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In the Sleep Room: The Story of the CIA Brainwashing Experiments in Canada

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In the 1950s and early 1960s, the director of Montreal's Allen Memorial Institute, Dr. Ewen Cameron, exposed his patients to treatment methods now considered barbaric. Attempting to wipe brains clean of "undesirable" behavior and reprogram new behavior, he kept patients in chemical sleep for weeks and months at a time, while they listened to tape recorded messages that repeated endlessly. Furthermore, he exposed them to massive amounts of electroshock that resulted in brain damage in some recipients.

"In the Sleep Room: The Story of the CIA Brainwashing Experiments in Canada," by Anne Collins, details some of the stories of Dr. Cameron's patients and how, more recently, they sued the CIA because it partially funded his work. Cameron's work in "psychic driving" (the term he used to call his process) caught the interest of the CIA and it secretly funded the program for a few years. However, Cameron continued his work after this funding stopped. Because it was the CIA that provided some of the money for these experiments, it caused a stir in Canada, regardless of the fact that the Canadian government funded Cameron before, during, and after the CIA chipped in.

"In the Sleep Room" provided a sketch of who Ewen Cameron was and what his ambitions were. I did not find the book overly critical of Cameron or Psychiatry. Historical background was provided on Cameron's treatments, and overall, the book was balanced. This book provides a good starting point for those interested in learning about Dr. Cameron and his infamous treatments. It is also attractive reading for those interested in gaining some insight into the events that placed attention on the ethics of treatments and higher concern for the consent of treatment.

As I have already written regarding Naomi Klein's extraordinary exposure of Dr. Cameron's madness, I simply want to reiterate that my mother was one of Cameron's victims at the Allen Memorial Insitute. Once he got hold of her - she suffered from severe anxiety - he put her into an insulin coma which, along with many other shock and shocking treatments, destroyed her mind completely. The last 25 years of her life were utterly tortuous. My late husband was Cameron's resident, and the stories he told me, weeping, of what went on in the Institute, nearly broke me. No one could rescue my mother and no one could save a young doctor's career if he refused to do what Cameron wished. Once a patient was registered at the Institute, they were virtually imprisoned. Only through a complicated legal process could my father get her out.
I met this sociopath several times - his face so hard and cold, that I always recoiled. As a Canadian in self-imposed exile, and a graduate of McGill University myself, I feel deeply ashamed of my government and the Nazi tactics it followed, never having the decency nor backbone to say "NO" to the USA.

My distaste for my own country of origin has much to do with what has been written here in this fine book - though a little too fair for my sense of justice. How typical that Cameron never had to face his victims, nor suffer for his crimes.

I found this a good study of Dr. Ewen Cameron the man, though I was disappointed there was not even a photo of him in the hardcover edition I read. Intriguing exploration of the background to the Allan Memorial horrors too. Feels incomplete in its exploration of what actually happened -- i.e. not enough visceral detail -- and it left me hanging as to what happened with the various victims/patients and their lawsuits. (I know the Cdn govt. set up a fund while Kim Campbell was Justice minister for the victims, but was that all?

Good synopsis of psychiatric abuse in Canada, career of Ewan Cameron and the experiments at the Allan Memorial. Unfortunately not a very in-depth understanding of the historical context, which would mitigate some of the more sensationalist conclusions, and of psychiatry/psychiatric procedures. Written from a journalist's outsider perspective.