William Sargant
William Sargant was a founder and director of the Department of Psychological Medicine at St. Thomas’s Hospital in London, where he set up shop for his ghoulish mind-control experiments in a rat-infested basement.
Inside the Sleep Room by Gordon Thomas
See: Louis Jolyon “Jolly” West Thorazine Haldol Sid Gottlieb
Books by Sargant
An Introduction to Physical Methods of Treatment in Psychiatry
Battle for the Mind
Quotes
He was the British end of the most sinister program ever
approved by the United States government: MK ULTRA, an intelligence agency
effort designed to control all human behavior. .....He continued to use the massive doses of
electroshock and drugs as part of his behavioral
modification regime. He was, in 1970, also working closely with
Louis Jolyon “Jolly” West, chairman of the Department of
Psychiatry at the University of California in Los
Angeles and director of its Neuropsychiatric
Institute. .....Using his highly placed connections to the
American drug industry, Sargant’s arsenal of
mind-altering drugs was unequalled in Britain. He
was the first to treat—depending on the definition
of “treatment"—patients with
Thorazine, Stelazine
and Mellaril; anti-depressants like Elavil and
Tofranil; anti-manics like lithium carbonate. He
gave them in combinations......Sargant worked closely with Eli Lilly and
Company, Hoffman-La Roche and Geigy. Other drug
houses who regarded him with favor were Merck, Sharp
and Dohme, Parke-Davis and Company, Smith Kline &
French Laboratories, and Searle Laboratories.
.......At military bases in
Britain, including one
at Maresfield, near the
south coast resort of
Brighton, he conducted
drug-related experiments
on so-called “military
volunteers.” Other drug
experiments were
performed at Britain’s
most secret chemical and
biological warfare
establishment at Porton
Down on Salisbury Plain.
Again “volunteers” from
military mental
hospitals and from
military prisons were
used.
American intelligence
sent observers to
monitor these tests.
Among them was one of
the CIA’s senior
biochemists, Frank
Olson, and
Sidney
Gottlieb, the overall
head of the MK ULTRA
program.
The three men became
close friends. On each
trip they visited
Sargant’s department at
St. Thomas’s to study
patient records. They
also shared with Sargant
the latest mind-altering
research being carried
out at Fort Detrick,
Maryland.
Ultimately, as we
shall see, these
connections led to the
1953 murder of Frank
Olson on the orders of
Sidney Gottlieb.
..........Once he agreed to
work for Britain’s
intelligence services,
money was no longer a
problem and through U.S.
drug companies he met
like-minded
psychiatrists.
..........Sargant died on
August 27, 1988. With
his death I was freed of
my undertaking and
slowly began to explore
his background. It was
not easy; he still had
powerful friends in the
World Psychiatric
Association he had
helped to establish, and
the Royal College of
Psychiatrists.
.........Injected with
Largactil (Thorazine)
and Seconal to keep her
in a drugged sleep, Anne
was placed in the Sleep
Room. There she received
doses of other drugs,
Amitriptyline and Nardil.
.........There was another
link between Sargant and
Cameron: Leonard
Rubenstein. He worked
for MI5. At the Allan
Memorial Institute he
ran the “research and
behavioral laboratory.”
There he created the
tape loops. He had flown
to London to show
Sargant how they should
be fashioned.
......I traced Rubenstein
to his home in
Hammersmith, London. I
wanted him to explain
how he, with no medical
qualifications, had been
allowed to work on
seriously ill patients.
When I started to
question him, he hung up
the phone. When I called
back I was informed the
line was no longer in
service. I then
discovered Rubenstein
still has links to MI5. Inside the Sleep Room by
Gordon Thomas