Leukotomy
was first pioneered in 1935 by Dr. Antonio Egaz
Moniz. Two small holes are drilled in either side
of the cranium. Trough these holes a specialized
surgical knife is inserted and used to cut nerves
running from the frontal cortex to the thalamus,
effectively isolating the frontal lobe from the
rest of the brain. Due to the success and merit
of this technique, Moniz was awarded the Nobel Prize
in 1949 for advances in medicine. He retired early
after being shot in the back by an unhappy former
patient.
Ice
pick lobotomy was developed by Dr. Walter
Freeman in 1945 as a cheep and quick alternative
to Leukotomy. An ice pick is, with a light tap of
a hammer, used to penetrate through the orbital
plate above the eye sockets. The ice pick is then
pressed into the brain and maneuvered in a wind
screen wiper motion in order to cut the frontal
lobe nerves. The procedure requires only about five
minutes and the patients are advised to bring a
set of sunglasses.
More
than 40,000 psychosurgeries were conducted in the
US between 1939 and 1955. In Japan it was recommended
for handling “difficult” children. Leukotomy
and ice pick lobotomy has been reported successful
in curing mental illnesses such as: schizophrenia,
depression, neurosis, phobias, confusion, delusions,
criminality, rebellion, homosexuality and communism
(possibly why the practice was abandoned in the
USSR as early as the 1940s on moral grounds).
