A lobotomy, also known as a leucotomy, is a neurosurgery that involves breaking a connection in the prefrontal lobe of the brain. Doctors began experiments to physically regulate their mentally disturbed minds, not in the least embarrassed by the suffering of their patients. Swede Gottlieb Burckhardt removed parts of the prefrontal cortex from the brains of patients with auditory hallucinations, noting that they became much calmer. Nevertheless, the procedure led to the death of his first patient and the suicide of the second - which did not in the least shake the intentions of the good doctor. Many doctors tried to heal patients by inserting ice picks into their eye sockets and cutting out pieces of the brain: for two decades, lobotomy was considered an excellent way to fix problems in a diseased mind. Here are 15 brutal facts about the most unpleasant and, unfortunately, existing operation in history.
Lobotomy means an incision in the brain. This operation is considered one of the most barbaric procedures ever practiced on humans.
Frontal lobotomy was a very popular procedure in the early twentieth century. Psychiatrists have recommended it to relieve symptoms of mental illness.
Lobotomy is more commonly used today in North America than elsewhere on the planet.
Promotional video:
According to some sources, the lobotomy was the brainchild of Friedrich Goltz, who experimented on his dogs to see the result. In 1892, Gottlieb Burckhardt tried the procedure on six schizophrenic patients. The procedure seemed to have a calming effect on four patients - the other two simply did not survive.
According to other sources, the concept of lobotomy was invented by neurologist John Fulton. He noticed that chimpanzees became much calmer after surgery that destroyed the connections between the frontal lobe and the areas below the cerebral hemispheres that regulate emotions.
On November 12, 1935, a Portuguese neurosurgeon, Almeida Lima, performed the first human lobotomy using chemicals: alcohol injections destroyed brain tissue.
This method was proposed by Almeida's colleague, Nobel laureate Egas Moniz.
Moniz became the first Portuguese to receive the Nobel Prize for his discovery of the therapeutic value of leukotomy in certain psychoses.
In the United States, the first prefrontal lobotomy was performed in 1936. The patient was 63-year-old Alice Hammat, and the surgeons were Walter Freeman and James Watt. They used the chemical lobotomy proposed by Moniz.
The most common tool for lobotomy was an ordinary ice ax. One of Dr. Freeman's sons said that his father sometimes took an ordinary kitchen ice ax, which, later, was used for its intended purpose.
Freeman found Moniz's method unreliable and preferred working with physical tools. He inserted an ice pick into the unfortunate patient's eye socket and literally cut out his frontal lobe. Sometimes I used a hammer.
Dr. Freeman was firmly convinced that if he could sever the nerve cords connecting the frontal lobes in the thalamus, the mental illness would recede. He was not even stopped by the fact that physically the brain of a person with schizophrenia did not differ in the least from the brain of a healthy person.
Walter Freeman performed 3,500 lobotomies in twenty-three states. His career was considered very successful, although many operations led to the death of patients.
Dr. Freeman's daughter jokingly called her father "Henry Ford of lobotomies." For some reason, the patients did not share a specific humor.
Sigrid Horten, a legendary twentieth-century painter and a major figure in Swedish modernism, was another lobotomy victim. Diagnosed with schizophrenia, the artist was admitted to a mental hospital in Stockholm. Unsuccessful lobotomy caused complications incompatible with life.