Terrifying Images Of Real Lobotomies

By Editorial Staff in Bizarre On 5th December 2016

The brain is an intricate and sensitive organ, and you can’t just go prodding around in there with a sharp tool. But unfortunately, lobotomies did just that. They were an extremely damaging and invasive type of brain surgery that had tragic results on innocent patients. If you don’t know anything about lobotomies, just know that it is one of the worst surgeries doctors have ever performed on innocent patients, mostly affecting the mentally ill and women. Not all of these patients were even sick, just used as test subjects. These are some sad and extremely disturbing of lobotomy cases throughout history.

#1 There Were Two Men Responsible For It All

Dr. James Watts and Dr. Walter Freeman came up with the idea for lobotomies but were just psychiatrists and not even surgeons. It was supposed to be the end-all treatment for curing the mentally ill, and Dr. Walter Freeman was actually given a Nobel Peace Prize for his work. But now we just remember these two as monsters who went into the brains of innocent victims and jumbled up their most sensitive organ.

#2 The Procedure Is Disturbing

There were generally a few different way sin which lobotomies were performed. The most common, which is pictured, is the the result of entering through the eye with an icepick until it reached the brain, then disconnecting nerve endings from parts of the affected brain. This was without cat scans or x-rays or any way of knowing exactly where the tool was touching inside the head. The patients were told to recite a song or poems they had memorized, and when their recitation became slurred or jumbled, the doctors believed the operation was a success!

#3 It Was Performed On Children

The lobotomy became common practice for a time as a treatment of mental illness. People were given the operation when simply diagnosed with depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, and other ailments or disabilities thought to be caused by the brain. OCD is included in mental illness, as are several other things like ADHD. Unruly and badly behaved children, who couldn't study or had trouble sitting in class, were given the operations routinely. This was way before ADHA was a diagnosis, however.

#4 The Surgical Tools Used

Looking at these tools you might think they belonged to a dentist, but these are actual tools used by "surgeons"who performed lobotomies. They are sharp, metal, and look like they could seriously do some damage. The brain is the only organ that is almost completely encased in a bone, and the skull is the thickest bone in the body. Perhpas meant to be so because it protects the most valuable organ in the body, the brain. This is a pretty good sign that it wasn't meant to be dug around with by pointy, sharp metal objects.

#5 It Changed People Forever

If you damage your brain, there's a pretty slim chance of you ever going back to normal. A broken finger will heal, a broken nose will heal, even the loss of a limb will still allow you to function, but the brain is different. It does not heal like other parts of the body and any illness or damage to the brain usually result in permanent damage. Once you break through your skull and start prodding around with needles and sticks, you're not going to be the same person you were before.

#6 The Side Effects Were Terrifying

The results of the procedure almost always varied. For the first few weeks, most patients showed a lot of improvement in the behavior they were being treated for. Someone who was depressed might act happy. Someone who was schizophrenic no longer acted out and lived normally. But what would often follow would be more tragic. Many patients, who made it out of the surgery (still functioning, that is) would resort back to their old bad habits or develop new or worse mental illnesses. Suicide after a lobotomy was common, as was developing the brain and habits of an adolescent.

#7 Electroshock Was Also Used

Not only were ice picks and sharp tools used, many patients were also given electroshock treatments. Just like the ice pick method, results varied. Jolts orf electricity were sent through the frontal brain by placing metal conductors on either side of the forehead. For most of these surgeries, the patients would be awake and conscious as well. Any drugs that might put you under or out of consciousness would interfere with the brain surgery a little too much. These surgeries weren't tested that well, so it was almost always a gamble with what the results would actually be, and one again, there was not actual training for the procedures.

#8 Rosemary Kennedy Was An Infamous Victim

John F. Kennedy's sister Rose was a slow learner and didn't pick up on social cues as well as her other brothers and sisters. She was also a victim of violent mood swings and bouts of depression, probably brought on by her feelings of failure reinforced by her family. They often teased her for not being as bright as the rest of the family and she then became very promiscuous and rebellious as a teenager. Because her behavior was sometimes embarrassing, her family decided that a lobotomy was the best option to make her a model child. What happened instead was one of the most tragic incidents involving a president's family. The surgery left her brain-dead and unable to function normally in society.

#9 The Damage Was Permanent

The damage that lobotomies left was absolutely tragic. Even though people did have mental illnesses that greatly affected their lives, their lives post-lobotomy were hardly ever better! Depression, anxiety, and schizophrenia are all illnesses that do affect people daily and many of those who suffer would probably love to have the ability to get a quick surgery to fix it all. But would you still get that surgery if it meant a piece of who you are is taken away from you forever? No emotions whatsoever, and perhaps a state of a blissful stupor? Nowadays, people who suffer mental illness still seek treatment for their disabilities. But it usually involves therapy and medication, both which can be stopped at any time and are reversible, but a lobotomy was forever.

#10 Some Are Still Done Today

After reading all of these so far, you probably know well enough that you would never get a lobotomy yourself, and especially would not subject a loved one to such a tragic surgery. At the very least, you have a little bit of a headache, right? How does it feel to know that these incredibly dangerous surgeries are still performed today? Lobotomies were extremely popular at one point, but after learning of the dangers along with the introduction of more common anti-depressants and anti-anxiety medication, many people chose alternate ways to treat their mental illness. By now, people know well enough that these surgeries have a low success rate and are too risky to try. But they are still used as a last resort to treat mental illness and are completely legal in the United States. However, only two facilities can do the procedure, one is located at Brown University and the other at Harvard University.

#11 Homosexuals Were Victims

Homosexuality was just thought of as a sexual deviance in past times and was a mental disorder. Electric shock therapy and lobotomies were commonly used to treat patients who exhibited homosexual behavior. People didn't realize that homosexuality wasn't just about who people liked to have sex with. It actually involved a lifestyle and romantic connection between people of the same sex. But no one really believed this and instead thought it was treatable by ripping out part of your brain or shocking you until you didn't think" bad" thoughts about the same sex anymore. This seems absolutely insane, right? Well, the horrifying truth is that our vice president-elect Mike Pence is a big fan of using shock therapy to treat homosexual individuals.

#12 It Affected The Prefrontal Cortex

We all have a prefrontal cortex, but this is arguably the part of our body that differs the most. Our prefrontal cortex is responsible for a lot of what makes us who we are as individual people. The brain develops from the back to the front, so the prefrontal cortex is made last. This is why a lot of teens can give into peer pressure, why young adults are still making bad decisions, and why you can't drink until you're 21-years-old, as this is the age when it is estimated that our brain is finally finished developing. The prefrontal cortex is responsible for our self-control, coordination, emotional control, focus, organization, planning, and most importantly, it's the brain that is responsible for holding our personality. Horrifyingly, this is the part that gets scrambled like eggs during a lobotomy.

#13 They Were Given For Silly Reasons

The handed out lobotomies like candy. One woman was given a lobotomy for being "the meanest woman on the planet." After her lobotomy, she was known for smiling more and being friendlier. Another woman had trouble controlling her bowels, and she was given one. Another, a small child, was given a lobotomy because she would constantly tear up and destroy her toys. After her lobotomy, she did it more often, but this time because she was confused. Luckily today we have doctors who have specialized in treating disorders and ailments and do not rs=esort to mising up one's brain like a stirred martini.

#14 The Results On The Brain Are Startling

In the picture, a brain is pictured before and after it received a lobotomy. As you can see, the damage is startling. An entire chunk of the brain no longer appears to be there! How could anyone in their right mind honestly believe at one point that removing part of a patient's brain was the best way to treat their mental illness? Especially when it was something as low key as unruliness or misbehaving. And the fact that they were done on children is especially terrifying. Children's brains aren't even fully developed yet and people were already willing to poke around in the brain and take chunks out of it.

#15 Women Were The Biggest Victims

Out of the 50,000 plus lobotomies that are thought to have been performed, the majority of them were done on women. Throughout history, women have always had a certain mold they have to fill. They used to have to be the caretakers of the house. They were domesticated beings told not to think too much, read too much, or act out too much. If they showed signs of defiance towards their fathers or husbands, they would easily be called insane; especially if it was at the time of their menstruation. Many women who acted out of this mold created by men would be subjected to unjust lobotomies in an attempt to maintain control over their psyche and their bodies. The result was exactly what men wanted: a loss of the woman's personality, the ability to control her, and the loss of ability to think clearly for herself. They became dependent and subservient; something that men have desired in women up until this day.

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