I had met a pair of radio producers who were doing a program on lobotomy for npr. A lobotomy, or leucotomy, is a form of psychosurgery, a neurosurgical treatment of a mental. Walter freeman, the director of the laboratories at st. They may have been convinced by eccentric neuroscientist dr. Around that time an american neurologist, walter freeman, had just popularized an outpatient version of it using an implement passed through the orbit. A description of jack elhais book the lobotomist, including photos and critical praise.
Walter jackson freeman ii november 14, 1895 may 31, 1972 was an american physician who specialized in lobotomy. Walter jackson freeman ii was an evangelical neurosurgeon, vocal about his beliefs and touting a procedure of his own creation from the 1940s through the 1960s. Freeman was the foremost missionary for lobotomy in the united states. Impressively researched and evenhanded, elhais book unravels the man inside the monster. His patient was a severely depressed housewife named sallie ellen ionesco. She believes walter freemans lobotomy destroyed her mothers life. He had no surgical training and no connecticut medical license, so he was operating illegallynot that such a minor matter seemed to bother anyone present. Jun 26, 2019 walter jackson freeman ii was an evangelical neurosurgeon, vocal about his beliefs and touting a procedure of his own creation from the 1940s through the 1960s.
Freeman is compelled to liberate thousands of patients from affective disorders and schizophrenia by use of lobotomy. Walter freeman performs a lobotomy using an instrument similar to an ice pick that he invented for the procedure on july 11, 1949. No doctor was more famous than walter freeman, who performed hundreds of lobotomys in west virginia and around the country. He is mainly remembered as a prolific lobotomist and an advocate of psychosurgery. Apr 06, 2017 after this look at walter freeman and the history of the lobotomy, read up on tragic actress frances farmer, one of historys most infamous disputed lobotomy recipients. Inside rosemary kennedys lobotomy, performed by dr. Walter freeman is known in history as the father of the lobotomy, an infamous procedure that involved hammering an ice picklike instrument into a patients brain through their eye sockets. Yet somehow, this normal boy became one of the youngest people on whom dr. From the late 40s into the late 50s, lobotomy, or ice pick surgery was the most promising form of treatment for certain mental illnesses. Walter freeman packs a lot of his experience and knowledge of how the brain works in this fascinating little book. Freeman wrote in his diary about howard in 1968 november. Without his wifes knowledge, he took rosemary to see dr. It was for conceiving the prefrontal lobotomy that the suave portuguese neurologist antonio egas moniz won a 1949 nobel prize.
Walter freeman gained fame for perfecting the lobotomy, then hailed as a miracle cure for the severely mentally ill. Will global warming affect the air outside of our atmosphere and since molecules move faster in a heated environment, will this change overall cause more things to enter our atmosphere leading to higher risk of issues related to the things. Freeman performed nearly 3,500 lobotomies and aside from the nazi doctor josef mengele. Walter jackson freeman ii the champion of the lobotomy youtube. The secret lobotomy of rosemary kennedy marie claire. The lobotomist explores one of the darkest chapters of american medicine. In this procedure, the brains frontal lobe is separated from the thalamus. Howard dully born november 30, 1948 is one of the youngest recipients of the transorbital lobotomy, a procedure performed. Walter jackson freeman ii american neurologist britannica. Walter freeman, a neurologist based in washington, d.
A memoir written by former patient howard dully, called my lobotomy documented his experiences with freeman and his long recovery after undergoing a lobotomy surgery at 12 years of age. It also contains news clippings and magazine articles on freeman and lobotomy. Watch the lobotomist american experience official site pbs. At the age of 12, howard dully was given a lobotomy, one of thousands performed by the notorious dr walter freeman in the 1940s and 1950s. After writing that book, he had a nervous breakdown and treated himself to a vacation in europe.
Inside rosemary kennedys disastrous lobotomy and how her father chose her doctor. Wolfhard baumgartel was a staff physician at the athens state hospital in ohio. Drawing on freemans documents and interviews with freemans family, jack elhai takes a penetrating look at the life and work of this complex scientific genius. Another of his patients, howard dully, has now written a book called my lobotomy about his experiences with freeman and his long recovery after the surgery he underwent at 12 years old. The lobotomy was performed by inserting a metal pick into the corner of each eyesocket and moving it back and forth, severing the connections to the prefrontal cortex in the frontal lobes of the brain. Walter freeman 1895 1972 was a neurologist who pioneered and popularized lobotomy. Feb 24, 2012 lobotomy pbs documentary, on walter freeman. A few days ago, the blog advances in the history of psychology pointed its readers to the work of miriam posner a mellon postdoctoral research associate at emory university and the exceptional collection that constitutes the central object of her yale university dissertation. The lobotomist is the story of walter freeman, a maverick physician, who. Walter jackson freeman ii the champion of the lobotomy.
Walter jackson freeman ii 18951972 earned worldwide. Books inside rosemary kennedys disastrous lobotomy and how her father chose her doctor. Walter freeman s before and after photographs of lobotomy patients. Freeman suggested that, where conventional anesthesia was unavailable, electroconvulsive therapy be used to render the patient unconscious. Freeman launched a radical new era in the treatment of mental illness in this country. This is the biography not just of walter freeman but of the lobotomy. Neurologist walter freeman had diagnosed dully as suffering from childhood schizophrenia since. I saw a documentary on this one time and while the patient was under a type of local anesthesia, but wide awake, he would pound in the ice pick through the corner of the patients eye, then having the patient recite the lords prayer, or say. May 21, 2015 walter freeman is known in history as the father of the lobotomy, an infamous procedure that involved hammering an ice picklike instrument into a patients brain through their eye sockets. James watts, the leading practitioners of lobotomies in america. So began a journey that, four years later, brought me to washington, d.
I am appalled that walter freeman was allowed to go from mental hospital to mental hospital performing lobotomies. Freeman was born in philadelphia, pennsylvania into an affluent and distinguished family. Walter freeman set out to create a new procedure, one that didnt require drilling holes in the head. Walter freeman, the worlds greatest proponent and pioneer of lobotomy. Little more than a decade after his rise to fame, walter freeman, the neurologist who championed the procedure, was decried as a moral monster, and lobotomy one of the most barbaric mistakes of modern medicine. I explained to mrs dully that the family should consider the possibility of changing howards personality by. Nov 29, 2010 a few days ago, the blog advances in the history of psychology pointed its readers to the work of miriam posner a mellon postdoctoral research associate at emory university and the exceptional collection that constitutes the central object of her yale university dissertation. In 1947, the freeman and watts partnership ended, as the latter was disgusted by freeman s modification of the lobotomy from a surgical operation into a simple office procedure. Race and gender in the selection of patients for lobotomy. An eccentric man had a major impact on psychiatric treatment, damaged many people, helped some, and participated in the advent of biological psychiatry, in which psychopharmacology hastened the demise of walter freeman s lobotomy, but not the disappearance of psychosurgery. Jan 01, 2005 the lobotomist is an interesting portrait of walter freeman and i believe can be summarised in the saying, the road to hell is paved with good intentions.
Horror of the lobotomy is revealed in beforeandafter. Walter freemans photographs of lobotomy patients h. The legendary pronouncement of philosopher rene descartes lingers as accepted wisdom in the western world nearly four centuries after its authors death. The effects of lobotomy vary from patient to patient, but the procedure was designed to make aggressive mental patients less dangerous. Walter freeman and the sordid history of the lobotomy. Walter freemans before and after photographs of lobotomy patients. Filmed interviews of farmer made after her discharge from the hospital show a detached and flatly demeanored though clearly intelligent woman, an outcome consistent with lobotomy. On that day he performed the firstever transorbital or ice pick lobotomy in his washington, d.
Another collection in u niversity archives related to this subject is the thelma hunt papers, who was a professor of psychology at gw, and collaborated with freeman and watts on their book. Walter jackson freeman ii 18951972 earned worldwide fame for his work in the field of lobotomy. Walter freeman, a professor of neurology at george washington university, was next. Home walter freemans psychosurgery and biological psychiatry. November 14, 1895 may 31, 1972 was an american physician who specialized in lobotomy. Walter freemans photographs of lobotomy patients hmadness. Walter jackson freeman ii november 14, 1895 may 31, 1972 was an american physician. The lobotomist share book recommendations with your friends. Jan 03, 2016 walter freeman, a protege of moniz who was hugely influential in popularizing lobotomy, believed so fervently in its benefits that he developed a faster and more portable procedure. I explained to mrs dully that the family should consider the possibility of changing howards personality by means of transorbital lobotomy. Freemans emphasis is a bit unique in that he focuses on the dynamics of how neurons communicate rather than on either the anatomy of the brain, or on either mental states or behavior. Dec 27, 2017 walter freeman, who championed lobotomy in the u. That is not my view, and luke dittrichs book patient h.
This is the biography not just of walter freeman but of the lobotomy, a procedure as bizarre and tragic and compelling as freeman himself. Freeman performed his last lobotomy in 1967 after severing a patients blood vessel during the procedure, resulting in his death three days later. Walter freeman performed his barbaric transorbitalor ice picklobotomy. Freemans detailed notes, quoted extensively to chilling effect in the book. An absolutely fascinating book about a completely crazy notion that. Oct 14, 2015 inside rosemary kennedys disastrous lobotomy and how her father chose her doctor. Walter freeman is revealed as a plodding careerist, says dylan evans.
Valenstein, who wrote great and desperate cures, a book about the history of lobotomies. Walter freeman papers, 19181972 gw libraries archival. Neurologist walter freemans lobotomy legacy toggle navigation. Walter freeman, the psychiatrist turned psychosurgeon who popularized the use in the us of the lobotomy as a treatment of last resort for patients with severe mental illness. Watts, was responsible for introducing to the united states prefrontal lobotomy, an operation in which the destruction of neurons and neuronal tracts in the white matter of the brain was considered therapeutic.
White matter examines tragedy of lobotomies from a. The horrifying procedure often left patients in a vegetative state and is responsible for an estimated 490 deaths. How neurologist walter freeman steered the veterans administration toward a lobotomy program. Walter jackson freeman ii, american neurologist who, with american neurosurgeon james w. Crown publishing group had negotiated worldwide rights to publish dullys story in book form. A brief and awful history of the lobotomy literary hub. A disturbing scene in frances shows a balding and goateed psychiatrist, who closely resembled walter freeman, performing an ice pick lobotomy at western. Walter freeman believed that the despair of psychiatric illness demanded a decisive, drastic remedy. Jul 30, 2019 the patient was then wheeled out and a replacement was secured to the operating table.
Then, discover five bizarre, grotesque historical cures for mental illness. I still remember the dismay i felt when i turned up evidence that described how freeman and his fellow psychosurgeons considered race and gender when they decided whose brains they would cut and disrupt in their quest to treat. And that remedy was lobotomy, cutting the neural connections in the prefrontal regions of the brain, a practice that these days, writes jack elhai in the lobotomist, seems so obviously wrong. Freeman was convinced that his 10minute lobotomy was destined to. Walter freeman and lobotomys visual archive miriam posner. A memoir by howard dully and charles fleming illustrated. His story is featured in the hourlong 2008 pbs documentary, the lobotomist, which i will quote from throughout this blog post. Watch the lobotomist american experience official site. The theme of the book is that no in the book my lobotomy by howard dully was to inform us of what was going on during that time of him being a child. Abandoned by his family within a year of the surgery, howard spent his teen years in mental institutions, his twenties in jail, and his thirties in a bottle. I still remember the dismay i felt when i turned up evidence that described how freeman and his fellow psychosurgeons considered race and gender when they decided whose brains they would cut. Freemans most notorious operation was on the illfated rosemary kennedy, who was permanently incapacitated by a lobotomy at age 23.
After this look at walter freeman and the history of the lobotomy, read up on tragic actress frances farmer, one of historys most infamous disputed lobotomy recipients. Walter freeman gave was called the ice pick, and he invented it himself. Immediately following the ecs, according to eliot valenstein in his book, great and desperate cures, dr walter freeman, began the operation to sever the brains two frontal lobes from one other. Apart from being regarded as a classic novel and film, one flew over the cuckoos nest is perhaps the bestknown depiction of lobotomy in mainstream culture. Freemans patients to retrieve and study his own medical file, with dr. Introduction on january 17, 1946 a psychiatrist named walter j.
Books every psychology andor counseling doctoral student should read. In the united states, the lobotomy pioneer and leading practitioner was dr. In the late 1930s to late 1950s, doctors might have tried to cure your mental illness by drilling a hole in your brain. But within a few years, lobotomy was labeled one of the most. Oral histories patricia moen was lobotomized by walter freeman in 1962 at the age of 36. Nov 01, 2019 in the late 1930s to late 1950s, doctors might have tried to cure your mental illness by drilling a hole in your brain. I researched my book the lobotomist, a biography of lobotomy developer and advocate walter freeman, m. Walter freeman coined the term surgically induced childhood and used it constantly to refer to the results of lobotomy. There are various ways to carry out a lobotomy, but one of the first. Robert penn warrens 1946 novel all the kings men describes a lobotomy as making a comanche brave. Jan 16, 2009 two doctors were in the operating room that day in 1941. Freeman was obsessed with finding a cure for mental illness.
1640 848 162 1227 1268 1458 78 1278 1391 296 496 736 1133 480 913 793 933 1162 298 1593 92 513 229 1246 1323 1446 1341 448 613 430 221