Dr. Paul Eugen Bleuler

Force-feeding, though it may have had its place in a time when IV supplementation did not exist, was both painful and notoriously brutal. Many patients felt that it was used far too often as a punishment for various stubborn behaviors.

The notion of being forced to eat would agitate many patients, and his or her forcible subjugation by three or more attendants would only increase the patient’s fear and hysteria. Inserting a tube down someone’s throat or nose is a delicate operation at best, and would be extremely painful, and even injurious, to a patient under these circumstances.

Dr. Paul Eugen Bleuler used force-feeding to “prove” that a female patient under his care had only been been pretending insanity. He bragged that “after one tube-feeding, there was a sudden cure.” It is more likely that the pain temporarily jolted the patient out of a confused state.

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