Robert Galbraith Heath (May 9, 1915 – September 21, 1999) was an American

psychiatrist A psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in psychiatry, the branch of medicine devoted to the diagnosis, prevention, study, and treatment of mental disorders. Psychiatrists are physicians and evaluate patients to determine whether their ...

. He followed the theory of

biological psychiatry Biological psychiatry or biopsychiatry is an approach to psychiatry that aims to understand mental disorder in terms of the biological function of the nervous system. It is interdisciplinary in its approach and draws on sciences such as neuroscie ...

that organic defects were the sole source of mental illness, and that consequently mental problems were treatable by physical means. He published 425 papers and three books. One of his first papers is dated 1946. He was profiled as a "famous American psychiatrist" in 1983 by '' Psychiatric Annals''. Heath founded the Department of Psychiatry and Neurology at

Tulane University Tulane University, officially the Tulane University of Louisiana, is a private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by seven young medical doctors, it turned into a comprehensive pu ...

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

He performed many experiments there involving electrical stimulation of the brain via surgically implanted electrodes. He placed

deep brain stimulation Deep brain stimulation (DBS) is a neurosurgical procedure involving the placement of a medical device called a neurostimulator, which sends electrical impulses, through implanted electrodes, to specific targets in the brain (the brain nucle ...

(DBS) electrodes into the brains of more than 54 patients. Indeed, he has been cited as the first, or one of the first, researcher(s) to have placed electrodes deep into the brains of living human patients. It has been suggested that this work was financed in part by the government, particularly the

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...

or U.S. military. In 1972, he claimed to have

converted Conversion or convert may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * "Conversion" (''Doctor Who'' audio), an episode of the audio drama ''Cyberman'' * "Conversion" (''Stargate Atlantis''), an episode of the television series * "The Conversion" ...

a homosexual man to heterosexuality using DBS. Heath also experimented with the drug bulbocapnine to induce stupor, and LSD, using prisoners in the

Louisiana State Penitentiary The Louisiana State Penitentiary (known as Angola, and nicknamed the "Alcatraz of the South", "The Angola Plantation" and "The Farm"Sutton, Keith "Catfish".Out There: Angola angling. ''ESPN Outdoors''. May 31, 2006. Retrieved on August 25, 2010. ...

as experimental subjects. He worked on

schizophrenia Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by continuous or relapsing episodes of psychosis. Major symptoms include hallucinations (typically hearing voices), delusions, and disorganized thinking. Other symptoms include social wi ...

patients, which he regarded as an illness with a physical basis. Today Heath's work is considered highly controversial and is only rarely used as reference material.

Personal life

Heath was born on May 9, 1915 in

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Western Pennsylvania, the second-most populous city in Pennsyl ...

. He was encouraged by his father, who was a general medical practitioner, to enter the medical field as well. He received medical and

undergraduate education Undergraduate education is education conducted after secondary education and before postgraduate education. It typically includes all postsecondary programs up to the level of a bachelor's degree. For example, in the United States, an entry-le ...

from the

University of Pittsburgh The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a public state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The university is composed of 17 undergraduate and graduate schools and colleges at its urban Pittsburgh campus, home to the univers ...

, where he graduated in 1938. He became determined to find his career in neurology after his father died. He then trained in neurology at the Neurological Institute of New York, and became a fellow at

Pennsylvania Hospital Pennsylvania Hospital is a private, non-profit, 515-bed teaching hospital located in Center City Philadelphia and is part of the University of Pennsylvania Health System. Founded on May 11, 1751, by Benjamin Franklin and Dr. Thomas Bond, Pennsy ...

. During World War II, he was drafted into the U.S. Navy to work as a psychiatrist. After returning from the war, he studied at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, at Columbia University. Heath married and had five children. He died on September 21, 1999 in St. Petersburg, Florida at the age of 84.

Schizophrenia studies

Heath began electrical brain stimulation experiments on schizophrenia patients in 1950. In 1954, Heath published a monograph called "Studies in Schizophrenia" detailing his

experiments on 25 schizophrenic patients. The study's methodology was met with much criticism at the time. Some of the patients experienced

seizures An epileptic seizure, informally known as a seizure, is a period of symptoms due to abnormally excessive or synchronous neuronal activity in the brain. Outward effects vary from uncontrolled shaking movements involving much of the body with los ...

or fatal

brain abscess Brain abscess (or cerebral abscess) is an abscess caused by inflammation and collection of infected material, coming from local (ear infection, dental abscess, infection of paranasal sinuses, infection of the mastoid air cells of the temporal b ...

. In 1956, he published findings claiming the ability to induce symptoms of schizophrenia by injecting the blood of schizophrenia patients into the bodies of healthy patients. In particular, he claimed to have isolated a protein ('' taraxein'') that could induce this effect. His findings produced widespread attention, both within the scientific community and the general public. The scientific community tended towards skepticism of his claims, and attempts to replicate his findings ensued. However, these attempts to confirm his findings mostly failed. Psychiatry textbooks in the 1960s lent some credence to his claims, though this ceased to be the case by the 1970s and 1980s. Heath continued to defend his findings and theory of schizophrenia until at least 1996.

Gay conversion therapy

Heath was experimenting in 1953 on inducing paroxysms through brain stimulation. During the course of his experiments in deep brain stimulation, Heath experimented with gay conversion therapy, and claimed to have successfully converted a homosexual patient, labeled in his 1972 paper as Patient B-19. At the time, homosexuality was considered a psychiatric disorder under the DSM-II. The patient, who had been arrested for marijuana possession, was implanted with electrodes into the septal region (associated with feelings of pleasure), and many other parts of his brain. The septal electrodes were then stimulated while he was shown heterosexual pornographic material. The patient was later encouraged to have intercourse with a

sex worker A sex worker is a person who provides sex work, either on a regular or occasional basis. The term is used in reference to those who work in all areas of the sex industry.Oxford English Dictionary, "sex worker" According to one view, sex work i ...

recruited for the study. As a result, Heath claimed the patient was successfully converted to

heterosexuality Heterosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction or sexual behavior between people of the opposite sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, heterosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" ...

. This research would be deemed unethical today for a variety of reasons. The patient was recruited for the study while under legal duress, and further implications for the patient's well-being, including indications that electrode stimulation was addictive, were not considered. In 1973, his ethical conduct during these studies was questioned by a subcommittee of the

U.S. Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and powe ...

. Heath's experiment was also criticized by Fred Mettler, who was previously his mentor.

Cannabis studies

Heath conducted a study on two

rhesus macaque The rhesus macaque (''Macaca mulatta''), colloquially rhesus monkey, is a species of Old World monkey. There are between six and nine recognised subspecies that are split between two groups, the Chinese-derived and the Indian-derived. Generally b ...

s trained to smoke "the equivalent of one

marijuana cigarette A joint (), also commonly referred to as a "doobie" or "doob", is a rolled cannabis cigarette. Unlike commercial tobacco cigarettes, the user ordinarily hand-rolls joints with rolling papers, though in some cases they are machine-rol ...

a day, five days a week for six months" and concluded that cannabis causes permanent changes in the brain. Nonetheless, he supported cannabis decriminalization. He later conducted a

National Institutes of Health The National Institutes of Health, commonly referred to as NIH (with each letter pronounced individually), is the primary agency of the United States government The federal government of the United States (U.S. federal government or U ...

-funded study on 13 rhesus monkeys, with one rotating group representing "heavy smokers" whose cannabis dosage was believed to be comparable to three marijuana cigarettes smoked daily, a "moderate" group that was given the equivalent of one joint a day, and a third group that puffed inactive cannabis. He concluded, "Alcohol is a simple drug with a temporary effect. Marijuana is complex with a persisting effect." According to the BBC, "His findings of permanent brain damage have been dismissed by similar, independently conducted studies. But other scientists have argued these methods of animal research are inconclusive." According to

NORML The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML ) is a social welfare organization based in Washington, D.C., that advocates for the reform of marijuana laws in the United States regarding both medical and non-medical use. Acc ...

, Heath's "work was never replicated and has since been discredited by a pair of better controlled, much larger monkey studies, one by Dr. William Slikker of the National Center for Toxicological Research and the other by Charles Rebert and Gordon Pryor of SRI International."

Selected publications

*"Cerebellar stimulation in treating intractable behavior disorders" Curr Psychiatr Ther. 1981;20:329-36 *"The cerebellar pacemaker for intractable behavioral disorders and epilepsy: follow-up report." Biol Psychiatry. 1980 Apr;15(2):243-56. *"A surgical technique for chronic electrode implantation in humans. Confin Neurol. 1962;22:223-7." *"Intracranial self-stimulation in man." Science. 1963 Apr 26;140(3565):394-6.

Notes

External links

*
"Pleasure and Brain activity in Man: deep and surface electroencephalograms during orgasm. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease. Volume 154 Number 1

"The 1970s "gay-cure" experiments written out of scientific history"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Heath, Robert Galbraith 1915 births 1999 deaths 20th-century American physicians American psychiatrists Conversion therapy practitioners Mind control theorists Tulane University faculty Physicians from Louisiana