American Horror Story season 10 is on the way, and three other installments are in development.
At the center of Asylum was Paulson's Lana Winters, a journalist who traveled to Briarcliff to get the scoop on a patient said to be a serial killed named Bloody Face. After a disastrous encounter with Briarcliff's nun, Sister Jude, Lana found herself committed to the asylum as a patient. While there, the journalist started to learn of the institution's despicable treatment of patients at the hands of the staff and doctors, Oliver Thredson and Arthur Arden.
While hatching a plan to escape from Briarcliff, Lana vowed to expose the facility's inhumane practices. Though she eventually succeeded in getting the asylum shut down years later, Lana was first subjected to dangerous situations. Not only was Dr. Arden a Nazi war criminal who enjoyed experimenting on humans, but Thredson turned out to be the real Bloody Face. That said, here are the various, everyday treatments used by the doctors within the walls of Briarcliff and their true history — the ways many were used in real life are just as horrifying as the fictional s presented in Asylum.
Lobotomies
The lobotomy was one of the most used treatment practices associated with mental facilities operating in the '60s. D. Arden notably performed a lobotomy on a patient named Charlotte, who identified herself as Anne Frank. Charlotte was initially sent home from Briarcliff, but her husband quickly brought her back after she almost killed their infant son. Dr. Arden then performed a transorbital lobotomy on her, which involved an ice pick-like device being hammered above the eyelid and behind the eye into the frontal lobe of the brain. While it was said to "fix" about a third of the patient's behavioral issues, the operation worked on Charlotte, resulting in her calm demeanor without the belief that she was Anne Frank. Though the practice of lobotomy ended in the '70s, around 40,000 people were said to have undergone the procedure in the United States during the height of the treatment.
Electroshock Therapy
Unfortunately for Lana, she was destined for doom due to Sister Jude's early perception of the journalist. After being trapped in Briarcliff, Sister Jude forced Lana to go through electroshock therapy as a form of punishment. Also known as ECT, the form of therapy involving the patient being hooked up to a device that allowed electric shocks to pulse through the body, causing convulsions. The method was thought to jumpstart the brain, and was often used to treat depression, mania, and other mental illnesses. While ECT therapy is still used today, there have been numerous precautions put in place. Aside from Lana, Sister Jude was also subjected to electroshock therapy as a form of torture to scramble her cognitive ability.
Aversion & Conversion Therapy
Dr. Thredson used a combination of aversion and conversion therapy techniques on Lana during her time at Briarcliff. Whereas aversion therapy was considered a psychological treatment that involved a patient being exposed to a stimulus while simultaneously sustaining discomfort, conversion therapy was a practice intended to change a person's sexual orientation so they'd become heterosexual. Lana found herself committed to Briarcliff for being a lesbian, so she was forced into various therapies by the staff to rid her of her homosexuality. In Lana's case, Dr. Thredson attempted to associate homosexuality with nausea while also using male patients to act as a positive physical stimulation. In some cases, doctors would perform lobotomies as a form of conversion. Both aversion and conversion therapy are now widely considered to be forms of torture, though are still practiced in some areas of the United States.
Hydrotherapy
Though the form of treatment wasn't often a focus in Asylum, the use of hydrotherapy was mentioned a handful of times in the series. Briarcliff had a hydrotherapy room that housed a handful of tubs equipped with enclosures. According to historical practices, patients were put into tubs full of water as a way to relieve pain or allow them to calm down. The treatment was thought to be therapeutic, but in the show's case, Briarcliff viewed hydrotherapy as a way to give patients a time out. Hydrotherapy is still used today, but the treatment has become more advanced in recent decades. Present-day hydrotherapy features jacuzzi-like jets, underwater massage methods, and mineral baths.
Sterilization
After Kit and Grace were caught having a romantic relationship while serving as patients at Briarcliff, Sister Jude suggested sterilization as punishment. The medical practice is used to intentionally leave an individual unable to reproduce. Sterilization, which is meant to be permanent, is intended to be voluntary, but in Asylum's case, the surgical procedure was used as a punishment. Based on Sister Jude's quick idea for punishment, sterilization was assumed to be a common practice among troubled patients.
Exorcism
In one incident, Briarcliff's doctors and staff weren't equipped with the knowledge needed to treat a particular teenage patient named Jed Potter. Believing him to be possessed by a demon, an exorcist was called to treat the boy. The Monsignor and a priest arrive at the facility to perform the exorcism in the presence of Dr. Thredson. Mayhem then ensued after igniting the angry demon inside of Jed, resulting in the boy entering cardiac arrest. While exorcisms are common practices among various religions, demonic possessions aren't viewed as a medical diagnosis, since the symptoms are often associated with other mental illnesses.
Inhumane Punishment & Experiments
Many mental institutions that operated in the '60s were guilty of using forms of corporal punishment. The practice was used to inflict physical pain on an individual, and it was a common occurrence for school kids, prisoners, and patients in various facilities. This kind of inhumane treatment was one of the main reasons why Lana attempted to expose Briarcliff to the rest of the world. Rather than typical corporal punishment techniques, Dr. Arden took it to a more dangerous level by performing torturous experiments on his patients. The former Nazi scientist invented zombie-like creatures known as Raspers that were mutilated, and exposed to diseases. While Dr. Arden's extreme barbaric practices may have been a work of fiction in American Horror Story: Asylum, some mental institutions carry rumors of past secretive experimentation behind closed doors.
