The science of a lobotomy
A lobotomy is defined as: “ a form of psychosurgery, a neurosurgical treatment of a mental disorder that involves severing connections in the brain’s prefrontal cortex.[2] Most of the connections to and from the prefrontal cortex, the anterior part of the frontal lobes of the brain are severed “ says Wikipedia . Which in simple terms means a doctor would go through your eye or they’d drill a hole in your skull to remove part of your brain if you had a transorbital lobotomy . Another type of lobotomy is a prefrontal lobotomy, its when doctors go up your nose with an “ ice pick “ in order to remove part of your brain. Doctors thought it would help mentally ill patients in the 1940’s- 1950’s. In that time 20,000–50,000 lobotomies were performed. After the procedures patients the following were reduced; spontaneity, responsiveness, self-awareness and self-control. People were in a constant state of inertia. Inertia is the tendency to do nothing or to remain unchanged. After a lobotomy patients had a high risk of dying or committing suicide. If you survived a lobotomy there was a high chance that your personality would be negatively affected, and your ability to function independently would sometimes be affected.
https://listverse.com/2014/11/20/10-awful-realities-behind-the-lobotomy-craze/
António Egas Moniz is the man that came up with lobotomies. He came up with the idea in 1935 and won a Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1949. At a later time a movement was started to stop lobotomies. “ Yale neuroscientist John Fulton and his colleague Carlyle Jacobsen had performed lobotomy-like procedures on chimpanzees in 1935. Moniz and his colleague Almeida Lima performed the first human experiments later that year. The frontal lobes were targeted because of their association with behavior and personality. “ says Live Science.
“ The first procedures involved cutting a hole in the skull and injecting ethanol into the brain to destroy the fibers that connected the frontal lobe to other parts of the brain. Later, Moniz introduced a surgical instrument called a leucotome, which contains a loop of wire that, when rotated, creates a circular lesion in the brain. “ says Live Science.
The Cognitive perspective in lobotomies
“ A lobotomy became a legitimate alternative treatment for serious mental illness, such as schizophrenia and severe depression. Physicians even used it to treat chronic or severe pain and backaches “ says PsychCenter. Doctors thought a lobotomy could essentially cure any sickness, illness, or ache. Doctors would have rather performed lobotomies than find an actual way to deal with a patient's problem. “ Freeman’s ice-pick lobotomy became wildly popular. The main reason is that people were desperate for treatments for serious mental illness. This was a time before antipsychotic medication, and mental asylums were overcrowded “ says PsychCenter. So essentially doctors couldn’t figure out how to help someone and so they performed lobotomies.
