Donald Ewan Cameron (1901-1967) was a Scottish-born psychiatrist. Born in Bridge of Allan, he graduated from Glasgow University in 1924.
Cameron lived and worked in Albany, New York, and was involved in experiments in Canada for MKULTRA, a United States based CIA-directed "mind control" program.
Cameron was the author of the psychic driving concept which the CIA found particularly interesting. In it he described his theory on correcting madness, which consisted of erasing existing memories and rebuilding the psyche completely. After being recruited by the CIA, he commuted to Montreal every week to work at the Allan Memorial Institute , and was paid $69,000 from 1957 to 1964 to carry out MKULTRA experiments there. The CIA appears to have given him the potentially deadly experiments to carry out, as they would be tried on non-US citizens.
In addition to LSD, Cameron also experimented with various paralytic drugs, as well as electroshock "therapy" at 30 to 40 times the normal power. His "driving" experiments consisted of putting subjects into drug-induced coma for months on end (up to three in one case) while playing tape loops of noise or simple repetitive statements. His experiments were typically carried out on patients who had entered the institute for minor problems such as anxiety disorders and post-partum depression, many of whom suffered permanently from his actions.
It was during this era that Cameron became known worldwide, serving as the first chairman of the World Psychiatric Association , as well as president of the American and Canadian psychiatric associations. Cameron had been a member of the Nuremberg medical tribunal only a decade earlier.
Further reading
- In the Sleep Room: The Story of CIA Brainwashing Experiments in Canada, Anne Collins, Lester & Orpen Dennys (Toronto), 1988.
External links
Last updated: 05-07-2005 16:09:04
