Montreal experiments

The Montreal experiments were a series of experiments, initially aimed to treat schizophrenia^[1] by changing memories and erasing the patients' thoughts using the Scottish psychiatrist Donald Ewen Cameron's method of "psychic driving", ^[2] as well as drug-induced sleep, intensive electroconvulsive therapy, sensory deprivation and Thorazine. The experiments were conducted at the Allan Memorial Institute of McGill University between 1957 and 1964 by Cameron and funded by the CIA as part of Project MKUltra, which lasted until 1973 and was only revealed to the public in 1975.

The patients of this experiment expected positive changes from Cameron's treatment. However, these patients suffered severely under conditions that were not in accordance with human rights.^[3] Not only the patients but also their families show long lasting effects on their mental health. Some of these symptoms include retrograde amnesia as well as impairments in everyday life abilities such as self-care.

To this day, the topic of the experiments of Montreal has been kept in the dark by the CIA, who actively prevent information about these experiments from being leaked to the public, whether that be through destruction of files or signing non-disclosure agreements.^[4]

Whether or not Cameron was aware that funding for his experiments was coming from the CIA is unclear; it has been argued that he would have carried out the exact same experiments if funding had come from a source without ulterior motives.^[5]