Electrotherapeutic cage

Electrotherapeutic cage
c1890-1910

Most sanatoria contained rooms full of the latest equipment needed for fashionable therapies. Electricity was particularly modish. The sanatorium at the Steinhof mental hospital had an electrotherapeutic cage very similar to this one. The patient would stand inside the cage, which was wrapped in current-carrying wire. The wire produced an electrical field, which would create strong currents within the patient’s body without causing discomfort. Doctors believed this increased the general metabolism and was particularly helpful in cases of hysteria.

Madness and Modernity