Global therapies, local psychiatrists: shock treatment circulation and its implementation in Rosario, Argentina, 1936-1944

Abstract This article analyses the implementation of biological shock treatments in the Psychiatric Institute of Rosario, Argentina, during the interwar period. The aim is to illuminate the impact that a global phenomenon, referred to the strengthening of the discipline and the emergence of new therapies, had on an Argentinean psychiatric care space. Thus, it will analyse the relevance that budgetary limitations, the experimentation of alternatives and the presence of international experts had in the incorporation of therapeutic novelties. It is argued that the strategies deployed by the Institute to implement them expose the local nuances of a global phenomenon, as well as its contribution to the experimentation of treatments.

摘要 本文剖析了战间期（interwar period）阿根廷罗萨里奥精神病学研究所（Psychiatric Institute of Rosario）实施生物学休克疗法（biological shock treatments）的实践全貌。本文旨在厘清一项全球现象——即精神医学学科的体系化强化与新型疗法的涌现——对阿根廷本土精神卫生服务机构产生的深层影响。据此，本文将分析预算约束、替代疗法试验以及国际专家的参与，在新型治疗手段的引入进程中所发挥的作用。本文认为，该研究所为落地此类疗法所部署的实施策略，既揭示了某一全球现象在本土语境下的独特细微差异，也彰显了其在治疗试验领域所作出的学术贡献。