A lobotomy, also known as leucotomy, is a surgical procedure that involves severing connections in the brains prefrontal cortex. The procedure was developed in the early 20th century as a radical and invasive physical therapy for psychiatric disorders when few effective medical treatments were available. The procedure involves making holes in the skull, removing some brain tissue, and severing the connections between the frontal lobe and the thalamus. The frontal lobe is involved in many brain processes, including language, voluntary motion, and many cognitive abilities. The procedure was initially considered a breakthrough in the treatment of mental illness, and approximately 3,000 lobotomies were carried out in Norway in the period 1940–60. However, lobotomy has always been controversial and is now considered a disparaged procedure, a byword for medical barbarism and an exemplary instance of the medical trampling of patients rights.
Lobotomy has been used to treat a range of mental health conditions, including schizophrenia, affective disturbance, and obsessive-compulsive disorders (OCD). The procedure was performed on a wide scale during the 1940s and 1950s, with tens of thousands of lobotomies carried out in some countries. The procedure was modified in 1936 by American neurologists Walter J. Freeman II and James W. Watts, who developed the Freeman-Watts standard lobotomy. The procedure involved inserting a spatula called a leukotome into the brain and manipulating it to sever the connections between the frontal cortex and the rest of the brain. The use of lobotomy in the United States was resisted and criticized heavily by American neurosurgeons, but Freeman managed to promote the success of the surgery through the media, leading to an overwhelming demand for the operation.
Lobotomy has been associated with a range of side effects and outcomes, such as seizures, infections, cognitive impairment, changes in personality and emotion, and even death. Today, lobotomies are no longer performed and have largely been replaced by medications.
