Harrison Kilgore, '26
There are many outdated forms of medicine that have historically proven to have little purpose or meaning. Most of these practices were discontinued in the 19th and early 20th centuries, but one of the most harmful practices went on into the late 60s. The practice is called lobotomy; lobotomy is the process of severing the frontal lobe and prefrontal cortex of the brain. It was an archaic practice of sticking a sharp hook-like tool up the nose. This odd medical practice seems a little extreme and is often misunderstood, especially outside of the medical field. Some medical evidence showed the process calmed chimpanzees, but that was in the 1890s and could not be fully verified or trusted. Doctors often did these procedures for schizophrenia, sometimes finding promising results. This became problematic, as they started using it for almost all major mental complaints: depression, anxiety, PTSD, and hysteria, to name a few. The darker side of this practice is reflected in some side effects, which were horrible, to say the least.
Lobotomies had many side effects, some of which were notoriously harmful. Long-term effects included dementia, bleeding of the brain, and epilepsy. These procedures prevented many people from concentrating and focusing on topics. They also caused apathy in patients and dampened their emotions. The procedure could sometimes even change a person’s personality. As a whole, the side effects were so extreme that they took away what it meant to be human with some of the patients. These people were often seen as shells of what they used to be.
In a number of cases, people replaced their mental condition with another, which is true in the case of a woman named Alice Hammatt. She was reportedly happier after the lobotomy, but then five days later, she had symptoms of bipolarism and had trouble talking. The doctors still considered the surgery successful. 63% of lobotomies were called “successful”, 23% of them had no change, and 17% of people died from the procedure. That is almost a 1 in 5 mortality rate. They considered lobotomies “successful” when the patient lived and had one or more symptoms reduced. The doctors conducting studies around the procedures never included factors like physical and mental impairments.
Eventually, lobotomies were outlawed in the Soviet Union in 1950 due to the immoral aspects of changing someone's personality. Lobotomies were never officially banned in the U.S. and Europe but were phased out with different medications treating many mental illnesses. The craziest part about lobotomies is that most were carried out by just regular surgeons. Historically, most neuroscientists protested and denounced the practice altogether.
Lobotomies were one of the most modern major examples of a detrimental medical practice. It’s concerning when a practice like this never fully gets established in research, yet it quickly becomes common practice. A 60% success rate isn’t great odds for a brain surgery. All in all, the possible consequences outweighed the gain, especially in the cases of mood disorders like depression and bipolar disorder. Thankfully, modern medicine has begun to steer in new directions across the field of mental health.
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