Injecting sodium amytal into a patient's arm, Mill Hill Emergency Hospital, The Ridgeway, Mill Hill, Barnet, Greater London

Photograph taken 7 December 1942 © Source: Historic England Archive ref: med01_01_3475

A doctor, observed by a nurse and sister, injecting sodium amytal into a patient's arm. Sodium amytal was used in Word War Two for the treatment of 'hysteria'. It has sedative-hypnotic properties that were used to calm patients down. It is one of a type of drug also known for their use a 'truth serums', because of the relaxed state they induce in patients. What at the start of World War Two was called hysteria, shell shock or war neurosis was later described using the term 'combat fatigue', as the rate of soldiers having breakdowns became alarming. Today this condition would be called Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

Location

Greater London Barnet

Period

World War Two (1939 - 1945)

Themes

Bottles of dried plasma being packed together with the giving sets in special cases for transport to the Middle East or where needed. The outbreak of World War Two had prompted work investigating the division of blood into its constituent parts, because whole blood was difficult to transport to overseas battlefields. Plasma is the fluid in the blood containing proteins that help blood to clot. Liquid plasma, though more efficient to transport than whole blood, was similarly difficult to convey to battle and administer in the field. Dried plasma was introduced, with the benefits of stability, more economical storage and transportation, and ease of preparation. The “dried plasma sets” packed and despatched overseas consisted of a bottle of dried plasma, a tin box containing sterile giving set, and a bottle of sterile water. It took minutes for the dried plasma to be adequately dissolved in the water; concentrated plasma could be obtained by adding less distilled water.

Injecting sodium amytal into a patient's arm, Mill Hill Emergency Hospital, The Ridgeway, Mill Hill, Barnet, Greater London

Location

Period

Themes

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