Behind the Bastards

Part One: Dr. Sleep: The Australian Psychiatrist Who Made People Sleep Themselves To Death

March 3, 2026

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  • The episode of *Behind the Bastards*, titled "Part One: Dr. Sleep: The Australian Psychiatrist Who Made People Sleep Themselves To Death," introduces Harry Richard Bailey, a determined but poor Australian who became an award-winning psychiatrist motivated by a desire to make money. 
  • The discussion establishes the historical context of mid-20th-century psychiatry, characterized by the rise of sedatives like benzos and the exploration of Deep Sleep Therapy (DST) as a radical, often deadly, treatment for conditions like schizophrenia and severe depression. 
  • Deep Sleep Therapy involved inducing prolonged unconsciousness (sometimes up to two weeks) using a dangerous cocktail of sedatives including chloral hydrate and barbiturates, a practice that carried a significant risk of death from respiratory or cardiac failure, even in facilities attempting humane care. 
  • Deep Sleep Therapy (DST) carries inherent physical risks like blood clots, and as its dangers became clearer, practitioners began narrowing its use, eventually focusing on war veterans with PTSD, though the UK standard treatment length was reduced to less than a day. 
  • A significant ethical failing in psychiatry is the desire among some practitioners to treat patients while they are unconscious, leading to the use of DST to facilitate non-consensual Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT) by bypassing patient objections. 
  • Dr. Harry Bailey, initially lauded as a crusading whistleblower for exposing neglect at Cowlin Park Mental Hospital, leveraged his prestige to establish a financially exploitative private practice at Chelmsford Private Hospital, using DST as the core of a lucrative grift charging exorbitant fees. 

Segments

Introduction and Guest Welcome
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(00:00:05)
  • Key Takeaway: Gabe Dunn joins Robert Evans on Behind the Bastards to discuss the episode’s subject.
  • Summary: Robert Evans welcomes guest Gabe Dunn to the podcast, noting he is recording from a new location in New Orleans. Dunn expresses his excitement as a long-time listener of the show. The initial segment focuses on light banter and introductions before transitioning to the episode’s main topic.
Guest Introduction and Plugs
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(00:02:03)
  • Key Takeaway: Gabe Dunn is a writer and activist involved in anti-ICE work in LA, and hosts the show Best Gabe Ever and the podcast A Thousand Natural Shocks.
  • Summary: Gabe Dunn details his professional background, including his activism against ICE, which intensified after the National Guard’s involvement in June. He also promotes his fun-time show, Best Gabe Ever, and his Substack/podcast, A Thousand Natural Shocks (formerly Bad with Money).
Transition to Episode Topic
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(00:07:14)
  • Key Takeaway: The episode focuses on an obscure Australian quack doctor, leading to the working title ‘The Real Doctor Sleep’.
  • Summary: Robert Evans signals the shift to the main subject, an obscure Australian doctor suggested by a subreddit user. The hosts briefly joke about the title’s similarity to a Stephen King novel. The research burden for this topic was low because the subject was relatively obscure.
Introduction of Harry Bailey
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(00:11:11)
  • Key Takeaway: Harry Richard Bailey was born in 1922 in Picton, New South Wales, and came from a poor background, evidenced by having to drop out of university twice for financial reasons.
  • Summary: The bastard’s early life is introduced, noting his birth in the small town of Picton, named after an officer who died at Waterloo. Bailey initially studied science but worked as a pharmacist’s assistant due to a lack of funds. His early financial struggles suggest a motivation to pursue wealth later in life.
Bailey’s Medical Career Start
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(00:17:31)
  • Key Takeaway: Bailey married in 1945, graduated from the University of Sydney, and quickly became an award-winning psychiatrist, choosing the field due to high demand and opportunity for distinction.
  • Summary: Bailey earned his medical degree, winning prizes in Psychiatry and Pediatrics, indicating early aptitude. Psychiatry was an underserved field in the 1950s, offering a path for a determined, broke young doctor to make a name for himself quickly. He began his career at the Broughton Hall Psychiatric Clinic.
WHO Tour and Interest in New Treatments
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(00:21:50)
  • Key Takeaway: During a 1954 World Health Organization tour, Bailey became fascinated by cutting-edge treatments like electro-convulsive therapy and the widespread use of sedatives, particularly benzodiazepines.
  • Summary: Bailey’s professional development tour exposed him to various contemporary psychiatric methods across North America and Europe. He showed an affinity for pharmacological interventions over other therapies. The 1950s saw heavy reliance on newly available sedatives, which doctors readily prescribed.
Context of Mental Health Care
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(00:28:50)
  • Key Takeaway: Early Australian mental health care was brutal, evolving from asylums used as warehouses for the ‘crazy’ to facilities where treatment, often involving heavy drugging, was theoretically prioritized over mere custody.
  • Summary: The first Australian asylum, established in 1811, offered no training or treatment, functioning as a brutal holding facility. By the 1950s, the goal shifted toward reintegration, though this often meant heavy sedation via tranquilizers replaced physical restraints like straitjackets.
Deep Sleep Therapy Mechanism
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(00:33:25)
  • Key Takeaway: Deep Sleep Therapy (DST) aimed to reset neural pathways by keeping patients unconscious for days using a potent cocktail of sedatives, initially explored for schizophrenia and insomnia.
  • Summary: DST proponents hypothesized that extended deep sleep offered restorative benefits, allowing the brain to ‘reset’ without the patient being conscious of the process. The treatment involved administering heavy doses of sedatives, including chloral hydrate and barbiturates like amobarbitol (‘Blue Heavens’).
Dangers of Early DST
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(00:43:51)
  • Key Takeaway: Early trials of DST were lethally dangerous; one Swiss psychiatrist’s initial study resulted in a 12% mortality rate from bronchopneumonia or cardiac hemorrhages.
  • Summary: The initial research into DST revealed significant inherent risks due to the powerful sedatives used, which depressed the central nervous system. Furthermore, the standard of patient consent in the 1950s and 60s was weak, allowing dangerous procedures to continue. Even when managed better, risks like blood clots and pneumonia persisted.
Risks of Deep Sleep Therapy
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(00:56:01)
  • Key Takeaway: Even well-administered Deep Sleep Therapy carries risks like blood clots due to prolonged immobility.
  • Summary: The treatment is inherently dangerous, with risks including bedsores and fecal soiling in poorly managed facilities. Even in good facilities, patients face risks like blood clots from lying immobile for days. These risks led many doctors and hospitals to criticize the therapy and narrow its application.
DST Use for PTSD
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(00:56:39)
  • Key Takeaway: By WWII’s end, DST’s primary use in the UK shifted to treating war veterans suffering from what is now recognized as PTSD.
  • Summary: The speaker relates personal experience with a severe PTSD break, understanding the appeal of unconsciousness for relief. However, the data suggests DST would not have helped the speaker’s condition. In the UK, the standard treatment length for soldiers was significantly reduced to less than a day, not weeks.
DST Enabling ECT
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(00:59:38)
  • Key Takeaway: Some psychiatrists used DST to administer Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT) without patient consent, arguing that unconscious patients could not object.
  • Summary: A small number of psychiatrists saw massive value in DST because it allowed them to perform procedures like ECT while the patient was unconscious. This practice bypassed the need for consent, as doctors could claim the patient agreed while sedated, or simply proceed without asking. This period represents a low point for medical ethics.
Sargent’s Textbook Justification
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(01:01:41)
  • Key Takeaway: Prominent UK physician Dr. William Sargent published in 1972 that combining sleep with ECT was valuable because patients lost memory of the treatment’s length or application.
  • Summary: Sargent viewed DST as a potential ’new exciting beginning in psychiatry,’ comparable to the introduction of anesthesia in surgery. He explicitly stated that combining sleep with ECT avoids patient refusal due to dread of further treatments. The goal was to perform physical treatments while the patient was unaware of what was done.
Bailey’s Whistleblowing and Character
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(01:06:36)
  • Key Takeaway: Dr. Harry Bailey, inspired by Dr. Sargent, established a research unit in Australia and gained fame as a crusading whistleblower exposing neglect at Cowlin Park Hospital.
  • Summary: Bailey’s exposé led to a Royal Commission that confirmed many of his allegations, establishing him as a respected medical ethics advocate. However, he was also prone to exaggeration and convinced of his own righteousness, sometimes lying to support his claims. This initial good act masked underlying issues that would later manifest.
Bailey’s Financial Exploitation
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(01:13:32)
  • Key Takeaway: After gaining public trust as a reformer, Dr. Bailey co-funded Chelmsford Private Hospital, creating a perverse financial incentive to maximize patient stays and expensive procedures using DST.
  • Summary: Bailey received consultation fees plus a percentage of the hospital’s revenue from every admitted patient, encouraging extended treatment duration regardless of medical need. He charged 400% to 600% more than comparable treatments, often keeping patients sedated beyond plan to maximize billing. The other doctors involved were also implicated in this financial exploitation.