Did you know that a once-reputable psychiatrist turned a London hospital ward into a nightmarish playground for sadistic experiments? Welcome to the unsettling world of Dr. William Sargant, where young women were left to suffer in silence, their minds toyed with, and their bodies neglected.

The darkened ward, known infamously as the 'Sleep Room,' housed just six patients—young women fast asleep, haunted by the potential horrors of their dreams. The atmosphere was thick with the scent of unwashed bodies and the sounds of tortured whimpers echoing like unending nightmares. This wasn’t just any psychiatric facility; it was a place where Dr. Sargant subjected hundreds of vulnerable female patients to unimaginable and unethical 'treatments.'

Among those who fell into his grasp was a 14-year-old girl suffering from anorexia. Though she would go on to become a celebrated actress, the scars of her treatment would forever remain. Another patient was a Vogue model, celebrated for her wild lifestyle, who flew in from New York, sponsored by none other than Jimi Hendrix. By the time she left, she was stripped of her ability to read or make the simplest decisions.

Women came to Sargant with conditions ranging from postpartum depression to anxiety, and in one bizarre case, for the 'crime' of dating someone disapproved of by their parents. Their harrowing stories are recounted in Jon Stock's explosive new book, The Sleep Room: A Sadistic Psychiatrist and the Women Who Survived Him, which reveals the shocking possibility that these abhorrent experiments were perhaps even supported by the government.

Dr. William Sargant was known for his radical ideas, believing that all psychiatric ailments could be cured through invasive physical treatments, such as deep sleep therapy and dangerous lobotomies. In the chilling confines of Ward 5 at London's Royal Waterloo Hospital, he put his cruel theories to the test on helpless patients nearly 60 years ago.

Without proper consent—often from the patients themselves or their families—he administered a concoction of antipsychotic, sedative, and antidepressant drugs. These regimens kept them unconscious for over 20 hours a day, merely waking them to endure horrific sessions of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT). The result? Women who emerged from the Sleep Room had their memories shattered, struggling to regain any sense of self or identity, and some even feared they had been victims of sexual assault during their drug-induced slumber.

Actress Celia Imrie, a prominent star known for her roles in Calendar Girls and the Bridget Jones franchise, was sent to Sargant at just 14, suffering from an eating disorder. She recalls being heavily medicated and witnessing the violent treatments around her, including a fellow patient subjected to ECT. The vivid memories of the ward's sights and sounds haunt her to this day, as do the chilling encounters with Sargant's menacing presence: 'He had a face of thunder, like the devil,' she described.

Another victim, Linda Keith, a model and known for her relationships with rock legends like Keith Richards and Jimi Hendrix, described her experience in the Sleep Room as eerie and disorienting. 'I didn't wake up for six weeks,' she recalled. 'It was as if my brain and personality were dead.' And when she finally emerged from the darkness, she struggled with basic tasks and was horrified to learn she couldn't read.

Keith was not alone in her experience. Many former patients now speculate that Sargant’s practices may have been affiliated with CIA operations, particularly the infamous MKUltra program, which involved unethical testing on subjects to explore brainwashing techniques. Documents reveal that Sargant was considered someone the U.S. intelligence community could trust to participate in top-secret behavioral control projects.

Anne White, another one of Sargant's patients, echoed these concerns, noting the distressing parallels between her treatment and the unethical experiments carried out under MKUltra. 'To me, the whole thing suddenly slotted together,' she stated.

Though Sargant passed away in 1988, the question looms: what accountability exists for the trauma inflicted on these women? Linda Keith has her answer ready, recalling the day she confronted Sargant in public—calling him a monster in front of bystanders. 'This man is a monster,' she declared, a sentiment that resonates all too clearly.

Jon Stock’s The Sleep Room: A Sadistic Psychiatrist and the Women Who Survived Him sheds light on this dark chapter in psychiatric history, ensuring that the voices of those who survived will not be silenced.