Notes on the Lecture about Lobotomy

Historical Context

Mentally ill individuals were previously subjected to inhumane treatments:
- Herded behind bars, chained, and beaten.
- Insanity viewed as disgraceful with no hope of cure.
Transition to modern safety and treatment methods for mental illness.

Gage, a railroad foreman, suffered a severe brain injury from an accident involving a tamping iron.
The iron rod penetrated his skull, exiting the top, leaving him alive but dramatically changed in personality.
Post-accident:
- Gage became irreverent, fitful, and lost friends.
- Sparked interest in the relationship between brain function and personality.

Mary R., a patient with a skull infection, was subjected to unethical brain experiments by Dr. Robert Bartholo.
Bartholo injected substances into her brain and observed severe adverse reactions.
Resulted in public outcry and halted similar research temporarily.

Freeman, an American neurologist, sought to find solutions for psychiatric patients beyond restraints.
Observed successful brain surgeries on chimpanzees led to the testing of leucotomy on humans.
Hammet's lobotomy in 1936 was the first in the U.S., initially viewed as a success despite serious side effects.
Increase in lobotomies by the early 1940s, popularity led to scrutiny of negative outcomes:
- Patients became passive, lacked initiative, and displayed emotional blunting.

Rosemary, a member of the Kennedy family, underwent a lobotomy that resulted in severe cognitive decline and physical disability.
Freeman’s methods were imprecise and risky, but he advertised lobotomies as simple procedures.

Despite criticism, Freeman promoted lobotomies as effective and safe, often underplaying risks.
Introduced the transorbital lobotomy method using an ice pick, allowing rapid procedures.
Freeman performed procedures in public settings, increasing demand despite known risks.

Freeman lobotomized children, including Howard Dully, whose procedure was driven by a misunderstanding of normal behavior.
Dully later reflected on how the procedure affected his life negatively.
By 1952, antipsychotic medications began to replace lobotomies as treatment options.

Walter Freeman performed over 3,500 lobotomies, contributing to the deaths of 490 individuals and many more permanently disabled.
Lobotomy is now regarded as a barbaric and misguided approach to mental illness and is no longer practiced.
The history serves as a reminder of the importance of ethical standards in medical practice.