By now, some maybe be aware that I'm talking about lobotomies. Others may be confused and possibly scared. For the uninitiated, a lobotomy is a procedure in which doctors would damage the prefrontal cortex of the patient or disconnect it from the rest of the brain. Do you want to see how lobotomies were done? No? Too bad.
So, to recap, the doctors would basically stick an ice pick above the patient's eye and just, you know...chip away at their brain. This all came about when it was reported that damaging the prefrontal cortex of primates could make them "tamer". Naturally, someone thought, "Hey! I bet this would work on people with mental disorders!" Enter Walter Freeman. Freeman was a doctor (with no experience in surgical procedures, mind you) who performed thousands of lobotomies. Freeman performed lobotomies on all kinds of people, ranging from those with severe mental disorders to those who were just a little odd. A lot of them wouldn't even be considered mentally ill today.
One of Freeman's more notable patients was Rosemary Kennedy, sister of President John F. Kennedy. Rosemary was known to have mood-swings and, occasionally, violent outbursts. Most people attributed her behavior to the stress of having to compete with her siblings. However, it was decided that Rosemary should undergo a lobotomy to help calm her down. The lobotomy left Rosemary "permanently incapacitated". Publicly, her family would claim that she was mentally retarded, but it was clear that the procedure left her in a bad state. For the rest of her life, she was institutionalized or required a caretaker. It's pretty messed up when you think about what a drastic effect the procedure had on her. It's often said that her symptoms before the lobotomy could have been depression. What I find really disturbing is that depression, today, is a very treatable condition. Whether through therapy or medication (if needed), lots of people with depression are perfectly capable of leading normal lives. Because of the time she lived in, Rosemary Kennedy never got that chance.
Thankfully, because of advances in medicine and psychology, lobotomies are no longer in fashion. So, again, be grateful for living when you do. If this were any other time, exhibiting what we like to call "quirky behavior" could have gotten you a drill in your head.
See you, space cowboy.
awesome post, and yeah your right we take this generation for granted. I seriously loved your post, I actually did a full out study on Walter Freeman after studying him in mind and body psychology haha, because I got fascinated with the Lobotomy procedure. He was actually if you think about it, Walter Freeman was kind of a twisted individual his obsession for Lobotomy treatments (if it can be called a treatment) turned possibly into an addiction, because of how many he did, and who he would do it to. He made house calls, performed on children I believe as young at 5? And he stupidly killed someone because his partner ( the one that would help in his lobotomy I think his name was James Watts) wasn't around. He tried taking a picture with one of his patient while performing a lobotomy and severed a blood vessel causing a hemorrhage which ended the life of that client days later a long with Walter Freeman's career. Not surprisingly he lost everything, but for the last five years of his life we traveled would travel all over the place visiting past clients who he did the Lobotomy to so he could prove that he was right, but he died of cancer years later. But his obsession for fame and wealth drew him to endangering lives of individuals. I think it was sometime either after the fall of his career or during the last few months of his career medicines for treatment started to come in that didn't require any surgical procedures, so anyway yeah there is more to it but anyway, you are right we do live in a day and age where we take things for granted. However, now kids and individuals can act out or have a small period of mood swings and people will declare it as a disorder needing treatment, actually any little action done can be instantly thought of as a disorder needing medication. So, though we do live in an age where Lobotomy is no longer performed are we really living in a smarter era? Because we can have all the technology in the world, but if people don't use it wisely then what's the point? Because there are many-many-many-many doctors, psychiatrist, clinicians that do not diagnosis certain illness's correctly, and if they do then they are not treating it appropriately. Take ADHD for example, I have worked and know many Psychiatrist and psychologist who all say the same things that most of the time ADHD is over diagnosed, and over medicated. Some of those clients that have been diagnosed with ADHD don't actually have it, and instead have something else, or have been given the wrong medication.
ReplyDeletebut yeah anyway great post, really enjoyed it!!
I find you blog extremely interesting and educating. I once saw this done in a movie but didn't know what it was until you just mentioned it. Its so interesting how as the times have passed, many treatments have changed. I'm so grateful to be living in this times when we have improved many treatment methods.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure it was a painful procedure that I'm sure didn't work, however i have to say that although it didn't work, it gave us more knowledge about what he was working on.
What can I add to this post? Not much really, it was interesting and well explained. I'm curious if you ever saw the documentary the followed those individuals who had lobotomies and electro convulsive therapy. It was very eye opening. The documentary followed up with past patients and found quite a few. Many (all over the nation) were part of group that met and came together to help each other like a support system. There were interviews with the past patients and the results of their lobotomy were really sad. Some had memory problems, behavioral problems and most were placed on SSI because they were not able to hold a job.
ReplyDelete