There have always been a range of treatments for
mental illness. Evidence exists of ancient trepanning,
and through the ages other techniques have been used
such as blood letting, exorcism, confinement, dietary
interventions, environmental interventions, talking
therapies of various modalities, industrial therapies,
insulin comas, and ice baths among many others. In
the past the view was held that physicians were people
of such sober judgement and fine knowledge that ‘all
remedies whatever are at the disposal of practitioners
to reject or employ them under the sole guidance of
their own judgment’. But in more recent times, for
reasons of efficacy and economics, there has been
greater concern with using treatments for which there
is the best evidence of a positive outcome.