Buzz
The earliest recorded instance of psychosurgery occurred in 1888, led by Swiss psychiatrist Gottlieb Burckhardt, who claimed a 50% success rate (3 out of 6 patients). Burckhardt faced significant backlash from his peers in the medical community. It wasn't until the mid-1930s that another attempt at such surgery was made, which resulted in several documented successes. This procedure eventually gained acceptance in numerous countries. Between the late 1930s and the 1970s, an estimated 100,000 lobotomies were carried out worldwide.
Note: Many may wonder why Frances Farmer is not mentioned in this list. There is no evidence to support the claim that she ever underwent a lobotomy. The author who first suggested this in a court case later admitted that it was fabricated.
10. Alice Hood Hammatt 1873 – 1941
Significant For: The first prefrontal lobotomy performed in the United States
The first prefrontal lobotomy in the United States was carried out in 1936 on 63-year-old Alice Hood Hammatt by Dr. Walter Freeman and Dr. James Watts. The procedure began with 3 cm incisions, after which the doctors used an auger (drill) to create holes in the skull over both frontal lobes. A leucotome (a slender shaft) was then inserted 4 cm down through the left hole into the exposed brain tissue. The entire surgery took around an hour. Several months later, Hammatt experienced a convulsion likely tied to the procedure. Despite this, she reported a significant decrease in anxiety and remained out of mental institutions. Her husband noted that she seemed more normal than ever post-surgery, calling the next five years the happiest of her life. Alice Hammatt passed away from pneumonia at the age of 68.
Fun Fact: Freeman and Watts closely replicated the procedure of Egas Moniz and Almeida Lima, who had performed the same surgery a year prior, calling it a 'leucotomy.' Moniz, a Portuguese neurosurgeon, was the first Portuguese individual to receive a Nobel Prize for his discovery of leucotomy's therapeutic potential in certain psychoses.
9. Warner Baxter 1889 – 1951
Noteworthy For: Renowned American Actor
Warner Baxter is best remembered for his portrayal of The Cisco Kid in *Old Arizona*, a performance that earned him the Academy Award for Best Actor. By 1936, he was the highest-paid actor in Hollywood, earning $284,000. Over his career, Baxter appeared in more than a hundred films from 1914 to 1950. In his later years, Baxter developed arthritis, which, like many others at the time, led him to consider a lobotomy to alleviate chronic pain, such as severe backaches and headaches. Unfortunately, the procedure was ill-advised, and Baxter died shortly after from pneumonia.
Fun Fact: During the peak of prefrontal lobotomies in the 1940s and ’50s, over 40,000 individuals in the United States underwent the procedure, and approximately 10,000 people in Western Europe were also lobotomized.
8. Sigrid Hjertén 1885 – 1948
Famous For: Modernist Painter
Sigrid Hjertén is regarded as a leading figure in Swedish modernism and was married to the prominent expressionist painter Isaac Grünewald. The couple frequently exhibited their work both in Sweden and abroad, playing a significant role in introducing modernism to Sweden. Hjertén struggled with mental health issues throughout her life, which led to multiple hospitalizations in the 1930s. This internal conflict became increasingly evident in her art, reaching a breaking point before her illness forced her to stop painting. In 1937, she was permanently hospitalized, and Grünewald divorced her to marry his mistress. In 1946, Grünewald and his second wife tragically died in a plane crash. Hjertén passed away two years later following a botched lobotomy. Throughout her career, she produced just over 500 paintings, alongside sketches, watercolors, and drawings.
7. Alys Robi Born 1923
Famous For: Internationally Acclaimed Singer
Alys Robi, born Alice Robitaille in Quebec City, showed an early flair for singing and acting. She made her stage debut at the Capitol Theater at the age of 7. In 1948, when she was 25, she was involved in a serious car accident that plunged her into a period of deep depression. After a failed relationship, she suffered a mental breakdown and was confined to a Quebec City asylum for several years. While there, she was subjected to a lobotomy against her will. Despite the traumatic experience, Robi later credited the procedure with her recovery, seeing herself as one of the rare success stories of the operation. In 1952, after her release, she returned to the stage but found her career hindered by the societal stigma surrounding mental illness. Although she never regained her previous level of fame, Robi experienced a resurgence in the 1990s following the tremendous success of a song written for her by Alain Morisod, titled 'Laissez-moi encore chanter,' which you can hear in the clip above.
Fun Fact: Robitaille published two autobiographies: *Ma Carrière, ma vie* ('My Career, My Life') and *Long Cri dans la nuit: Cinq Années à l’Asile* ('Long Cry in the Night: Five Years in the Asylum').
6. Sallie Ellen Ionesco 1917 – 2007
Famous For: The first transorbital or 'ice pick' lobotomy
In 1946, Dr. Walter Freeman performed the first transorbital lobotomy, sometimes known as the 'ice pick' lobotomy. The patient, a 29-year-old housewife and mother named Ionesco, had been described as severely suicidal. In his Washington D.C. clinic, Freeman put her under through electroshock therapy before inserting an ice pick above her eye. He then drove it through her eye socket and into her brain, twisting it in a motion that resembled an eggbeater to disrupt the neural pathways. The procedure was deemed a success by the family, who considered it a much-needed relief. While she lost some memory, Ionesco lived relatively normally afterwards.
Interesting Fact: Ionesco's daughter remarked, 'It’s a tough choice, but life is full of tough choices... For me, it was the right decision. I believe it helped mama too. The lobotomy, especially the electroshock therapy, was the right thing. Nowadays, there are medications for such things, so it's a moot point. But back then, there was nothing else available. People today don’t understand that—they didn’t have other options.'
5. Howard Dully Born 1948
Notable Because: Underwent a lobotomy at the age of 12
In 1960, Howard Dully was brought in for a transorbital lobotomy after his stepmother described him as 'unbelievably defiant,' citing his resistance to bedtime and frequent daydreaming. After consulting Dr. Freeman, the doctor suggested that altering Howard’s personality through the lobotomy procedure might be worth considering. Convincing Howard’s father, his stepmother secured the approval for the operation. The aftermath was a long and painful recovery for Dully, who faced institutionalization, imprisonment, homelessness, and addiction. However, he eventually overcame his struggles, earned a college degree, and worked as a certified school bus instructor in San Jose, California.
Interesting Fact: In his 50s, Dully embarked on a two-year journey to uncover the truth about his childhood and the lobotomy he underwent. He engaged in conversations with family members, relatives, and other lobotomy patients of Dr. Freeman, and even gained access to Freeman’s archived records. Dully was one of the youngest individuals to undergo an 'ice pick' lobotomy, and he became the first person to obtain a photograph of his own lobotomy procedure.
4. Rose Isabel Williams 1909 – 1996
Notable Because: Sister of Tennessee Williams
Rose Isabel Williams was born two years prior to her brother Thomas (who later became known as Tennessee). The two were incredibly close during their childhood, almost like twins. At the age of 18, Rose began experiencing unstable relationships and struggled with feelings of being unloved. Her behavior grew increasingly erratic, leading her mother to send her away to a school in Vicksburg. Eventually, Rose was institutionalized and diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. After enduring six years of ineffective treatments, including electroshock therapy, Rose underwent a bilateral prefrontal lobotomy in 1943, a procedure her mother authorized. The surgery resulted in a significant loss of Rose’s personality, causing Tennessee deep guilt and regret for not stopping it. For some time, he also resented his mother, Edwina, for allowing the surgery. Rose was the inspiration behind Tennessee Williams' plays, *Suddenly, Last Summer* and *The Glass Menagerie*.
Interesting Fact: Upon Tennessee Williams' death in 1983, he left most of his estate to the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee. A portion of his estate was set up in a trust for his sister, Rose, to benefit her throughout her lifetime. When Rose passed away in 1996, the University received a generous $7 million. The photograph above shows Edwina Dakin Williams reading to her children, Rose and Tom (the future Tennessee).
3. Helen Mortensen 1915 – 1967
Notable Because: Last lobotomy performed by Dr. Walter Freeman
Dr. Freeman’s final lobotomy takes the top spot for a reason. In 1967, he received a visit from Helen Mortensen, a patient he had operated on in 1946 with his pioneering trans-orbital procedure. She had experienced a relapse of her psychiatric issues by 1956, prompting Freeman to perform a second lobotomy. After years of stability, Mortensen sought a third. During this surgery, Freeman accidentally severed a blood vessel in her brain. Tragically, Mortensen passed away three days later, leading to the hospital revoking Freeman’s surgical privileges. He retired shortly thereafter.
Interesting Fact: Over the course of his career, Walter Freeman carried out approximately 3,500 lobotomies in 23 states, with 2,500 of those involving his infamous ice-pick technique. He passed away from cancer on May 31, 1972, at the age of 76. You can view a short documentary on Dr. Freeman here for more insight into his work.
2. Rosemary Kennedy 1918 – 2005
Notable Because: Sister to President John F. Kennedy
Rosemary was often regarded by her family as mentally challenged, though this view has been widely questioned by later experts. Some believe she may not have matched the intellectual brilliance of her relatives, but she was a capable individual, keeping a diary and leading an active social life. Rosemary did experience intense mood swings and a turbulent personality, but some theorists have attributed this to the difficulty she faced in keeping up with her accomplished siblings. In 1941, at the age of 23, her father Joseph Kennedy was informed that a new medical procedure could help regulate her moods, which had become difficult for the family to manage. He gave his consent for Walter Freeman and James Watts to perform a prefrontal lobotomy. After the surgery, Rosemary was left with a diminished mental state, becoming almost childlike, with an inability to control her bodily functions and a blank stare that lasted for hours. Her speech became unintelligible. In 1949, she was moved to an institution, where her sister Eunice Kennedy Shriver, the founder of the Special Olympics, would visit her regularly.
Interesting Fact: During the surgery, Rosemary was given a mild sedative but remained awake. Dr. Freeman asked her to recite the Lord’s Prayer, sing “God Bless America,” or count backwards, adjusting the depth of the procedure based on her responses. The operation ended when she became incoherent. Rosemary passed away in 2005 at the age of 86, becoming the fifth Kennedy child to die, but the first to pass away from natural causes.
1. Josef Hassid 1923 – 1950
Notable Because: Famous Violinist
Born in Poland to a Jewish family, Josef Hassid (Józef Chasyd) is regarded by many as one of the greatest violinists of all time. After losing his mother as a child, he became increasingly shy and withdrawn. In 1938, he relocated to Britain with his father, and in 1940, at the age of 16, he made a remarkable debut in London. During his performance of one of the most technically demanding violin pieces ever composed (Concerto in D major, Op. 35 by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky), he experienced a memory lapse. In 1941, he fell into a severe depression and suffered a nervous breakdown. He was admitted to St Andrew’s Hospital in Northampton, where he underwent insulin coma therapy and electroconvulsive therapy. After a brief respite with his father, he was diagnosed with schizophrenia and committed to Long Grove Hospital, a mental institution in Epsom, Surrey, which housed a ward for Polish civilians. He remained there until his death at the age of 26, which resulted from an unsuccessful lobotomy.
Interesting Fact: Hassid left behind just 9 recordings. One of them is his rendition of Meditation de Thais by Massenet, which you can listen to in the clip above.
