Medical terms from The Quisling
Amphetamines/Ritalin – “Speed” sold on the streets. A medication used to treat attention deficit disorders.
Anorexia and Bulimia – Severe eating disorders in obsessive individuals, especially women causing severe weight loss, depression.
E.C.T. – Electro-convulsive therapy. Developed by Cerletti and Bini in Italy in 1936 to produce a controlled convulsion. Convulsions, the result of fevers/infections were known to be helpful in curing mentally ill for centuries.
Facial Transplants – Total transplants of the face following burns, traumas performed in Spain in 2005, in England since 2006.
F.G.M. – Female Genital Mutilation-A universal practice outlawed by the U.N. in 2012 after 200 million girls found to be surgically traumatized. Feb. 06 is the U.N. International Day of Zero Tolerance of FGM.
Gonorrhea -a sexually transmitted disease, the “drip” or “clap” causing severe infections of the genital tract. Called the “clap” after a section of Paris known for its bordellos, i.e. clapiers or brothels. Over 1 million infected in the U.S. alone and now mainly resistant to antibiotics.
Genital warts – Condylumata Acuminata, a highly contagious Sexually Transmitted Disease caused by the human papilloma virus, with a very low cure rate, but prevented by vaccine.
General Paresis of the Insane (or G.P.I.) caused by syphilis, a spirochete infecting the brain, turning it to mush and causing insanity, also affecting the spinal cord and nerves producing severe paralysis. Now more prevalent due to ineffective antibiotics.
Prefrontal Lobotomies – Slicing of the frontal lobes of the brain with a scalpel, (or an ice pick) for decades. Developed by Moniz in Portugal in 1936 causing tens of thousands of Schizophrenics in the word to be “cured”. Outlawed by Stalin in Russia because to was too brutal.
Other terms used in The Quisling
A quisling – Winston Churchill coined the term, “quisling”, a collaborator, traitor, turncoat. Mr. Vidkun Quisling was a Norwegian politician prior to the second war and a collaborator with Hitler. He aided in Germany’s invasion of Norway and sent many Jews to the German camps. After the war he was charged, found guilty and shot.
Gringo – When America invaded Mexico City the forces wore green uniforms. The locals rebelled, calling out, “Green go, green go.” Americans became gringos.
The Snake Pit – a psychiatric hospital unit in the ‘40s, based on Mary Jane Ward’s semi-biographical novel of 1946.
Sado-masochism -Considered to be a sexual perversion years ago but now acceptable and depicted in T.V. series and popular movies. Named after psychologists, Marquis de Sade and Sacher-Masoch, who wrote about the practice.