Treating mental illness has been of great concern for scientists and researchers, even in the early 1900s. Mental illness inhibits individuals from carrying out normal day to day functions and providing the opportunity for these individuals to get their lives back, by whatever means necessary, has been the constant goal. ("Mental Illness," n.d.) In the 1930s, scientist Moniz made a claim that prefrontal lobotomy, severing the prefrontal lobes from the rest of the brain, was the answer to all problems mental health, and from there the practice exploded. This was in part because there was no research training at the time but mainly because there was no effective way of treating mental illness. Moniz’s idea of implementing lobotomy to mental …show more content…
In an article published by PBS, mental illness was spreading in the early 1900s and doctors did not know what to do to help all the suffering individuals. (“Moniz develops lobotomy for mental illness 1935,” n.d.) Moniz’s claim that psychosurgery treated mental illness provided hope and was the hope doctors clung to in attempting to control the mental illness epidemic. It did not matter what research training was involved nor did it matter whether it was ethical or not. Antipsychotics did not exist, psychotherapy proved ineffective for suffering individuals who seemingly required a more direct approach to cure their illness and control their symptoms. Today, however, we know of more non-invasive techniques to treat mental illness like antipsychotics and psychosurgery is only used as a last resort or in extreme cases. Functional magnetic resonance imaging can study disorders like schizophrenia and psychopathy. Decompression therapy has developed and has reportedly decreased recidivism in criminals suffering from mental illness. (Kiehl & Hoffman, 2011) Surgery is a gamble doctors were willing to take in the early 1900s but today we know