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What is a Lobotomy Anyway? There are nerves that connect the frontal lobes to the rest of the brain. The idea behind psychosurgery, later proven to be invalid, was that these nerves were somehow malformed or damaged, and if they were severed they might regenerate into new, healthy connections. Contrary to popular conception, the operation was not used only on psychiatric patients. Many people were lobotomized for intractable pain, such as chronic, severe backaches or agonizing headaches. The three common versions of psychosurgery were prefrontal leucotomy, prefrontal lobotomy, and transorbital lobotomy. A leucotomy basically involved drilling holes in the skull in order to access the brain. Once visible, the surgeon would sever the nerves using a pencil-sized tool called a leucotome. It had a slide mechanism on the side that would deploy a wire loop or loops from the tip. The idea was to be able to slide the pencil into the pre-drilled holes in the top of skull, into the brain, then use the slide to make the loop(s) come out. The surgeon could sever the nerves by removing cores of brain tissue, slide the loop back in, and the operation was complete. A lobotomy also utilized drilled holes, but in the upper forehead instead of the top of the skull. It was also different in that the surgeon used a blade to cut the brain instead of a leucotome. The infamous transorbital lobotomy was a blind operation in that the surgeon did not know for certain if he had severed the nerves or not. A sharp, ice-pick like object would be inserted through the eye socket between the upper lid and eye. When the doctor thought he was at about the right spot, he would hit the end of the instrument with a hammer. There were other types of lobotomy as well
as many varieties as there were imaginative neurosurgeons. Despite the fact that there was extensive evidence that psychosurgery was not therapeutic, operations continued unabated for decades. This was because it was considered unprofessional to criticize another physician in public, so many doctors who knew that psychosurgery was a farce did not make their opinions known. This allowed the psychosurgeons to continue unchecked from the late 1930s through the 1970s. Next Page: The First Psychosurgeon |
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