Snapshot · Empire: World History
Irene Duleep Singh was subjected to electroshock therapy for her 'neurasthenia', a brutal Edwardian-era treatment that William Dalrymple noted had scarred his own grandfather for life.
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At 38:07 · chapter starts 36:00
Irene, the more fragile of the two second-family sisters, sought her own family early: she married wealthy Frenchman Pierre Vilmont at a Paris society wedding on 15 March 1910, photographed by elite society photographers Ellison and Whalery in full bridal regalia [1] — Anita Anand "Irene Duleep Singh began having epileptic fits by 1915 and spent time in nursing homes being treated for 'neurasthenia' — the Victorian cat…" 36:45 . But happiness proved elusive. Records show epileptic fits as early as 1915, and within a decade she was in nursing homes being treated for neurasthenia — the Edwardian catch-all for severe depression and anxiety, treated at the time with electroshock therapy. William notes that his own grandfather received the same treatment and was scarred by it for life. When Irene moved back to Paris, she was returning to the city where her father had died, where her mother had ignored her, where her worst memories were rooted. She painted, she read, she kept a childhood music scorebook — she fought hard. But as Anita says: there just weren't the tools.
Princess Irene married Frenchman Pierre Vilmont in a society wedding in Paris in March 1910, but records show she was suffering epileptic fits as early as 1915 and her mental health deteriorated rapidly.
Irene Duleep Singh began having epileptic fits by 1915 and spent time in nursing homes being treated for 'neurasthenia' — the Victorian catch-all for depression and anxiety — including electroshock therapy. Her husband eventually left her. She moved back to Paris, the city of her worst memories, and started breaking apart.
Spencer Greenberg and Jeremy Stevenson analyzed almost 500 self-improvement techniques and found they all reduce to just 12 underlying psychological drivers.
Cold exposure has good short-term alertness benefits but the evidence base for long-term health benefits is much weaker than popularly believed.
In a randomized study of 20 habit-formation techniques run on hundreds of people, almost none of the techniques produced statistically meaningful results.
People given a tiny-habit fallback option (e.g. 10 squats instead of gym) were actually MORE successful at completing the full habit, not less.
The most effective habit-formation technique was 'habit reflection' — recalling a past successful habit, writing down what helped, then applying those lessons to a new habit.
A study found that simply scheduling enjoyable activities was as effective as standard cognitive behavioral therapy for depression, leading to its own therapy called behavioral activation.
The 'worry time' technique — deferring all worries to a designated time of day — helps people realize they have more control over worry than they thought and reveals it is less useful than it feels.
A study found that participants told to try to stay awake while in bed fell asleep faster than participants told to try to sleep — illustrating the paradox of direct effort.
Spencer Greenberg reduced his severe social anxiety dramatically in roughly 6 months through a structured exposure therapy hierarchy, culminating in asking strangers for hugs.
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