Lobotomy is a surgical procedure performed on the human brain. During the surgical procedure, nerve pathways are cut. The goal is to minimize existing pain.
What is lobotomy?
Lobotomy is a surgical procedure. During surgery, specific nerve pathways of the central nervous system are cut. The separation is permanent. The nerves in the brain cannot regenerate themselves or grow back together. This step is intended to alleviate as well as eliminate chronic pain or permanent discomfort of the patient. The nerves affected are those located between the thalamus and the frontal lobe. Lobotomy is a highly controversial procedure. Although the inventor of the method, neurologist Walter J. Freeman was awarded the Nobel Prize for it in 1949, it was already viewed critically in the 1950s. The side effects that occur can be classified as very severe and usually life-changing. Often the patient suffers from a severe disability as well as strong psychological consequences for the rest of his or her life after an intervention. Many of the patients required permanent medical care after an intervention. Often they had to be admitted to nursing homes, which they could not leave for the rest of their lives. For this reason, the method is no longer used by medical professionals today. Instead, various psychotropic drugs are used.
Function, effect and goals
Lobotomy was developed and used for sufferers of severe mental illness. Initially, the procedure of lobotomy was thought to be a breakthrough in medical possibilities. People who were considered terminally ill and were committed as patients to mental or sanitariums were expected to experience a permanent improvement in their health. Lobotomy was performed to primarily alleviate various mental illnesses or mental conditions. The medical profession even assumed a permanent cure. If this was not achieved, they found that the results were a significant improvement over the previous state. In a surgical procedure, nerve pathways between the thalamus and the frontal lobe that were classified as diseased were selectively cut. The aim was that signal strands classified as defective should no longer continue their activity. According to medical experts, perceptions and thoughts were transported in the nerve tracts leading to the diencephalon. These connect to human feelings and are incorrectly linked in patients. The cuts through the nerve fibers, should cut tissues of the brain. This formed the basis for the human organism to form new nerve fibers. The healthy fibers were then supposed to positively change the personality of the diseased person during the healing process. The assumption was that the human brain is plastic and that after the loss of nerve fibers new interconnections are formed, which are automatically classified as healthy. Something comparable can be observed with nerve fibers in the face. After a few weeks or months, damaged nerve tracts regenerate, especially in the area of the cheekbones. They are then fully functional and previous pain has often disappeared. Researchers used these findings and applied their theories to other areas of the human organism. Neuroscientifically, researchers got ideas about the brain regions in which certain processes take place. They saw causes for mental illness, schizophrenia, anxiety or depression in defective nerve pathways and tissues of the brain. They also counted the addictive disease alcoholism among them. In the conviction that they could also cure learning disorders or psychological stress resulting from the experience of war by cutting the nerve fibers, they performed the lobotomy. Patients who had previously exhibited conspicuous behavior that could not be improved despite therapies or medication were to become more sociable again. The improvement of the social behavior as well as the personality was aimed at. Medical practitioners hoped for relief from permanent inner tension, panic disorders or delusions. The conviction that the human organism would carry out a kind of self-healing by the emergence of new nerves led to the fact that diseased nerve fibers were often also separated in a brutal way with a steel nail through the eye socket.
Risks, side effects and dangers
Lobotomy has a number of side effects and tremendous risks. These range from psychological discomfort to lifelong severe disabilities. Affected patients became dependent on nursing care and required daily medical care. There are documented cases where home care could no longer be provided despite great effort. Pre-existing conditions such as depression or alexithymia increased. Patients showed apathetic behavior. Apathy and emotional blindness were the consequences. The affected persons were no longer able to experience emotions and develop feelings. The formation of empathy was no longer possible. In addition, patients experienced reduced intelligence after the procedure. Existing learning deficits were increased and new knowledge could no longer be acquired in the same form as before the intervention. As a result, some patients were no longer able to manage their daily lives independently. They needed assistance with the simplest tasks. Personality underwent a change in many patients. Epileptic seizures occurred even though they were not experienced before the procedure. There were often limitations in overall motor function after a lobotomy. Movement sequences could not be fully performed. Despite therapeutic support, this condition did not improve to a sufficient degree. In many cases, incontinence has been documented after the surgical procedure.
