Why Is The Lobotomy Important

The Lobotomy, The Dark Past In American Mental Health

America in the 1900's was a growing country and expanding scientifically. In 1935, the Social Security Act passed which led to better funding for treating mental disorders (Kemp 260). Doctors began to link mental condition with physical condition and started to use physical methods to treat mental disorders. The lobotomy procedure was developed by Walter Freeman and James Watts and was used to treat a variety of mental disorders from depression to Schizophrenia. The procedure severed the frontal lobe of the brain through inserting a pick above the eye and hitting it to serve brain tissue. The procedure's intent was to repair emotional disorder through physical means.

To what extent was the

The procedure's highly experimental approach "lacked coherent medical theories" to explain it (Rochefort 31).

This made the Mental Health system rely mostly on predictions and luck rather than actual science. Direct observation of the brain is not possible and was very limited in the 1940's. As result it was difficult to even justify the theories. The Mental Health System did not yet have the technology to explore more efficient treatment options.

The mental Health system started to lack reasoning and started to look for a "quick fix". The lobotomy was almost a default solution for when a patient was not responding to other treatments. Prescription treatments for mental illnesses were not developed at this time, making treatment options limited.

The lobotomy is a permanent severation of the brain tissue and left many Americans having problems and their "shredded brain was damaged forever" (Bibeau)

Many people were left with stunted emotions and they had to cope with the effect of this surgery for the rest of their life. Studies on the surgery suggest that most patients of the surgery did not have the same social functions due to their lack of ability to

However, even despite bad outcomes, this treatment was not questioned until a decade later after thousands of people had the procedure performed.

The science behind the procedure was based upon predicted theories. The theories at the time were not proven or justified, just predicted. Thus making the credibility of the procedure decrease and the credibility of the institutions' medical knowledge status decrease.

The lobotomy sparked progression in the American Mental Health system.

Technology at the time was improving and doctors "hopefully embraced the new treatments" (Rochefort 31).

Doctors believed that they finally found a universal treatment that helped people with these difficult mental illnesses. The hopeful perspective of the lobotomy brought attention to the Mental Health System as an advancement.

The technology advancement that the lobotomy brought attention to the awareness of mental illness and brought funding to the Mental Health system. The support the Mental Health System was getting helped it to advance and develop more.

Although now the lobotomy is viewed as a faulty treatment, it was first viewed “as a major medical advance in 1935”