In the Middle Ages, most people would go their entire life without experiencing surgery.

Today we live in the age of preventative medical procedures and things like cosmetic surgery,

a 600 years ago, no one ever thought of going under the knife without a very good reason.

Why? Because it was difficult to manage the pain. Anesthetics were incredibly primitive

in the early days of the Middle Ages. No, people didn't undergo invasive procedures

without pain relief completely, but the options available were limited and, well, potentially

deadly.

In England, a common method for pain relief was a potion called Duala, which the patient

drank prior to surgery. Duala was a solution of wine, mixed with a number of other

ingredients. Some were pretty mild, like lettuce and bore bile, but the recipe also called

for hemlock and balladana, both known to be highly poisonous. Everyone wanted Duala for

their pain, but it was always a gamble. If it was prepared correctly, it worked. If it

wasn't though, if you used a flawed recipe or bought your potion from a less savory

individual, you ran the risk of horrible pain, even death. Sometimes, the most honorable

goals can lead to horrible results. As the old cliche says, the road to hell is paved with

good intentions. It's a powerful glimpse into the core of the human mind. We're really

good at breaking the things that we try to fix. And in no other profession has that been

more true than the early days of the mental health field. While there might not have been

bottles of Duala laying around, the early practitioners of mental health had their own fair share

of misguided intentions and flawed recipes. They tried to help, but in the end, they did

more harm than good, and while most of the people who suffered through that pain are

long gone, the after effects remain, and the stories they tell are horrifying. I'm Aaron

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