The shocking account of the women tortured by a legendary psychiatrist in his infamous “sleep room,” and the survivors fighting for change in the system
The Sleep Room is thriller novelist Jon Stock’s investigation into one of the most revered figures in British postwar medicine, the private world of the Sleep Room in Ward 5, and the science of the psychology that produced it. Building on the testimony of eight survivors, Stock looks at the problem of the limited tool kit psychology has at its disposal, and the shadowy interface between medicine, the intelligence community, and dangerous charlatans.
Dr. William Sargant ran a lucrative private practice and published multiple books on psychiatry, and he was awarded the Starkey medal and prize by the Royal Society of Health for his work on psychiatric medicine. But what he was best known for was the apogee of his career: the Sleep Room in Ward 5.
This was a dark gallery where patients selected by Sargant were, often without their consent or that of their families, subjected to deep narcosis, sleeping for more than 21 hours per day for weeks at a time, and roused only for sessions of electroconvulsive therapy.
There, Sargent practiced his enthusiasm for now-discredited treatments such as lobotomy and electroshock therapy with zeal. Inspired by the work of Pavlov on conditioning in dogs, and by the post-Freudian revolution in psychiatric pharmacology, Sargant believed in aggressive interventions. When his patients finished their treatment, they had lost not only memories of trauma, but also any sense of who they were or why they were there.
At least four of them died in the room. Between 1964 and 1972, hundreds of women were treated in the now-shuttered ward of the Royal Waterloo Hospital for Women and Children.
A group of survivors, now in their 60s and 70s, have come forward to share their stories and advocate for change.
Praise
“A beautifully researched, wildly unsettling study of a psychiatrist running amok.”
—author of The Premonitions Bureau, Sam Knight
“A gripping medical biography that encompasses sex, drugs, brainwashing, intelligence operations, murder, and several scandals.”
—author of Mortal Secrets: Freud, Vienna, and the Discovery of the Modern Mind, Frank Tallis
“A devastating account of the effects one unchecked psychiatrist had on vulnerable mental patients.”
—author of Mad, Bad and Sad: A History of Women and the Mind Doctors, Lisa Appignanesi
“A chilling case study in dangerous psychiatry, Stock’s gripping exposé of the invasive and reckless interventions inflicted on women in The Sleep Room will keep you wide awake.”
—author of Patriarchy Inc. and Testosterone Rex, Cordelia Fine
"A gripping and harrowing account of a distinguished medical authority who pushed a therapeutic regime of electroshock, brain surgery, and mind-bending drugs to its limit and beyond.”
—author of Psychonauts: Drugs and the Making of the Modern Mind, Mike Jay
“It is to Stock’s great credit that he places patient testimony centre stage, allowing several patients to tell their stories at length in their own, unedited words.”
—The Guardian
“Shocking... a damning portrait of a man who, in the name of psychiatric progress, left a trail of broken lives in his wake.”
—Telegraph, five stars
“Compelling.”
—Sunday Times
“A gripping expose.”
—Financial Times
“ Lacerating.”
—Guardian Book of the Day, Blake Morrison
“Shocking investigation.”
—The Times, chosen as a best book of 2025
“With the thoroughness of top-notch journalism and the controlled tone of the best espionage fiction, Stock serves up one chilling anecdote after another. The result is an unforgettable glimpse into the heart of darkness.”
—Publisher's Weekly, starred review
