Lobotomies in the 1950s

The history of Lobotomies begins in about 1890 when the german researcher, Friederich Golz, experimented removing the temporal lobes from his dogs. The result, he found, was less aggressive behavior in the dogs. In the early 1930s the procedure was adopted for use on psychiatric patients. It was prescribed often in the late 40s, but by the mid 1950s negative press coverage on the lobotomy made it unpopular with the public, diminishing its use.

Increased Use

• Despite a growing negative view in the papers, the use of lobotomy increased in the early 50s. The reason for this, says Gretchen J. Diefenbach of the Department of Psychology at Louisiana State University, is that Egas Moniz won the Nobel Prize for medicine for developing the procedure. Because of winning this reward, lobotomy was viewed as a positive practice. The technique was also reported to cure criminal behavior and reduce pain, helping to further promote the procedure.

Transorbital Lobotomy

• In the late 40s Walter Freeman introduced the use of an ice pick, or other similar object hammered into the patient's brain to perform the procedure. This method gained more popularity in the early 50s. The transorbital lobotomy was supposedly a faster and safer method of lobotomizing than the original procedure. In the new method, an ice pick was lightly hammered into the patient's brain just above the eye socket, in the orbital plate. Although the lobotomy was traditionally used as a last resort, in the early 50s Freeman began promoting the use of the transorbital lobotomy at the early onset of mental illness.

Decline

• By the mid 1950s the lobotomy procedure came under heavy fire. News articles reported more negative side of the lobotomy and many people were concerned with the rapid increase in use of the procedure. New innovations in drug therapy and somatic therapies, which were non invasive alternatives, further diminished the need to lobotomize, says Diefenbach. Freeman still supported the use of lobotomies in patients, but few articles were published that supported the procedure. Many articles were published that countered the lobotomy practice and supported newer brain surgery techniques.

Public Reaction

• As the number of lobotomies increased in the early 50s, many people began to protest against it. Research showed that patients who had been lobotomized seldom got better, and some even got worse. The public was outraged and there was a severe backlash at the supporters of the lobotomy. According to Dr. George Boeree, a retired psychology professor from Shippensburg University, even James Watt, Freeman's coworker, thought that the procedure and been prescribed too often.