Essay On Lobotomy

By the end of 1951, over 18,000 lobotomies were performed in the United States alone (Boeree 1) . Some people who were lobotomized mainly suffered from some kind of mental illness such as depression, anxiety, obsessive compulsive disorder, known as OCD. Other patients on the other hand, were lobotomized for things such as homosexuality, inappropriateness, or simply because their families believed they needed it. Although some families just did not want to care for their family member and after the lobotomy was performed, they would go to a mental institution meaning that the family would not have to take care of them. Psychosurgery contributed to new procedures around the world performed by notable doctors and surgeons who believed it would improve patient’s mental health, although the statistics proved otherwise which led to its downfall. Psychosurgery dates all the way back to 1890 when a German researcher named Frederich Golz removed parts of his dog’s temporal lobes (Sabbatini 1). The temporal lobe is located right behind the temples and is mainly for understanding and comprehending what is being heard. His results was that the dogs seemed to be more calm and tame than the dogs that were not operated on (Sabbatini 1). Golz’s removal of the temporal lobe inspired a physician in Switzerland to perform a similar procedure, but on humans.

In 1892, Burkhardt performed an operation to remove parts of the cortex in six schizophrenics who were having hallucinations and were very agitated. The cortex is split into four lobes: frontal lobes, parietal lobes, occipital lobes, and the temporal lobes. A few patients did become calmer after the operation but two of them had died afterwards. Other physicians during his time, opposed and criticised Burkhardt’s operation which resulted in very few operations being carried out within the next forty years (Sabbatini