Dr. Louis Jolyon West and the Nueropsychiatic Institute

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Dr. Louis Jolyon "Jolly" West and his Strange Career

John Sandbrook related an incredibly ridiculous story, one so connected to the cryptic science of the sixties, it’s darkly comical. Dr. Louis Jolyon West, during the early sixties prior to his arrival at UCLA, performed an experiment wherein he allegedly injected a 7,000 pound elephant with around 1,435 times a heavy human dosage of LSD. The elephant died.

Dr. West's career can best be described as labyrinthine, with the areas of his research covering a vast array of mental health concerns.

Dr. West devoted much energy to the study of alcoholism, hallucinatory drugs, sleep-deprivation, and violent behavior. He also researched the “hippie” culture. Many people resent his research, vexing groups with anti-psychiatric agendas such as the Church of Scientology, while others regard him as something of hero to psychiatry. West advocated human rights and was an expert on cults and brainwashing, serving as an expert witness in the Patricia Hearst case.

After a position at the University of Oklahoma as head of the Department of Psychiatry, Neurology and Behavioral Sciences that began in 1954, Dr. West came to UCLA to become director of the Nueropsychiatric Institure and chair of the Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences in 1969. He was with us twenty years until his death January 2, 1999 at age 74.

 

Dr. West was beloved by his colleagues, who described him as a "visionary," who actively fought against injustice (for more info click here).

Controversy: A Clockwork Orange at UCLA?

The NPI came under fire in 1973 when it introduced the Center for the Study and Reduction of Violence, or the UCLA Violence Project. Headed by West, the project can be described as a study on the behaviors of violence and researching methods to help contain it. However, the timing of the proposed project was disastrous.

On February 2, 1972, Stanley Kubrick’s film adaptation of the Anthony Burgess novel A Clockwork Orange was released to audiences in the USA. The satirical film was historically important for its depiction of rape and violence, a visceral experience for audiences at the time. Moreover, despite the major controversy the film itself caused, the story involving the sadistic, young protagonist Alex de Large’s nightmarish brainwashing via a government funded program (the Ludovico Technique) made people wary of the project. Of course, this hesitation was agitated by the already present distrustful mood of the country as a result of the Vietnam War.

The film attributed greatly to the controversy of the Center at UCLA. Furthermore, the controversy amongst UCLA activists probably came from a general dislike towards the policies of Gov. Reagan (who also disassembled the public psychiatric system), regarded by many at the time as an enemy of academic freedom.

By 1973, when the project was proposed, many groups responded quickly and angrily.

 

Flyer from Bruin Walk dated July 17, 1973

Stop Psychosurgery and the UCLA Violence Center
Demonstrate Thurs., July 19th , Noon, Murphy Hall

Despite protest across the state, the Center for the Study and Reduction of Violence officially became part of the UC System on July 1st. The Center is now functioning at the UCLA Neuropsychiatric Institute (NPI).

The Violence Center has been established to develop ways of suppressing violent behavior, including ghetto rebellions and “hyperactivity” in children. Chemical and physical methods of control will be tested on prisoners in penal facilities throughout the State, including Vacaville and Camarille. The basic assumptions of the research are racist. They include considering fighting back against rotten conditions a disease, and naming the correlates of violent behavior as being, "young, male, urbanized, and BLACK."

One of the projects for Center research is called "Violence Prediction and Brain Waves." The description of this project states that the SURGICAL REMOVAL OF PARTS OF THE BRAIN has been somewhat successful in controlling violent behavior in epileptics. (The violence and the epilepsy are not necessarily related.) It can hardly be a coincidence that the NPI has recently hired Dr. Frank Ervin, co-author of Violence and the Brain which deals with exactly the same topic as this project. Dr. Erwin is the foremost psychiatric advocate of "psychosurgery," or surgery on the brain to modify behavior.

Another project will involve applying behavior modifying techniques used on "marginally retarded and emotionally disturbed children" at the UCLA NPI to "violent young offenders" at Camp Kilpatrick. Experiments on these children can be done without parental consent, because all of them are made wards of the Court before they are put in the camp.

The campaign against the Violence Center is accelerating. It has already resulted in the California Commission on Criminal Justice (CCCJ) and the State Senate Committee on Health and Welfare refusing to fund the Center due to its controversial nature.

Join the campaign and help us shut this racist Center down!
For more information call Kathy, ***-3246 or Leene, ***-7571.
Coalition Against Psychosurgery and Human Experimentation
S.D.S.

Considering the apoplectic nature of the flyer, along with the fact that there were such an ungodly number of them in the archives, the remarkable level of antipathy held by many activists at UCLA seems a bit ridiculous when considering Dr. West's reputation as a champion of civil and human rights.

Nevertheless, some sources maintain the barbarism of West's "experiments," dismissing his advocacy of human rights as an act to help his popularity. However, most of these sources tend to transmit a deal of paranoia over mind control, so their accuracy is dubious.

It's important to remember that probably anyone working intensively with social pathologies with such divisive philosophies toward treatment, such as the reduction of violent behavior, is pretty much always going to garner controversy.

The Fate of the Violence Project

The Center for the Study and Reduction of Violence fizzled out following the controversy generated by activists. By 1974, meetings with state committes proved futile in keeping the project adequately funded with grants. Ultimately, the Center proved to controversial for its time. John Sandbrook summed it up rather accurately with four words: "Good idea, bad time."

by Max Nagano