With the emergence of intensive care in the 1950s and 1960s, delirium became more prominent. Doctors quickly set out to understand and prevent it, but delirium results from so many sources that decisive understanding remains elusive. Doctors have recognized delirium for centuries. Transient alterations in consciousness, attention, orientation, perception, or behavior were well known with malaria and alcohol withdrawal or after surgery. Delirium became more prominent in the 1950s and 1960s with the emergence of intensive care. Intensive care units (ICUs) made it possible for patients to survive more severe illnesses and for doctors to attempt more aggressive interventions that required physiological monitoring, respiratory support, and intensive nursing. Delirium, the `new madness of medical progress,'(1) became more prevalent and more visible. Doctors set out to understand and prevent it, but, as the Critical Care Medicine article ...
