4 ms·

The Strange Past and Promising Future of the Lobotomy (2011)

25 points by kdazzle 13y ago

thepumpkin1979 13y ago
Hard to believe this was just 70 years ago, I guess in another 70 years people will say the same thing about us: "Hard to believe they used to fight cancer with that horrible Chemotherapy thing".
- Aqueous 13y ago
  It's an interesting comparison, but chemotherapy at least has peer-reviewed research and clinical experience to back it up, and despite its ill-effects it can frequently achieve remission from cancer. What Freeman did was monstrous and completely unscientific, and saying it cured people was like saying that a leg amputation could cure an aching foot.
  - deleted 13y ago
    [deleted]
- carbocation 13y ago
  People say that about chemo today. However, until better things come about (targeted therapies are flowing now thanks to genetic and molecular biological advances), chemo remains an option for palliation, and rarely for cure.
- doctorpangloss 13y ago
  You typically get consent for chemotherapy. These doctors were butchers because there was no consent. Always a tricky problem in mental health, still one to this day.
  - rl3 13y ago
    With or without consent, they're still butchers. There's an implicit trust that exists between patient and physician. Namely, that said physician actually knows what they're doing in the first place. When patients consent, they're essentially placing trust in their physician's expertise.
pygy_ 13y ago
Lobectomies have little to do with these lobotomies, beside the fact that you remove brain tissue. Lobectomies applied to patients with a single epileptic focus (trigger zone), and they are narrowly targeted. The focus often lies in the basal portion of the temporal lobe, near the hippocampus, which is involved in long term memory consolidation. The role of the hippocampus was actually discovered after a bilateral temporal lobectomy, when the procedure was still in its infancy. The patient woke up with complete, irreversible anterograde amnesia. The unilateral procedure is safe, though, and is still practiced nowadays.
guard-of-terra 13y ago
People were so uncomfortable with the mentally ill that they made their social system to accept and reason inhumane and horrible "cures". It's not unique, happens to drug addicts, for example, in various places.
losethos 13y ago
God is perfectly just, laugh at people who don't know God is just. Jews got holocausted. God says... affirmed, saying, Of a truth this fellow also was with him: for he is a Galilaean. 22:60 And Peter said, Man, I know not what thou sayest. And immediately, while he yet spake, the cock crew. 22:61 And the Lord turned, and looked upon Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said unto him, Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice. 22:62 And Peter went out, and wept bitterly. 22:63 And the men that held Jesus mocked him, and smote him. 22:64 And when they had blindfolded him, they struck him on the face, and asked him, saying, Prophesy, who is it that smote thee? 22:65 And many other things blasphemously spake they against him. ---- God says... unskilfulness infirmity devoutness conspiracy dispensers modification publicly Carthaginian drunkenness AM greater reports supercelestial fowls Spirit vigour infinitude derived year dug life
pacaro 13y ago
For a personal perspective on this, which I found horrifying and compelling in equal measure try the book "My Lobotomy" http://www.amazon.com/My-Lobotomy-Howard-Dully/dp/0307381277 http://www.amazon.com/My-Lobotomy-Howard-Dully/dp/0307381277

25 points by kdazzle 13y ago

thepumpkin1979 13y ago

Hard to believe this was just 70 years ago, I guess in another 70 years people will say the same thing about us: "Hard to believe they used to fight cancer with that horrible Chemotherapy thing".

Aqueous 13y ago
It's an interesting comparison, but chemotherapy at least has peer-reviewed research and clinical experience to back it up, and despite its ill-effects it can frequently achieve remission from cancer. What Freeman did was monstrous and completely unscientific, and saying it cured people was like saying that a leg amputation could cure an aching foot.
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]
carbocation 13y ago
People say that about chemo today. However, until better things come about (targeted therapies are flowing now thanks to genetic and molecular biological advances), chemo remains an option for palliation, and rarely for cure.
doctorpangloss 13y ago
You typically get consent for chemotherapy. These doctors were butchers because there was no consent. Always a tricky problem in mental health, still one to this day.
- rl3 13y ago
  With or without consent, they're still butchers. There's an implicit trust that exists between patient and physician. Namely, that said physician actually knows what they're doing in the first place. When patients consent, they're essentially placing trust in their physician's expertise.

pygy_ 13y ago

Lobectomies have little to do with these lobotomies, beside the fact that you remove brain tissue. Lobectomies applied to patients with a single epileptic focus (trigger zone), and they are narrowly targeted. The focus often lies in the basal portion of the temporal lobe, near the hippocampus, which is involved in long term memory consolidation. The role of the hippocampus was actually discovered after a bilateral temporal lobectomy, when the procedure was still in its infancy. The patient woke up with complete, irreversible anterograde amnesia. The unilateral procedure is safe, though, and is still practiced nowadays.

guard-of-terra 13y ago

People were so uncomfortable with the mentally ill that they made their social system to accept and reason inhumane and horrible "cures". It's not unique, happens to drug addicts, for example, in various places.

losethos 13y ago

God is perfectly just, laugh at people who don't know God is just. Jews got holocausted. God says... affirmed, saying, Of a truth this fellow also was with him: for he is a Galilaean. 22:60 And Peter said, Man, I know not what thou sayest. And immediately, while he yet spake, the cock crew. 22:61 And the Lord turned, and looked upon Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said unto him, Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice. 22:62 And Peter went out, and wept bitterly. 22:63 And the men that held Jesus mocked him, and smote him. 22:64 And when they had blindfolded him, they struck him on the face, and asked him, saying, Prophesy, who is it that smote thee? 22:65 And many other things blasphemously spake they against him. ---- God says... unskilfulness infirmity devoutness conspiracy dispensers modification publicly Carthaginian drunkenness AM greater reports supercelestial fowls Spirit vigour infinitude derived year dug life

pacaro 13y ago

For a personal perspective on this, which I found horrifying and compelling in equal measure try the book "My Lobotomy" http://www.amazon.com/My-Lobotomy-Howard-Dully/dp/0307381277 http://www.amazon.com/My-Lobotomy-Howard-Dully/dp/0307381277