Lobotomies did not stop on a single exact date, but they largely fell out of routine use in the 1950s–1960s and had almost completely disappeared by the late 1970s in most countries. A few places, especially in parts of Europe and Scandinavia, continued to perform them on a small scale into the 1980s, but they are now essentially obsolete as a treatment.

Decline in the mid‑20th century

• The introduction of antipsychotic drugs such as chlorpromazine in the mid‑1950s made lobotomy far less attractive because medications were safer, reversible, and often more effective.

• As evidence accumulated of severe side effects—personality changes, cognitive impairment, disability, and death—the medical community increasingly viewed lobotomy as unethical and poor practice.

Last routine and isolated cases

• In the United States, lobotomies sharply declined after the 1950s; the last well‑documented lobotomy performed by the prominent lobotomist Walter Freeman was in 1967, after which he was barred from operating.

• Internationally, the Soviet Union formally banned lobotomies in 1950, and by the late 1970s the operation had “generally ceased,” though small numbers were still reported into the 1980s in some European countries such as France and parts of Scandinavia.