ELECTRIC SLEEP-PRODUCING DEVICES: AN EVALUATION USING EEG MONITORING
LAWRENCE W. WOODS M.D.1,
FRANCIS A. J. TYCE M.D.2, , and
REGINALD C. BICKFORD M.B.
1 From the Rochester State Hospital
2 From the Section of Physiology, Mayo Clinic and Mayo Foundation
When tested on normal subjects and patients with various psychiatric disorders, the electric "sleep-inducing" devices have been found to be ineffective from a practical standpoint, although behavioral observations and EEG monitoring have indicated the onset of normal drowsiness and sleep patterns in some subjects and patients. No clinically evident EEGdisturbances of a pattern attributed to injury have resulted from the use of the devices. There is some question whether currents of the magnitude employed would penetrate the cranium in sufficient intensity to produce the complex changes theorized in the Russian literature.
