The Messed Up History of the Ice Pick Lobotomy

In the 1940s and 1950s, Dr Walter Freeman performed his 'pioneering' procedure on thousands of people, and trained other doctors to perform it on thousands more. The media was calling it a 'miracle cure' for any and all mental illness. You could get it done at your local doctor's office in five minutes for the bargain price of 25 bucks. The only problem? The 'procedure' involved taking an ice pick, sticking it through the eye socket up into the brain, and swishing it around at random. People would go in suffering mild depression, and come out with the mental capacity of a toddler. But that didn't stop Dr Freeman, with hundreds of thousands of people getting the 'miracle' Ice Pick Lobotomy before he was finally stopped.

Story starts at approx 25:20

We give you Just The Gist, but if you want more, there's this:

Psych Central article: https://psychcentral.com/blog/the-surprising-history-of-the-lobotomy/

Wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lobotomy

Guardian article about Howard Dully: https://www.theguardian.com/science/2008/jan/13/neuroscience.medicalscience

NPR interview with Howard Dully: https://www.npr.org/2005/11/16/5014080/my-lobotomy-howard-dullys-journey

More info on Rosemary Kennedy: https://www.historyextra.com/period/20th-century/rosemary-kennedy-jfk-sister-life-lobotomy-what-happened/

Great episode of 'LORE' with super gory reinactments, but tells the story really well (watch in Aus on AmazonPrime): https://www.primevideo.com/detail/0HBSJWFIHCW6RDKSPFSX0YILCW/ref=atv_hm_hom_c_8pZiqd_2_1

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