Trepanning: Trepanning, which dates back to the Neolithic era, was literally when surgeons would drill a hole in a person's skull to treat mental issues, as well as migraines and other head pain. It was believed to let out evil spirits. The crazy thing was that it actually sometimes worked, and people were known to survive, even 10,000 years ago. Ouch.

Hydrotherapy: This is not the nice, relaxing bath you're thinking of. Hydrotherapy in the old days could be pretty brutal, and included strong jets of water blasted at patients and ice-cold baths. Patients were often restrained in the tubs.

Electroconvulsive Therapy: Also known as electroshock therapy, this therapy saw patients restrained and then hit with surges of electricity, which was thought to cure a variety of mental illnesses. It's still used today, but very rarely and in very specific circumstances. It's known to cause some memory loss.

Transorbital Lobotomy: For about 20 years in the 20th century, doctors thought that simply severing neural pathways in the brain would cure mental illness. A sharp object would be inserted into the eye socket or nose to achieve this. If you consider turning someone into a vegetable to be a cure, then they were right.

Malaria injections: Usually, malaria is something you inoculate against. For a while, however, it was used on people with neurosyphilis. The idea was that the malaria would cause a fever and burn out the syphilis bacteria.

Organ Removal: In the early 20th century (yes, that recently), one Dr. Henry Cotton thought that mental disorders stemmed from bacterial infections of the organs. The solution? To just take those organs out. Needless to say, the mortality rate was pretty high, and we're still baffled that people went along with this.

The Utica Crib: So named for its development at the Utica Psychiatric Center, these coffin-like boxes were meant to restrain patients who couldn't keep still. They usually caused more panic, and even shock.

Sterilization: Sterilization, usually without the patient's consent, was used on schizophrenic patients and other people with mental illness. Dr. Julius Wagner-Jauregg thought excessive masturbation caused schizophrenia, so he administered this to some of his patients. Sterilization was also historically used on minority and poor women as a means of eugenics, also without their consent.

Sleep Deprivation: Due to overcrowding in Camarillo Mental Hospital, patients had to sleep in shifts. Some doctors thought that the zombie-like state caused by sleep deprivation was a good thing and could help with depression. They were wrong; depression can actually be a symptom of sleep deprivation.

Insulin Shock Therapy: As a "treatment" for schizophrenia, patients would be injected with huge doses of insulin, which would cause them to fall into comas for days at a time. Its inventor, Dr. Manfred Sakel, believed that after waking from the coma, patients would be cured. They weren't.