In 1945, responding to a cable from her sister regarding her mother's stroke, Palmer returned to Melbourne, though she had to say goodbye to a woman who her diary indicates she was in love with. She found the return difficult, though she continued to try to write, publishing articles in journals such as Meanjin, Overland and The Realist. In 1948, she had a breakdown fuelling her efforts to continue writing at a frenetic pace with alcohol and benzedrine. She was hospitalised for the first time at a mansion known as "Alençon" in Malvern, where she was treated by Dr. Reginald Ellery. Ellery subjected Palmer to a treatment being tried in Vienna on people with schizophrenia and introverts. Ellery gave Palmer a series of insulin injections to induce coma, followed by a series of glucose injections to revive her, hoping that the shock to her system would return her to her former self. In addition to three months of insulin-glucose treatment, Palmer underwent electroconvulsive shock therapy. She wrote about the process and her relation to her mother and sister, who were the ones who had her committed in an unpublished manuscript, 20th Century Pilgrim.
