Buzz
In humanity’s long search for answers to brain-related disorders, some scientists opted for a more drastic approach—using a scalpel. Although lobotomies have become rare today, they once reached epidemic proportions. Though a few cases showed temporary improvements for certain mental conditions, the long-term consequences were devastating.
Join us as we uncover the chilling truths surrounding the history of lobotomies. One thing’s for sure: after reading these facts, you'll definitely form strong opinions about Dr. Walter Freeman.
10. A Patient Died Because the Surgeon Wanted a Photograph
Unbelievably, this occurred with a patient at the Cherokee State Hospital in Iowa. This is just one of many unethical actions Dr. Walter Freeman took in his misguided quest to ‘cure’ the world of mental health issues through lobotomies.
In 1951, during a lobotomy procedure, Dr. Freeman paused to take a photograph. In doing so, the leucotome he was using unintentionally sank deeper into the patient’s brain, leading to the patient’s death.
One has to question what was going through his mind. Was it 'pics, or it didn’t happen?' Dr. Freeman continued performing lobotomies for another sixteen years. Imagine if he had lived during the age of selfies.
9. Rosemary Kennedy Underwent One
The Kennedy family has long been considered America’s royal family, but even royalty hides secrets. In this case, it was a lobotomized relative kept out of sight. Rosemary Kennedy, the eldest daughter of Joseph and Rose Kennedy, underwent a failed lobotomy at 23, following her father's request.
As a child, Rosemary was slower to develop and faced learning challenges, but she still participated in most family activities. However, after the family returned from London in 1940, her behavior began to shift, becoming 'increasingly irritable and difficult.'
Joseph Kennedy was convinced that a lobotomy would help calm his daughter and control her violent mood swings. The relatively new lobotomy procedure, which involved severing connections in the brain, was performed on Rosemary in 1941.
The lobotomy turned out to be a catastrophic failure, leaving Rosemary permanently disabled with the cognitive abilities of a two-year-old. She became unable to care for herself and was sent to St. Coletta’s School for Exceptional Children in Wisconsin, where she spent the rest of her life under the care of Catholic nuns.
For over 20 years, Rosemary’s family kept her condition and whereabouts a secret. It wasn’t until 1961, when John F. Kennedy became president, that the family publicly acknowledged what had happened to her. The full details of the lobotomy were not revealed until 1987.
8. Intended to Alleviate Agitation
The lobotomy procedure was created by Portuguese neurologist Egas Moniz in the 1930s as a treatment for severe mental health conditions like psychosis, agitation, and anxiety. Moniz theorized that by severing the connections between the frontal lobe and other brain regions, he could essentially 'reset' the brain and reduce or eliminate agitation. He believed that psychiatric symptoms were caused by a 'physical malfunction' in the brain, and cutting nerve connections would force a 'reset' that would resolve the issues.
Moniz and later Walter Freeman reported that many patients who underwent lobotomies experienced a reduction in agitation, anxiety, and other disruptive behaviors. This led to the widespread adoption of lobotomies in the 1940s as a 'miracle cure' for mental illness, with the procedure being used to treat a variety of conditions beyond severe agitation.
However, the long-term consequences of lobotomies were often disastrous, with many patients becoming apathetic, incapacitated, or even dying as a result. The temporary benefits of reducing agitation were frequently overshadowed by the severe, lasting negative effects.
7. Referred to as 'Surgically Induced Childhood'
If it’s possible, Freeman’s views on the work he was doing were nearly as unsettling as the procedures themselves. Nearly.
Freeman believed that lobotomy would reduce patients to a 'childlike state' with an 'infantile personality,' followed by a period of recovery and maturation. He termed this process 'surgically induced childhood.' In his warped view, it was a chance to reset the patient’s brain to its 'factory settings' so it could be molded into something deemed socially acceptable.
His slogan was 'Lobotomy gets them home.' Reading about Freeman’s outlook almost makes you question whether these surgeries were part of some covert organization. #conspiracytheory
6. Initially, There Was No Set Procedure
The lobotomy procedure evolved from invasive brain surgery to more precise techniques using specialized tools. Over time, the methods became more streamlined, culminating in Freeman’s notorious transorbital lobotomy. There was no singular, established method, but instead, a series of evolving surgical techniques.
The first lobotomies in the 1930s involved open brain surgery, where the surgeon would remove portions of the frontal lobe or cut connections between the frontal lobe and thalamus. Neurologists like Moniz and Lima refined the method in the 1930s, developing instruments like the leukotome to more precisely sever neural tracts.
In the 1930s, American neurologists Freeman and Watts developed the 'Freeman-Watts procedure,' which outlined a specific method for inserting and manipulating the leukotome during surgery. By 1945, Freeman further simplified the procedure with the 'transorbital lobotomy,' using a pick-like instrument inserted through the eye socket to sever brain connections.
Freeman’s transorbital lobotomy could be completed in record time, sometimes in under 10 minutes, and didn’t require a full surgical team. The trend in brain surgery seemed to be: 'Let’s make this faster and riskier.'
What’s next—doing it with one hand tied behind your back?
5. The Majority of Patients Were Women
Women were subjected to a disproportionately high number of lobotomies compared to men. At Stockton State Hospital, 89% of standard or radical lobotomies, 77% of transorbital lobotomies, and 93% of multiple lobotomies were performed on women. In the early stages of the lobotomy procedure, 5 out of 6 patients in Freeman and Watts' initial case study were women. By 1942, 75% of their lobotomies were done on women. A 1951 study revealed that nearly 60% of American lobotomy patients were women, despite men greatly outnumbering women as psychiatric patients at the time.
This gender imbalance was likely influenced by the societal norms and expectations surrounding 'appropriate' female behavior at the time, which led doctors to consider women more suitable candidates for lobotomies.
4. Some Lobotomies Were Attempted to Alter Sexual Orientation
There is evidence that lobotomies were used in attempts to 'treat' or 'cure' homosexuality in mid-20th century America. However, the full scope of this practice remains unclear. At the time, homosexuality was viewed as a mental illness or 'sociopathic personality disturbance' that some psychiatrists and doctors believed could be 'cured' through lobotomy and other invasive methods.
Dr. Freeman claimed that up to 40% of his patients were gay men whom he operated on in an effort to change their sexual orientation. There are also reports suggesting that other doctors and institutions, such as the Atascadero State Hospital, may have used lobotomies on homosexual patients to 'treat' their sexuality. Lobotomies were often performed indiscriminately on a broad range of patients, including those considered 'deviant' due to their sexual orientation.
3. Thousands of War Veterans Underwent Lobotomies After WWII
The U.S. government performed lobotomies on approximately 2,000 World War II veterans, mainly those suffering from mental health conditions such as schizophrenia, depression, and psychosis. The Veterans Administration (VA) was overwhelmed with psychiatric cases from returning soldiers who had severe mental health issues, and the VA was not equipped to properly address their needs.
At the time, treatment options were scarce, with therapies such as electroshock, insulin shock, and hydrotherapy proving mostly ineffective. Lobotomies were viewed as a last-ditch effort to 'cut mental illness out of the brain' and to manage violent or disruptive behavior in these veterans.
Despite the known risks, the VA carried out these lobotomies, often leaving the patients severely impaired. Many suffered from diminished personality, intellectual capacity, and independence. The number of surviving veterans after the procedure remains unclear, with some dying shortly afterward. Unsurprisingly, the VA does not have full records of this program.
2. A Literary Prize Saved Janet Frame from a Lobotomy
Janet Frame, a celebrated author from New Zealand, was misdiagnosed with schizophrenia and nearly subjected to a lobotomy as a result. In the 1940s, while she was hospitalized, news broke that Frame had won a prestigious national literary award for her first short story collection, The Lagoon. This achievement led the hospital staff to reconsider, ultimately halting the planned lobotomy, as they deemed it unwise to perform such a drastic surgery on a promising young writer.
Search results reveal that lobotomies were sometimes seen as a 'treatment' for mental health conditions and other societal deviations, such as homosexuality. Janet Frame's story underscores the dangers and abuses surrounding this controversial surgical procedure.
After her lobotomy was cancelled, Frame was eventually released from the psychiatric hospital and went on to become one of New Zealand’s most celebrated and prolific writers. She authored numerous novels, short stories, and autobiographies. Her traumatic experiences within the mental health system and the looming threat of lobotomy deeply influenced her literary work.
1. The Last Recorded Lobotomy in the U.S. Took Place in 1967
In February 1967, Dr. Freeman performed his final transorbital lobotomy on Helen Mortensen. This was the third lobotomy Freeman had conducted on Mortensen due to a recurrence of her psychiatric symptoms. Unfortunately, following the procedure, Mortensen suffered a fatal brain hemorrhage and passed away.
After Mortensen’s death, Freeman was banned from performing any further lobotomies. It’s a relief that this unethical practice was finally put to an end.
By the 1950s, the harmful side effects of lobotomies were becoming more widely acknowledged, leading to greater scrutiny and the eventual decline of the procedure. More advanced psychosurgical methods like cingulotomies are sometimes used today to treat specific mental health conditions.
To sum up, the final lobotomy performed by Dr. Walter Freeman occurred in 1967 on Helen Mortensen, which unfortunately led to her death. This incident resulted in Freeman being prohibited from carrying out any further lobotomies, effectively marking the cessation of the procedure's widespread use in psychiatric treatment.
