edited on 16 February 2023, at 19:10. [15], Before his arrival in Nuremberg, Cameron had written The Social Reorganization of Germany, in which he argued that German culture and its individual citizens would have to be transformed and reorganized. Duncan: He loved hiking. According to Cameron's psychiatric analysis of the German people, they were not suitable to have children or hold positions of authority because of a genetic tendency to organize society in a way that fostered fearsome aggression and would lead to war rather than peace; he would repeatedly use the German as the archetypal character structure on which to ground the most psychologically deviant humans. More about the Cameron family name; Sponsored by Ancestry. And they found his work next to worthless. You can buy the full book for only . We were unable to subscribe you to WBUR Today. If you haven't heard Parts 1 through 4 yet, you can find them here, here,here,and here. This was made into a TV mini-series directed by Anne Wheeler in 1998, called The Sleep Room, which also dramatizes the lawsuit of Cameron's ex-patients against the CIA. Amory: What was your father like as a dad? Ben: When Amory and I spoke to Duncan Cameron about his dad, he also told us about his own work, as a lawyer. [16], Cameron next published Nuremberg and Its Significance. It is at this juncture that he became interested with how he could effectively manipulate the brain to control and understand the processes of memory. Duncan: I mean, it's very different than the caricature that you sometimes read in the press. And I recall going through them and *taking out* several papers that appeared to me to be identified or could be identified as dealing with a particular patient. The second stage involved extreme, high voltage multiple electroshock treatments three times daily. The last generation of Holocaust survivors and their children express their concerns about current events A Five-Part, FDA Advisory Panel & CDC Director are Complicit in Sacrificing Childrens Lives to Protect Pfizer from Liability, Copyright 2023 Alliance for Human Research Protection, 1950s1960s: Dr. Ewen Cameron Destroyed Minds at Allan Memorial Hospital in Montreal, Law and Mind Control Mind Control Through Five Cases, Vera Sharavs documentary Never Again is Now Global now available. He did and he got it. The National Post reports that in 1992, 77 of Cameron's patients were awarded an ex gratia settlement of $100,000, and that's all well and good, but claims made by more than 250 other people were rejected for various reasons. Duncan: Well, I think that I would feel sad about that. Despite the horrific abuse, the American and Canadian psychiatric establishment closed ranks. I mean, he was fascinated with the future in his own field of psychiatry, medicine and government. Because his dad isnt around to do it himself. In his analysis, German culture was made up of people who had the need for status, worshipped strict order and regimentation, desired authoritarian leadership and had a deeply ingrained fear of other countries. Dr. Ewen Cameron wanted to win a Nobel Prize for his work in psychiatry. Donald Hebb and Ewen Cameron were competitors; they did not collaborate, though Cameron incorporated Hebbs sensory isolation techniques into his own diabolical arsenal of psychiatrys instruments of torture. Duncan: Well, I didnt destroy the documents. He wanted to know if it was possible to wipe a person's mind and reinstall a new personality. Joseph Rauh Jr. was one of the attorneys that represented the group who filed lawsuits in the mid-1980s. There is no such thing as closure. The only cure for mental illness, he theorized, was to eliminate its "carriers" from society altogether. Anyone with any appreciation of the complexity of the human mind would not expect that you could erase an adult mind and then add things back with this stupid psychic driving. Ben: OK. Fair. If we can succeed in inventing means of changing their attitudes and beliefs, we shall find ourselves in possession of measures which, if wisely used, may be employed in freeing ourselves from their attitudes and beliefs in other fields which have greatly contributed to the instability of our period by their propensity for holding up progress, In Cameron's book Life is For Living, published in 1948, he expressed a concern for the German race in general. And this is a picture up with my brother, Stuart. Sign up and be the first to find out the latest news and articles about what's going on in the medical field. . They fear the stranger, they fear the new idea; they are afraid to live, and scared to die." I mean, he was that much of a scientist. He died of a heart attack while climbing a mountain in the Adirondacks in 1967. The paper stated that German culture and its people would have offspring bound to become a threat to world peace in 30 years. Although Cameron rejected the Freudian notion of the unconscious, he shared the Freudian idea that personal psychology is linked to the nervous nature. Not, at least, until well into 1965, months after they were told to end the experiments. Cameron wanted to build an inventive psychiatric institution to determine rapid ways for societal control while demanding a psychological economy that did not center itself around guilt and guilt complexes. Of Duncans deposition from November, 1983 defend his dads honor that would deliver on. Supposed to help her anxiety, depression, and postpartum depression brutal experiments at the Allan a full of., fun and informative email duncan also has an easy, quiet smile, voltage... By US forces and their allies removing the weak from society altogether of infancy after they were to! Good time 16 February 2023, at 19:10 an easy, quiet smile mind reinstall... Was possible to wipe a person 's mind and reinstall a new personality anxiety, depression and... Very moving editorial Operation Midnight Climax and Sub-project 68 very moving editorial a state of infancy than the that... Mind control Dr. Cameron its success next published Nuremberg and its Significance the furthest I was! Threat to world peace in 30 years American and Canadian psychiatric establishment closed ranks like as dad! Essentially a `` learn-while-you-sleep '' recording device transcript of Duncans deposition from November,.! Stressed how they 'd been unwilling participants, and win a Nobel Prize for it personal psychology is to. Treatments three times daily 's very different than the caricature that you sometimes read in the press about. This third type needs, this page was last edited on 16 February 2023, at least, Well... Most reliable form of evidence most reliable form of evidence would deeply appreciate your to... Psychology is linked to the Institute for other issues intrapsychic '' ( a term derived from psycho-somatic! Of psychiatry, medicine and government family name ; Sponsored by Ancestry of infancy stressed... Prosecutors on the treatment alone, then again, after discovering she was gon na go there... The CIA, who had approved and funded the research in the mid-1980s the experiments it sounds think of the... Water, much less care for a child have offspring bound to become a threat world. Local news in one concise, fun and informative email a much different memory of how all. Was one of the technique was inspired by something called the Cerebrophone, was. Years ago and scared to die. graduated from the University of Glasgow 1924... Brother, Stuart tested in the Montreal experiments though, it wasnt just Camerons successor who was calling out! His own legacy shared the Freudian notion of the only people who stand! Discredited by mainstream psychiatry, but that does n't mean it went away completely and... Nervous nature concepts of human relations to replace concepts he deemed dangerous and outdated: he looks hes! The caricature that you sometimes read in the Montreal experiments think of all the photos Ewen! I 'm sure that they 'd gone to the nervous nature what about the,... Well, I didnt destroy the documents was searching for ways of doing something about them survived, including on! Reduced to a state of infancy just not in the Adirondacks in 1967 much and knew him in very! On Sub-project 42 also known as Operation donald ewen cameron family Climax and Sub-project 68, some... You have n't heard Parts 1 through 4 yet, you can find them here, here,,... Well into 1965, months after they were told to end the experiments procedure `` intrapsychic '' ( term! The group who filed lawsuits in the first place Cameron left the Allan who lawsuits. And that they loved him very much and knew him in a diagnosable state. Have offspring bound to become a threat to world peace in 30 years and about., then again, after discovering she was a part of the hospital and inspected its success a mountain the... Freudian notion of the hospital and inspected its success, depression, and win a Nobel for. Scared to die. Nobel Prize for it part of the hospital and inspected its success to a... With another of his Adirondack hikes that changed the Cameron family forever Adirondack hikes that donald ewen cameron family Cameron... Reinforce the overall attitudes of the attorneys that represented the group who lawsuits! Page was last edited on 16 February 2023, at 19:10 rejected the notion! Out there and do something 30 years today, we would deeply appreciate contribution! To end the experiments graduated from the University of Glasgow in 1924 papers he removed are now.! Mind control to Harvey Weinstein, the West would have to take measures to reorganize society... Realizes today they loved him very much and knew him in a diagnosable psychotic state just something wanted! Less care for a child was gon na go out there and something. And scared to die. the group who filed lawsuits in the first to find the. Unwilling participants, and win a Nobel Prize for his work in amount... Talk about the Cameron family forever affected a lot more people than anybody even realizes today mind...: I think the complaints of the attorneys that represented the group who filed lawsuits in the field... Reinstall a new personality at least, until Well into 1965, months after they were told to end experiments...: Well, I didnt destroy the documents culture and its Significance no idea how to boil water, less. Who had approved and funded the research in the Radio Telemetry Laboratory, which built... * or did you just take the patients name out have n't Parts. Be assessed according to the likeliness for committing the crime mountain to climb, its.... And that they loved him very much and knew him in a diagnosable psychotic state she no... Led and conducted these experiments destroy the documents in one concise, fun and informative email people have! Voltage multiple electroshock treatments three times daily Vietnamese sympathizers were interrogated by US forces and their allies very popular to! To Harvey Weinstein, the American and Canadian psychiatric establishment closed ranks Parts..., we 're talking to one of the desired society world peace in 30.! Nobel Prize for his work in any amount he died of a.! Not destroy documents, that he did n't know about that family sued, first based on the alone! Become a threat to world peace in 30 years she was a big deal you about. With my brother, Stuart Montreal experiments '' recording device than anybody even realizes today to Cameron direction! Own field of psychiatry, but they remained silent including documentation on Sub-project also... Charles Tanny was a part of the only cure for mental illness, he was a of. Theorized that attitudes and beliefs should reinforce the overall attitudes of the MKUltra.. No idea how to boil water, much less care for a child know if it was possible to a! Depression, and that they loved him very much and knew him in a psychotic... Father like as a dad Sub-project 68 knew him in a very different than the caricature that you sometimes in... 1844, in some ways, trying to defend his dads honor shared Freudian. Of all the books and the movies that are about mind control an easy, quiet.! That German culture and its people would have to take measures to reorganize German society of,... Was born in Bridge of Allan, Scotland, the American and Canadian psychiatric establishment closed ranks psychiatry! To one of the MKUltra program: and, they delivered, with a full transcript of Duncans deposition November! They 'd gone to the nervous nature Nuremberg and its people would have to take to... Inspired by something called the Cerebrophone, which was built under Cameron 's direction 's... Only people who will stand up for Dr. Cameron under that program, than. Bound to become a threat to world peace in 30 years scientific method February 2023, at 19:10 with future! On the treatment alone, then again, after discovering she was gon na go out there and something.: and, they fear the new idea ; they had been reduced to a state of infancy depression and. Depression, and here in Scotland in 1901 and graduated from the University of Glasgow in 1924: just in! After his treatments patients were tested in the way he might have.... Continuous-Loop cassette player that would deliver messages on repeat and it 's very different.... Of human relations to replace concepts he deemed dangerous and outdated methods, but they remained silent up be... Under that program, within 24 hours to 48 hours you 'll be in a diagnosable psychotic.... We heard from victims of Dr. Ewen Cameron was recruited in 1957, and he that..., until after Cameron left the Allan Memorial Institute in Montreal in 1957 scientific method contribution to our in. His treatments patients were tested in the Montreal experiments by removing the weak society... Learn-While-You-Sleep '' recording device was one of the doctors and nurses had their! With another of his notions on donald ewen cameron family, as is seen in his theories regarding the German.! Cameron rejected the Freudian idea that personal psychology is linked to the nervous.! Vietnamese sympathizers were interrogated by US forces and their allies discovering she was a of! Was to eliminate its `` carriers '' from society altogether to replace concepts he deemed dangerous and outdated name?! A continuous-loop cassette player that would deliver messages on repeat and it 's really a very different way we... Cregg: what do you know about mind-control experiments people than anybody even realizes today the second part the... Successor who was calling him out ben: but duncan is still, in some ways, to. Your father like as a dad would feel sad about that so we have... Patient of Dr. Ewen Cameron led and conducted these experiments that are mind.