Lobotomies (21st Century)
Hello,
I was wondering if anybody knew anything whether or not lobotomies are still being practiced in psychiatric wards. If so, how has the practice changed from the early-mid 20th century? If lobotomies are still legal, what other names/ terms do they have other than "lobotomy". (such as the term leucotomy.) If lobotomies are illegal, what similar practices are out there currently. Any help would be appreciated. Here is something from Wikipedia about 1960's-present psycho-surgery:
"During the 1960s and 1970s, psychosurgery became the subject of increasing public concern and debate, culminating in the US with congressional hearings. Particularly controversial in the United States was the work of Harvard neurosurgeon Vernon Mark and psychiatrist Frank Ervin, who carried out amgydalotomies in the hope of reducing violence and "pathologic aggression" in patients with temporal lobe seizures and wrote a book entitled Violence and the Brain in 1970.[1] The National Commission for the Protection of Human Subjects of Biomedical and Behavioral Research in 1977 endorsed the continued limited use of psychosurgical procedures.[1][43] Since then, a few facilities in some countries, such as the US, have continued to use psychosurgery on small numbers of patients. In the US and other Western countries, the number of operations has further declined over the past 30 years, a period during which there have been no major advances in ablative psychosurgery"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychosurgery (source Wikipedia)
Previously I thought that all lobotomy patients ended up like Jack Nicholson in "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest", like a total zombie. But I saw a clip on YouTube about someone saying they had been lobotomized. The clip is here:
https://youtu.be/OlGiVRwg-dc
Would a person such as in the above clip, appear to be other-wise normal, yet someone could pick up that something is "amiss"? What about their emotional behavior, would they appear to be more emotionally "numb" than normally, yet still be able to walk around, go out for coffee, hold a conversation, etc.?
Any insight into this topic would be appreciated. Please be respectful and sincere in responding to this thread. I am writing this because I am concerned about a family member (my brother, 1 year younger than I) who was incarcerated in jail for 4 years until he finally came clean about his mental illness. When he was 17 he was in a car accident and cracked his head open in 3 places. He was unconscious for over 48 hours, was in the hospital for months, had to learn to walk all over again, etc. When he came back home instead of taking care of himself he went to go party and drink with his friends. Out of us 4 kids (I have two brothers and a sister) I would say that he is the least disciplined among us, prone to accidents, not thinking things through, etc. Anyway his condition worsened and basically he was self-medicating his head injury with drugs and alcohol. Years passed. When he was arrested he was homeless. Once his mental health became an issue, which he hid from them for years, he apparently went around the state into many different Psychiatric Wards. Charges against him have been dropped because of his mental illness and he now lives at a state-sponsored group home where I visit him once a week. I take him out into the woods in different places each week to get him exercise, fresh air, etc. than we go for a coffee or light food. Before he was arrested I tried to reach out to him but he wouldn't have any of it, he was lost in the bottle. The other month when I was hiking him outside we got caught in the beginnings of a blizzard. Even though he was less prepared than myself, my hands and feet were cold, it was like he was numb with no feeling. I have caught him gazing as well, and his emotions aren't quite the same, he seems more "neutered" or compliant so to speak (or rather, "put in place.") Yet he also functions- he will buy his own coffee, etc. I thought that this was all a result of the daily medication that he is on, which it could be (best case scenario.) But when I picked him up to go hiking this weekend, he had shaved all his hair, where before it was shaggy. I noticed a suspicious scar on the side of his head, the frontal lobe area. (also, it is hard to explain this, but he has the same kind of "different than usual" facial expressions as other mental patients I have observed at that group home and elsewhere.)
So I guess it comes down to this: does anybody know anything about this subject? Are there different phases of lobotomy such as: functional/ partially functional/ not functional at all (like what happened to Jack Nicholson in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest)? It sounds like this practice is still being used, even under different arrays of terminology and procedures. Any insight is appreciated. Please be respectful. Even if you don't know too much about subject, I don't mind "yes it sounds like or no it doesn't sound like." Thanks in advance. (here I am, proud that I can be so athletic and strong, never even having had a vaccination before, and just look what's happened to my brother. aye carumba.)
I'd rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy
Lobotomies are very rare nowadays. At least, that's my understanding from when I got my degree in Psychology some three decades ago. I doubt there's been a resurgence, but the procedure has come a long way since the days of ice pick lobotomies. If you want to read some really disturbing history, web search Walter Freeman.
Sorry to hear about your brother, MarathonTmatt. That sounds like quite a hardship. Has a lobotomy been recommended? Usually such cases are restrained chemically nowadays. Hoping the best for him and your family.
