Eric Cunningham Dax

Dr Eric Cunningham Dax, AO, BSc Lond, HonMD, FRACP, FRANZCP, HonFRCPsych (18 May 1908 – 29 January 2008) was a British psychiatrist resident in Australia from 1952. In England during the 1930s and 1940s, Dax worked with John Rawlings Rees, Francis Reitmann and other biological psychiatrists who advocated the use of somatic (physical) treatments for patients with mental problems. He contributed to the development of chemical shock, electroconvulsive therapy, and lobotomy while working at Netherne Hospital, Coulsdon, and continued to use lobotomy in Australia. Between 1946 and 1951, while the Medical Superintendent of Netherne Hospital, Dax pioneered the use of art programs as part of mainstream psychiatric treatment. His interest was to...