Lobotomy

 

 

The concept of lobotomy, in its entirety, has been quite infamous and controversial since its beginning in the early 1930’s. It is a form of psychosurgery and has been known to be invasive, risky, and is not a procedure for the faint of heart. As described in the book, a prefrontal lobotomy is the disconnection of the prefrontal cortex from the rest of the brain. Lobotomies were preformed to attempt to treat patients with severe mental disorders, such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorders. Early performers of this procedure were not so appalled by its true nature, since it wasn’t any worse than other invasive therapies at the time. American neurologist and psychiatrist Walter Freeman began the lobotomy procedures in the US. He did not possess any medical certification and he seemed to do things very unprofessionally. One specific instrument utilized to perform the procedures was a common household ice pick and since the procedure would only take less than ten minutes, he would either perform it in his office or in his personal vehicle. Despite the many flaws and unhygienic methods, Freeman spread his success through the media and soon after, lobotomies became a more accepted form of psychosurgery. Freeman not only treated individuals with severe mental disorders, he also treated children under the age of eighteen, who showed behavioral problems.

 

Many short and long term effects are now known to be dependent on lobotomy procedures. Memory disorders were prevalent after the procedure had been conducted on an individual, so were high levels of apathy, reduced ability to plan for the future and think of future as a concept, distractibility, and loss of emotional expression. Like mentioned before, these negative outcomes completely isolate a person from society. By conducting a lobotomy you are removing the human factor in a person and leaving them with no way to ever be normal again. I agree with finding various measures -even though they may be drastic- to help those in need of a solution. We need to protect our species and do what we can to cure the ill. What is not right is the lack of cleanliness and humanity while performing such procedures. They should have done more to help with the pain and suffering individuals went through during the procedure.

 

The following video shows the history of the lobotomy procedure and towards the end you can see the emergence of medicinal drugs which replaced lobotomies and other related therapies. In a way, you can see as the video progresses, the similarity these new psychoactive drugs have to dangerous psychosurgeries of the past. New drugs seem harmless and may present a positive outcome short term, but we won't know their true long term effects until much later. Like the once glorified lobotomy, these medications seem promising, yet we need to see the warnings and make sure what we want to get rid of is worth all the risks. Our treatment of mental disorders are changing drastically everyday, we just need to not be fooled by an innocent looking pill. It may just be as harmful as sticking a sharp metal pick underneath your eyelid to intrude into what makes you you.