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Ep 59- Beware the Ice Pick: The Lobotomy Era
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An ice pick through the eye socket. Ten minutes of “surgery.” A taxi ride home. That’s not an urban legend, it’s a documented moment in the history of lobotomy, and it captures the sick casualness that let psychosurgery become mainstream.
If you care about medical ethics, informed consent, disability rights, or how mental health treatment gets shaped by social pressure, this conversation will stick with you. Subscribe, share this with a friend who loves medical history, and leave a review with your take: where do you see “manageability over care” showing up today?
Sources for today’s episode:
National Library of Medicine — All in Their Heads: When Faces Made the Case for Lobotomy
https://infocus.nlm.nih.gov/2020/01/30/all-in-their-heads-when-faces-made-the-case-for-lobotomy/
Nobel Prize — Controversial Psychosurgery Resulted in a Nobel Prize
https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medicine/1949/moniz/article/
Nobel Prize — The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1949
https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medicine/1949/summary/
Encyclopaedia Britannica — Lobotomy
https://www.britannica.com/science/lobotomy
Encyclopaedia Britannica — Transorbital Lobotomy
https://www.britannica.com/science/transorbital-lobotomy
Encyclopaedia Britannica — Walter Jackson Freeman II
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Walter-Jackson-Freeman-II
Encyclopaedia Britannica — How Many People Actually Got Lobotomized?
https://www.britannica.com/story/how-many-people-actually-got-lobotomized
StoryCorps — My Lobotomy
https://storycorps.org/stories/my-lobotomy/
StoryCorps — StoryCorps 455: My Lobotomy
https://storycorps.org/podcast/storycorps-455-my-lobotomy/
PBS American Experience — The Lobotomist
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/lobotomist/
PBS American Experience — Howard Dully
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/lobotomist-howard-dully/
John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum — Rosemary Kennedy
https://www.jfklibrary.org/learn/about-jfk/the-kennedy-family/rosemary-kennedy
U.S. National Park Service — Rosemary Kennedy, The Eldest Kennedy Daughter
https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/rosemary-kennedy-the-eldest-kennedy-daughter.htm
The Historic New Orleans Collection — Tennessee Williams Family Letters
https://hnoc.org/research-collections/collection-highlights/tennessee-williams-family-letters
The Tennessee Williams Annual Review — Not Like All the Other Horses: Neurodiversity and the Case of Rose Williams
https://www.tennesseewilliamsstudies.org/journal/work.php?ID=113
Springer — A Question of Consent: Coercion and Consent to Lobotomy, 1946–1958
https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-65306-4_11
Chart Note sources:
U.S. Food and Drug Administration — FDA Clears First Blood Test Used in Diagnosing Alzheimer’s Disease
https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/fda-clears-first-blood-test-used-diagnosing-alzheimers-disease
Alzheimer’s Association International Conference — New Clinical Practice Guideline for Blood-Based Biomarkers
https://aaic.alz.org/releases-2025/clinical-practice-guideline-blood-based-biomarkers.asp
U.S. Food and Drug Administration — Elecsys Phospho-Tau (181P) Plasma, K252163
https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/cdrh_docs/reviews/K252163.pdf
Support the show
Don't miss a (heart) beat! Check out our Instagram @doctoringthetruthpodcast and email us your Medical Mishaps at [email protected]. Join us on Facebook at Doctoring the Truth, and TikTok @doctoring the truth. Don't forget to download, rate, and review so we can keep bringing you more exciting content each week!
Stay safe, and stay suspicious...trust, after all, is a delicate thing!
Don't forget to check out these fantastic discounts using promo code STAYSUSPICIOUS from our sponsors at:
*thecuminclub.com for 30% off
*https://strongcoffeecompany.com/discount/STAYSUSPICIOUS for 20% off
*www.handful.com for 30% off
*www.standshoes.com for 15% off
*www.oldglory.com for 15% off
*www.getcheeky.com for 30% off
*https://mollybz.com for 10% off
*www.RSRVCollective.com for 30% off
*klearprotein.com for 20% off
*www.torrain.org for 15% off
*www.cozyearth.com for 21% off
* www.yarokhair.com for 15% off
*www.loveindus.com for 21% off
...
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By Jenne Tunnell and Amanda HouseSend us Fan Mail
An ice pick through the eye socket. Ten minutes of “surgery.” A taxi ride home. That’s not an urban legend, it’s a documented moment in the history of lobotomy, and it captures the sick casualness that let psychosurgery become mainstream.
If you care about medical ethics, informed consent, disability rights, or how mental health treatment gets shaped by social pressure, this conversation will stick with you. Subscribe, share this with a friend who loves medical history, and leave a review with your take: where do you see “manageability over care” showing up today?
Sources for today’s episode:
National Library of Medicine — All in Their Heads: When Faces Made the Case for Lobotomy
https://infocus.nlm.nih.gov/2020/01/30/all-in-their-heads-when-faces-made-the-case-for-lobotomy/
Nobel Prize — Controversial Psychosurgery Resulted in a Nobel Prize
https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medicine/1949/moniz/article/
Nobel Prize — The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1949
https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medicine/1949/summary/
Encyclopaedia Britannica — Lobotomy
https://www.britannica.com/science/lobotomy
Encyclopaedia Britannica — Transorbital Lobotomy
https://www.britannica.com/science/transorbital-lobotomy
Encyclopaedia Britannica — Walter Jackson Freeman II
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Walter-Jackson-Freeman-II
Encyclopaedia Britannica — How Many People Actually Got Lobotomized?
https://www.britannica.com/story/how-many-people-actually-got-lobotomized
StoryCorps — My Lobotomy
https://storycorps.org/stories/my-lobotomy/
StoryCorps — StoryCorps 455: My Lobotomy
https://storycorps.org/podcast/storycorps-455-my-lobotomy/
PBS American Experience — The Lobotomist
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/lobotomist/
PBS American Experience — Howard Dully
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/lobotomist-howard-dully/
John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum — Rosemary Kennedy
https://www.jfklibrary.org/learn/about-jfk/the-kennedy-family/rosemary-kennedy
U.S. National Park Service — Rosemary Kennedy, The Eldest Kennedy Daughter
https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/rosemary-kennedy-the-eldest-kennedy-daughter.htm
The Historic New Orleans Collection — Tennessee Williams Family Letters
https://hnoc.org/research-collections/collection-highlights/tennessee-williams-family-letters
The Tennessee Williams Annual Review — Not Like All the Other Horses: Neurodiversity and the Case of Rose Williams
https://www.tennesseewilliamsstudies.org/journal/work.php?ID=113
Springer — A Question of Consent: Coercion and Consent to Lobotomy, 1946–1958
https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-65306-4_11
Chart Note sources:
U.S. Food and Drug Administration — FDA Clears First Blood Test Used in Diagnosing Alzheimer’s Disease
https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/fda-clears-first-blood-test-used-diagnosing-alzheimers-disease
Alzheimer’s Association International Conference — New Clinical Practice Guideline for Blood-Based Biomarkers
https://aaic.alz.org/releases-2025/clinical-practice-guideline-blood-based-biomarkers.asp
U.S. Food and Drug Administration — Elecsys Phospho-Tau (181P) Plasma, K252163
https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/cdrh_docs/reviews/K252163.pdf
Support the show
Don't miss a (heart) beat! Check out our Instagram @doctoringthetruthpodcast and email us your Medical Mishaps at [email protected]. Join us on Facebook at Doctoring the Truth, and TikTok @doctoring the truth. Don't forget to download, rate, and review so we can keep bringing you more exciting content each week!
Stay safe, and stay suspicious...trust, after all, is a delicate thing!
Don't forget to check out these fantastic discounts using promo code STAYSUSPICIOUS from our sponsors at:
*thecuminclub.com for 30% off
*https://strongcoffeecompany.com/discount/STAYSUSPICIOUS for 20% off
*www.handful.com for 30% off
*www.standshoes.com for 15% off
*www.oldglory.com for 15% off
*www.getcheeky.com for 30% off
*https://mollybz.com for 10% off
*www.RSRVCollective.com for 30% off
*klearprotein.com for 20% off
*www.torrain.org for 15% off
*www.cozyearth.com for 21% off
* www.yarokhair.com for 15% off
*www.loveindus.com for 21% off
...