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A human brain that has undergone lobotomy.

Close up of "ice picks"

A lobotomy (Greek: lobos: Lobe of brain, tomos: "cut/slice") is a form of psychosurgery, also known as a leukotomy or leucotomy (from Greek leukos: clear or white and tomos meaning "cut/slice"). It consists of cutting the connections to and from, or simply destroying, the prefrontal cortex. These procedures often result in major personality changes and possible mental retardation. Lobotomies were used in the past to treat a wide range of severe mental illnesses, including schizophrenia, clinical depression, and various anxiety disorders. Image File history File links Emblem-important. ... Image File history File links Unbalanced_scales. ... Shortcut: WP:NPOVD Articles that have been linked to this page are the subject of an NPOV dispute (NPOV stands for Neutral Point Of View; see below). ... Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Wiktionary (a portmanteau of wiki and dictionary) is a multilingual, Web-based project to create a free content dictionary, available in over 151 languages. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Leucotomy. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Leucotomy. ... The human brain controls the central nervous system (CNS), by way of the cranial nerves and spinal cord, the peripheral nervous system (PNS) and regulates virtually all human activity. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... The frontal lobe is an area in the brain of mammals. ... Human brain In animals, the brain (enkephale) (Greek for in the skull), is the control center of the central nervous system, responsible for behavior. ... Psychosurgery is a term for surgeries of the brain involving procedures that modulate the performance of the brain, and thus effect changes in cognition, with the intent to treat or alleviate severe mental illness. ... “Prefrontal” redirects here. ... Mental retardation is a term for a pattern of persistently slow learning of basic motor and language skills (milestones) during childhood, and a significantly below-normal global intellectual capacity as an adult. ... A mental illness or mental disorder refers to one of many mental health conditions characterized by distress, impaired cognitive functioning, atypical behavior, emotional dysregulation, and/or maladaptive behavior. ... On the Threshold of Eternity. ...

History

In 1890, Dr. Gottlieb Burckhardt^{[citation needed]} performed partial leucotomies on six patients of a psychiatric hospital in Switzerland. He drilled holes into their heads and extracted sections of their frontal lobes. One died after the operation, and another was found dead in a river 10 days after release (whether by accident, suicide, or crime is unknown). The others exhibited altered behavior. An MRI scan of a human brain and head. ...

Based on his research about brain function, the Portuguese physician and neurologist António Egas Moniz in 1936 developed a technique for leucotomy in humans. His method involved drilling holes in patients' heads and destroying the tissue connecting the frontal lobes by injecting alcohol into them. Moniz won the Nobel Prize for medicine in 1949 for this work. It was intended to give relief to patients who were hopelessly ill and severely agitated. The procedure was refined by British psychiatrists including Eric Cunningham Dax. Drs. Walter Freeman and James W. Watts refined Moniz's procedure, brought the surgery to the US and changed its name from leucotomy to lobotomy. Neurology is the branch of medicine that deals with the nervous system and disorders affecting it. ... António Caetano de Abreu Freire Egas Moniz (November 29, 1874 - December 13, 1955) was a Portuguese physician and neurologist. ... The Nobel Prize (Swedish: ) was established in Alfred Nobels will in 1895, and it was first awarded in Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, Literature, and Peace in 1901. ... Dr Eric Cunningham Dax AO, BSc Lond, HonMD, FRACP, FRANZCP, HonFRCPsych (born 1908) is a British psychiatrist resident in Australia since 1952. ... Dr. Walter Jackson Freeman II (November 14, 1895 – May 31, 1972) was a physician, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, graduate of Yale and the University of Pennsylvania Medical School, advocate and very prolific practitioner of psychosurgery, specifically lobotomy. ... James Winston Watts (1904 – 1994) was a neurosurgeon, born in Lynchburg, Virginia and a graduate of the Virginia Military Institute and the University of Virginia School of Medicine. ...

Freeman later developed a simplified procedure to reached frontal lobe tissue through the tear ducts. In his trans-orbital lobotomy, he used a mallet to force a thin surgical instrument through the thin layer of skull at the top of the eye socket. The pick was then moved to sever connections between the frontal lobes and rest of the brain. Because of the appearance of the instrument, it was termed an "ice pick lobotomy." This technique could be performed in a doctor's office rather than in an operating room, and required only a few minutes to perform. Watts sharply disagreed with him over using this procedure and their partnership ended.

Concerns about lobotomy steadily grew. Numerous countries, including Germany and Japan banned it, as did several U.S. states. Lobotomy was legally practiced in controlled and regulated U.S. centers and in Finland, Sweden, the United Kingdom, Spain, India, Belgium and the Netherlands.

In 1977, the U.S. Congress created a National Committee for the Protection of Human Subjects of Biomedical and Behavioral Research to investigate allegations that psychosurgery— including lobotomy techniques — were used to control minorities and restrain individual rights. It also investigated after-effects of the surgery. The committee concluded that some extremely limited and properly performed psychosurgery could have positive effects. Psychosurgery is a term for surgeries of the brain involving procedures that modulate the performance of the brain, and thus effect changes in cognition, with the intent to treat or alleviate severe mental illness. ...

By the early 1970s the practice had generally ceased, but some countries continued small-scale operations through the late 1980s. In France, 32 lobotomies were performed between 1980 and 1986 according to an IGAS report; about 15 each year in the UK, 70 in Belgium, and about 15 for the Massachusetts General Hospital of Boston.^[1]

Scale

Lobotomy procedures were done most frequently in the United States, where approximately 40,000 persons were so treated. Great Britain performed procedures on 17,000 people, and the three Scandinavian countries had a combined figure of approximately 9,300 persons treated.^[2]

Cases

• Rosemary Kennedy, the sister of President John F. Kennedy, was given a lobotomy when her father complained to doctors about the 23-year-old’s moodiness. Dr. Walter Freeman personally performed the procedure. Rather than any improvement, however, the lobotomy reduced Rosemary to an infantile mentality including incontinence. Her verbal skills were reduced to unintelligible babble. Her father hid the nature of Rosemary's affliction for years and described it as the result of mental retardation. Rosemary's sister Eunice Kennedy Shriver founded the Special Olympics in her honor in 1968.^{[citation needed]}
• Howard Dully had a lobotomy at 12, after his stepmother was simply tired of his "youthful defiance". At the age of 56 he said, "I've always felt different -- wondered if something's missing from my soul. I have no memory of the operation". Late in his life, Dully uncovered the story of his lobotomy. Crown Publishers published Howard Dully's memoir (co-written by Charles Fleming), My Lobotomy [1], in September 2007.^[3][4]
• New Zealand author and poet, Janet Frame was due to have a lobotomy because of a diagnosis of mental illness. She was saved from this procedure by receiving a literary award the day before her operation was to take place.

Rose Marie Kennedy (September 13, 1918 – January 7, 2005) was the third child and first daughter of Joseph and Rose Kennedy, born a year after the U.S. President John F. Kennedy. ... John Kennedy and JFK redirect here. ... Dr. Walter Jackson Freeman II (November 14, 1895 – May 31, 1972) was a physician, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, graduate of Yale and the University of Pennsylvania Medical School, advocate and very prolific practitioner of psychosurgery, specifically lobotomy. ... Zurab Tsereteli with Eunice Kennedy Shriver (right) Eunice Mary Kennedy Shriver (born July 10, 1921 in Brookline, Massachusetts), USA, is a member of the Kennedy family. ... Howard Dully was, at 12 years of age, one of the youngest victims of the ice-pick or transorbital lobotomy. ... Janet Paterson Frame, ONZ, CBE (August 28, 1924 - January 29, 2004) was a New Zealand author. ...

In popular culture

• The Velvet Underground song, "Lady Godiva's Operation", depicts a lobotomy.
• A lobotomy is mentioned in the song "Paralyzed" by KISS off of their album Revenge. "Don't see nothin' in my eyes, 'cause man I've been lobotomized"
• A lobotomy is mentioned in the song "Leper Friend" by Dog Fashion Disco from their album "The Embryo's in Bloom". "The cure for clinical depression is a lobotomy."
• In the 1947 radio play "Dark Curtain", Veronica Lake portrays a paranoid schizophrenic bride-to-be who receives a failed series of convulsive electroshock treatments followed by a successful lobotomy. The shock treatments and the brain surgery are described in clinical detail. The glowingly positive light in which these "advances in modern medicine" were depicted make it difficult for a contemporary audience to listen to it.
• In Tennessee Williams's play, Suddenly, Last Summer, Catherine, the protagonist, is threatened with a lobotomy to stop her telling the truth about her cousin Sebastian.
• In the Pink Floyd song Brain Damage, the second verse includes the lines "You raise the blade/You make the change/You rearrange me till I'm sane", discussing lobotomy.
• In the 1962 book One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (and the 1975 film based on it), McMurphy was lobotomized after he angrily attacked Nurse Ratched.
• The novel All the King's Men by Robert Penn Warren described a lobotomy.
• In the 1968 film Planet of the Apes, Taylor was separated from his fellow astronauts. He later finds that the apes gave astronaut Landon a lobotomy.
• The 1982 biopic Frances included a fictional scene of the titular actress Frances Farmer undergoing transorbital lobotomy.
• In the DCAU Justice League two part episode, "A Better World", Justice Lord Superman uses his heat-ray ability to lobotomize his most powerful enemy, Doomsday, defeating him.
• The Ramones song titled "Teenage Lobotomy" as well as the book "Lobotomy: Surviving the Ramones" written by Dee Dee Ramone.
• The Iron Maiden album "Piece Of Mind" depicts the character Eddie after having a lobotomy. Therefore they have taken a piece of Eddie's mind.
• The track "Lobotomy Gets 'em Home" by The Men They Couldn't Hang, is about the enforced treatment of the american actress Frances Farmer

The Velvet Underground and Nico (from left to right: John Cale, Nico, Lou Reed, Sterling Morrison, and Maureen Tucker) The Velvet Underground (Affectionately known as The Velvets, or V.U. for short) was an American rock and roll band of the late 1960s. ... Lady Godivas Operation is a song by Avant-garde American rock band The Velvet Underground, appearing on their second album, White Light/White Heat (1968). ... For other uses, see Kiss (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Revenge (disambiguation). ... Dog Fashion Disco is a band from Washington, D.C., notable for combining many different music styles (70s pychedelic, jazz, piano recital, circus music and vocals, among others) they are, howerever, primarily considered a metal band. ... The Embryos In Bloom is Dog Fashion Discos third album, originally released in 2000. ... Veronica Lake (November 14, 1919[1] – July 7, 1973) was a popular American film actress and pin-up model who enjoyed both popular and critical acclaim, especially for her femme fatale roles in film noir with Alan Ladd during the 1940s. ... Schizophrenia is a psychiatric diagnosis denoting a persistent, often chronic, mental illness variously affecting behavior, thinking, and emotion. ... Electroconvulsive therapy, also known as electroshock or ECT, is a controversial type of psychiatric shock therapy involving the induction of an artificial seizure in a patient by passing electricity through the brain. ... Thomas Lanier Williams III (March 26, 1911 – February 25, 1983), better known by the nickname Tennessee Williams, was a major American playwright of the twentieth century who received many of the top theatrical awards for his work. ... Suddenly, Last Summer is a play by Tennessee Williams. ... Pink Floyd are an English rock band that initially earned recognition for their psychedelic rock music, and, as they evolved, for their progressive rock music. ... Brain damage or brain injury is the destruction or degeneration of brain cells. ... One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest (1962) is a novel written by Ken Kesey. ... One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest is a 1975 film directed by MiloÅ¡ Forman. ... Randle Patrick McMurphy, or R P McMurphy for short, is an Irish-American mental patient from Ken Keseys novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest. ... Louise Fletcher as Nurse Ratched in the 1975 film. ... This article is about the book. ... Robert Penn Warren Robert Penn Warren (April 24, 1905 – September 15, 1989) was an American poet, novelist, and literary critic, and was one of the founders of The New Criticism. ... Planet of the Apes is a 1968 science fiction film about an astronaut (Charlton Heston) who finds himself stranded on an Earth-like planet two thousand years in the future. ... Colonel George Taylor, played by leading man Charlton Heston, is an American astronaut, and the leader of a space expedition, in the 1968 movie Planet of the Apes. ... Frances Elena Farmer (September 19, 1913 – August 1, 1970) was an American film, television and theater actress. ... Justice League is an American animated television series about a team of superheroes which ran from 2001 to 2004 on Cartoon Network. ... The Justice Lords are fictional anti-heroes or villains who first appeared in the two-part Justice League episode, A Better World (airdate November 1, 2003). ... Superman is a fictional character and comic book superhero , originally created by American writer Jerry Siegel and Canadian artist Joe Shuster and published by DC Comics. ... Doomsday is a character in the DC Comics Universe, a super-villain best known for fighting and killing Superman in the Death of Superman storyline published in 1993. ... The Ramones (L-R, Johnny, Tommy, Joey, Dee Dee) on the cover of their debut self-titled album (1976), cementing their place at the dawn of the punk movement. ... Dee Dee Ramone, 1979 Dee Dee Ramone (Douglas Glenn Colvin) (September 18, 1951 - June 5, 2002) was a German American songwriter and bassist, best remembered as a founding member of punk rock band The Ramones. ... This article is about the band. ... Piece of Mind is the name of several albums, including: 1983 Piece of Mind by Iron Maiden 1996 Piece of Mind by Tela 1999 Piece of Mind by David McMurray 2003 Piece of Mind by Robin Lane This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages... Eddie or Eddy is a diminutive for Edward or Edmund and may refer to: In sports: Eddie Cheever, American race car driver Eddy Curry American professional basketballer Eddie Guardado, American baseball closer Eddie Guerrero, Mexican-American professional wrestler (d. ... The Men They Couldnt Hang (TMTCH) are a British rock band whose mixture of folk and punk is not dissimilar to that of The Pogues (in fact founder member Shanne Bradley was an original female punk artist and founder of Shane MacGowans first band, The Nipple Erectors). ... Frances Elena Farmer (September 19, 1913 – August 1, 1970) was an American film, television and theater actress. ...

See also

• Article on the Lobotomy and its effects: ""Mental cruelty"", The Sunday Times, 2006-02-19. 
• For an example of the personality changes associated with damage to the frontal lobe not related to a surgical leukotomy, see the famous case of Phineas Gage.
• Elliot Valenstein, author of Great and Desperate Cures: The Rise and Decline of Psychosurgery and Other Radical Treatments for Mental Illness

Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... [[Media:Italic text]]{| style=float:right; |- | |- | |} is the 50th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... The frontal lobe is an area in the brain of mammals. ... Phineas P. Gage (1823 – May 21, 1860) was a railroad construction foreman who suffered a traumatic brain injury when a tamping iron accidentally passed through his skull, damaging the frontal lobes of his brain. ... Elliot S. Valenstein, Ph. ...

References

March 6 is the 65th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (66th in Leap years). ... 2008 (MMVIII) will be a leap year starting on Tuesday of the Anno Domini (common) era, in accordance with the Gregorian calendar. ... Random House is a publishing division of the German media conglomerate Bertelsmann based in New York City. ...

External links

• The History of Lobotomy
• University of North Carolina Asheville: Lobotomy
• My Lobotomy Radio story
• Psychosurgery.org
• "Lobotomy's back - controversial procedure is making a comeback"
• 'My Lobotomy': Howard Dully's Journey
• 'My Lobotomy': Howard Dully's Story, co-authored by Charles Fleming