The history of therapeutic modes in psychiatry reveals a general pattern in the waxing and waning of specific somatic and psychotherapeutic treatment methods. New therapies are characteristically introduced amid tremendous enthusiasm accompanied by the reporting of remarkable cure and improvement results. In time, this initial enthusiasm declines and evaluation of results becomes increasingly conservative. Finally, the treatment is either rejected or is accepted into the general psychiatric armamentarium with decidedly more limited applicability than its early proponents claimed for it.Abstract Teaser