October 2025 "The Horror behind lobotomies" by Alexandra Covarrubias

     Lobotomy: defined as a surgical operation involving incision into the prefrontal lobe of the brain, formerly used to treat mental illnesses. But the treatment was created to originally treat schizophrenia, and in the 1930s anything from anxiety, depression to nervous indigestion or a chronic headache (oh no!) fell under the schizophrenia umbrella, that being said, there was not much mental health treatment or resources in the 1930s and 40s, so people saw this as a “miracle cure” to their mental health problems and what deemed them as “undesirable” by society. The asylums that inspired many horror movies did not make this any better. The lobotomy was developed during the 1930s by António Egas Moniz, a Portuguese neurologist who theorized that if he cut the part of the brain that makes someone feel emotions, otherwise known as the prefrontal lobe, this would cure them of their mental illnesses once and for all. And although the surgery was not endorsed by popular science, an estimated number of around 100, 000 people would be convinced or taken to get one. If you think that’s terrifying, it becomes even more terrifying when you look at how the actual surgical procedure was done. The procedure consisted of taking an ice pick (yes, you read that right!) and putting the ice pick above the eye socket, then hammering it into the brain. This would then allow the surgeons to cut as many connections in the cortex as they thought they needed. And the patients were usually awake during all of this.

     Although the surgery was said to have helped some people, many others were left the same, or some were made worse than they originally felt. Besides the vast number of people getting this surgery, we know that this surgery was very popular (made even more popular) because of who got it. For example, Rosemary Kennedy, as in from the Kennedy presidential family, was taken to get a lobotomy by her parents in 1941. The reason for such a decision: she was seen as a danger to the family’s reputation, going out late at night, partying around with strangers, being unpredictable, and described as rebellious at times. In other words, it would make her more agreeable to her parents and their followers. The surgery did accomplish the reduction of Rosemary’s mood swings and urges; however, unfortunately, it also reduced Rosemary’s intellectual ability to that of a two-year-old, which resulted in her being institutionalized and dependent on others for the rest of her life. She, in other words, can be seen as one of the many victims of lobotomies. Unfortunately, people, after hearing that a Kennedy got a lobotomy (the failed results hidden), would then see it as even more of a reason to get one. A true horror story. The upside, however, is that the lobotomy started to lose popularity in the mid-1950s. The last known procedure in the U.S. was in 1967, since the procedure was finally starting to cause concern for its more harmful than good effects in number, and antipsychotic meds became a thing. And that’s why, ladies and gentlemen, it’s a good thing we have moved from horror movie asylums and lobotomies to therapists and more mental health options today.