This animated video from Life Noggin explores the dark, gruesome and shocking history of lobotomy, how and why it was invented, who received the “treatment” and how it was performed of.
It’s one of those things that used to be like a horror movie. It’s crazy to think that doctors think it’s a good idea to mess with people’s brains with ice picks!
“If you had a mental illness in the early 1900s, doctors might have treated you with something called a lobotomy. …Doctors broke the connections between the frontal lobes and the thalamus… Scientists believe severing the nerve fibers between them could stop abnormal behavior.
“This was initially done through a craniotomy until the less invasive lobotomy was developed in 1930, which for the first time involved drilling holes in the skull.”
Lobotomies continued until 1967 and were used by doctors to treat any type of mental illness, anxiety, insomnia, and other conditions.
“However, despite the gruesome method of lobotomy and the horrific results, it became extremely popular in the 1930s and 1940s, with tens of thousands of people undergoing the procedure worldwide.”
“At the time, the term mental illness covered a wide range of behaviors, including intellectual disability, homosexuality, and criminality, but the group most commonly subjected to lobotomies were women, although more male patients were admitted to mental hospitals. … In most cases Next, their symptoms are simply worry or insomnia.
Crazy and wild stuff!
