The Lobotomist: A review
A new PBS documentary tells the troubled story of a doctor who
performed nearly 3,000 lobotomies


First, physician Walter Freeman would peel open the patient's eyelid
and insert an ice pick between the eyeball and the lid. He would tap
the ice pick with a surgical hammer - or even a carpenter's mallet, if
he was performing for a crowd and wanted to shock them - and break
through the orbital cavity of the eye to the prefrontal lobe. He would
wiggle the ice pick to sever the frontal lobes, then remove the ice
pick. The lobotomy was complete.

The Lobotomist, a new PBS documentary written and co-directed by Barak
Goodman, explores this surgical method developed by Walter Freeman to
treat the mentally ill.

In 1936, Walter Freeman stumbled upon a study by Portuguese
neurosurgeon Egas Moniz, who cored into the brains of mentally ill
patients and removed small portions from the frontal lobe. Moniz
observed a positive change in his patients' behavior, although he did
not understand the mechanism. He believed that he was removing "fixed
ideas" from the frontal lobes.

Freeman adapted this method, and eventually developed the quick and
easily-reproduced process of using ice picks.

"In our home on Connecticut Avenue, we didn't have a refrigerator,"
says Freeman's son Franklin. "We had an ice box. The first ice picks
came right out of our kitchen drawer."

Freeman met with initial criticism for applying an untested procedure,
but ploughed ahead, earning the approval of the press - the New York
Times called it a surgery of the soul - and eventually the medical
community, when Moniz earned the
Nobel Prize in 1949.

The effects of lobotomies included decreased motivation, inhibition,
overeating and the loss of various cognitive skills, but the procedure
did, sometimes, decrease anxiety, fear and violent or suicidal
tendencies. Lobotomies also provided doctors with a tangible tool:
Confronted with problem X, they could offer a solution. It gave
patients' families a choice between a lifetime of institutionalization
and a life at home, albeit greatly altered. If colleagues confronted
Freeman at a meeting with the negative effects or mixed outcomes of
lobotomies, Freeman would respond, "What can you do for a patient like
this?"

Alice Forester, the daughter of Freeman's first patient, Ellen
Ionesco, says in the film that her mother "changed so radically, for
the better, once [Freeman] had seen her. She never mentioned suicide
again ... I think he really wanted to do something when no one was
willing to do anything."

Other patients, however, reported negative results. Janice Jones-
Thomson, daughter of patient Beulah Jones, says that after her mother
received a lobotomy, there was "no change in her behavior except that
she lost her higher intellect."

By the 1950s, lobotomies began to lose favor with the medical
community, as long-term observations became available. In 1954, the
spread of the new drug thorazine provided a popular and non-surgical
alternative. Freeman, however, could not forsake the procedure that
made him famous. He moved to Los Altos, California, and performed
lobotomies on a broader range of patients: depressed housewives or
misbehaving children.

Howard Dully, who received a lobotomy at age 12, says in the film:
"I've always felt that something was taken from me, that there was a
piece missing, because my life has never gone well."

By 1967, Freeman had performed about 2,900 lobotomies, but he finally
laid down his ice pick after a patient died and he was stripped of his
hospital privileges. Soon after, he retired and spent his remaining
days traveling the country, looking for his former patients. He died
on May 31, 1972.

The Lobotomist airs on PBS on January 21, 2008.


Source: TheScientist
http://www.the-scientist.com/templates/trackable/display/news.jsp?type=news&o_url=news/display/54179&id=54179

On Jan 24, 4:21 pm, Lance  wrote:
> The Lobotomist: A review
> A new PBS documentary tells the troubled story of a doctor who
> performed nearly 3,000 lobotomies
>
> First, physician Walter Freeman would peel open the patient's eyelid
> and insert an ice pick between the eyeball and the lid. He would tap
> the ice pick with a surgical hammer - or even a carpenter's mallet, if
> he was performing for a crowd and wanted to shock them - and break
> through the orbital cavity of the eye to the prefrontal lobe. He would
> wiggle the ice pick to sever the frontal lobes, then remove the ice
> pick. The lobotomy was complete.
>
> The Lobotomist, a new PBS documentary written and co-directed by Barak
> Goodman, explores this surgical method developed by Walter Freeman to
> treat the mentally ill.
>
> In 1936, Walter Freeman stumbled upon a study by Portuguese
> neurosurgeon Egas Moniz, who cored into the brains of mentally ill
> patients and removed small portions from the frontal lobe. Moniz
> observed a positive change in his patients' behavior, although he did
> not understand the mechanism. He believed that he was removing "fixed
> ideas" from the frontal lobes.
>
> Freeman adapted this method, and eventually developed the quick and
> easily-reproduced process of using ice picks.
>
> "In our home on Connecticut Avenue, we didn't have a refrigerator,"
> says Freeman's son Franklin. "We had an ice box. The first ice picks
> came right out of our kitchen drawer."
>
> Freeman met with initial criticism for applying an untested procedure,
> but ploughed ahead, earning the approval of the press - the New York
> Times called it a surgery of the soul - and eventually the medical
> community, when Moniz earned the
> Nobel Prize in 1949.
>
> The effects of lobotomies included decreased motivation, inhibition,
> overeating and the loss of various cognitive skills, but the procedure
> did, sometimes, decrease anxiety, fear and violent or suicidal
> tendencies. Lobotomies also provided doctors with a tangible tool:
> Confronted with problem X, they could offer a solution. It gave
> patients' families a choice between a lifetime of institutionalization
> and a life at home, albeit greatly altered. If colleagues confronted
> Freeman at a meeting with the negative effects or mixed outcomes of
> lobotomies, Freeman would respond, "What can you do for a patient like
> this?"
>
> Alice Forester, the daughter of Freeman's first patient, Ellen
> Ionesco, says in the film that her mother "changed so radically, for
> the better, once [Freeman] had seen her. She never mentioned suicide
> again ... I think he really wanted to do something when no one was
> willing to do anything."
>
> Other patients, however, reported negative results. Janice Jones-
> Thomson, daughter of patient Beulah Jones, says that after her mother
> received a lobotomy, there was "no change in her behavior except that
> she lost her higher intellect."
>
> By the 1950s, lobotomies began to lose favor with the medical
> community, as long-term observations became available. In 1954, the
> spread of the new drug thorazine provided a popular and non-surgical
> alternative. Freeman, however, could not forsake the procedure that
> made him famous. He moved to Los Altos, California, and performed
> lobotomies on a broader range of patients: depressed housewives or
> misbehaving children.
>
> Howard Dully, who received a lobotomy at age 12, says in the film:
> "I've always felt that something was taken from me, that there was a
> piece missing, because my life has never gone well."
>
> By 1967, Freeman had performed about 2,900 lobotomies, but he finally
> laid down his ice pick after a patient died and he was stripped of his
> hospital privileges. Soon after, he retired and spent his remaining
> days traveling the country, looking for his former patients. He died
> on May 31, 1972.
>
> The Lobotomist airs on PBS on January 21, 2008.
>
> Source: TheScientisthttp://www.the-scientist.com/templates/trackable/display/news.jsp?typ...

Another url:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/lobotomist/program/

On 24 Gen, 15:21, Lance  wrote:
> The Lobotomist: A review
> A new PBS documentary tells the troubled story of a doctor who
> performed nearly 3,000 lobotomies
>
> First, physician Walter Freeman would peel open the patient's eyelid
> and insert an ice pick between the eyeball and the lid. He would tap
> the ice pick with a surgical hammer - or even a carpenter's mallet, if
> he was performing for a crowd and wanted to shock them - and break
> through the orbital cavity of the eye to the prefrontal lobe. He would
> wiggle the ice pick to sever the frontal lobes, then remove the ice
> pick. The lobotomy was complete.
>
> The Lobotomist, a new PBS documentary written and co-directed by Barak
> Goodman, explores this surgical method developed by Walter Freeman to
> treat the mentally ill.
>
> In 1936, Walter Freeman stumbled upon a study by Portuguese
> neurosurgeon Egas Moniz, who cored into the brains of mentally ill
> patients and removed small portions from the frontal lobe. Moniz
> observed a positive change in his patients' behavior, although he did
> not understand the mechanism. He believed that he was removing "fixed
> ideas" from the frontal lobes.
>
> Freeman adapted this method, and eventually developed the quick and
> easily-reproduced process of using ice picks.
>
> "In our home on Connecticut Avenue, we didn't have a refrigerator,"
> says Freeman's son Franklin. "We had an ice box. The first ice picks
> came right out of our kitchen drawer."
>
> Freeman met with initial criticism for applying an untested procedure,
> but ploughed ahead, earning the approval of the press - the New York
> Times called it a surgery of the soul - and eventually the medical
> community, when Moniz earned the
> Nobel Prize in 1949.
>
> The effects of lobotomies included decreased motivation, inhibition,
> overeating and the loss of various cognitive skills, but the procedure
> did, sometimes, decrease anxiety, fear and violent or suicidal
> tendencies. Lobotomies also provided doctors with a tangible tool:
> Confronted with problem X, they could offer a solution. It gave
> patients' families a choice between a lifetime of institutionalization
> and a life at home, albeit greatly altered. If colleagues confronted
> Freeman at a meeting with the negative effects or mixed outcomes of
> lobotomies, Freeman would respond, "What can you do for a patient like
> this?"
>
> Alice Forester, the daughter of Freeman's first patient, Ellen
> Ionesco, says in the film that her mother "changed so radically, for
> the better, once [Freeman] had seen her. She never mentioned suicide
> again ... I think he really wanted to do something when no one was
> willing to do anything."
>
> Other patients, however, reported negative results. Janice Jones-
> Thomson, daughter of patient Beulah Jones, says that after her mother
> received a lobotomy, there was "no change in her behavior except that
> she lost her higher intellect."
>
> By the 1950s, lobotomies began to lose favor with the medical
> community, as long-term observations became available. In 1954, the
> spread of the new drug thorazine provided a popular and non-surgical
> alternative. Freeman, however, could not forsake the procedure that
> made him famous. He moved to Los Altos, California, and performed
> lobotomies on a broader range of patients: depressed housewives or
> misbehaving children.
>
> Howard Dully, who received a lobotomy at age 12, says in the film:
> "I've always felt that something was taken from me, that there was a
> piece missing, because my life has never gone well."
>
> By 1967, Freeman had performed about 2,900 lobotomies, but he finally
> laid down his ice pick after a patient died and he was stripped of his
> hospital privileges. Soon after, he retired and spent his remaining
> days traveling the country, looking for his former patients. He died
> on May 31, 1972.
>
> The Lobotomist airs on PBS on January 21, 2008.
>
> Source: TheScientisthttp://www.the-scientist.com/templates/trackable/display/news.jsp?typ...

PROP. XI. Whatsoever increases or diminishes, helps or hinders the
power of activity in our body, the idea thereof increases or
diminishes, helps or hinders the power of thought in our mind.

Proof.--This proposition is evident from II. vii. or from II. xiv.

Clear instance of this proposition:
 "no change in her behavior except that she lost her higher
intellect."

"I've always felt that something was taken from me, that there was a
piece missing, because my life has never gone well."

([Ethica Ordine Geometrico Demonstrata)

Bye

for a reason which these do not fathom.

2. In having distinguished men by external marks, as birth or wealth. The
world again exults in showing how unreasonable this is; but it is very
reasonable. Savages laugh at an infant king.

3. In being offended at a blow, or in desiring glory so much. But it is very
desirable on account of the other essential goods which are joined to it;
and a man who has received a blow, without resenting it, is overwhelmed with
taunts and indignities.

4. In working for the uncertain; in sailing on the sea; in walking over a
plank.

325. Montaigne is wrong. Custom should be followed only because it is
custom, and not because it is reasonable or just. But people follow it for
this sole reason, that they think it just. Otherwise they would follow it no
longer, although it were the custom; for they will only submit to reason or
justice. Custom without this would pass for tyranny; but the sovereignty of
reason and justice is no more tyrannical than that of desire. They are
principles natural to man.

It would, therefore, be right to obey laws and customs, because they are
laws; but we should know that

hypocrisy, both in himself and
in regard to others. He does not wish any one to tell him the truth; he
avoids telling it to others, and all these dispositions, so removed from
justice and reason, have a natural root in his heart.

101. I set it down as a fact that if all men knew what each said of the
other, there would not be four friends in the world. This is apparent from
the quarrels which arise from the indiscreet tales told from time to time. I
say, further, all men would be...

102. Some vices only lay hold of us by means of others, and these, like
branches, fall on removal of the trunk.

103. The example of Alexander's chastity has not made so many continent as
that of his drunkenness has made intemperate. It is not shameful not to be
as virtuous as he, and it seems excusable to be no more vicious. We do not
believe ourselves to be exactly sharing in the vices of the vulgar when we
see that we are sharing in those of great men; and yet we do not observe
that in these matters they are ordinary men. We hold on to them by the same
end by which they hold on to the rabble; for, however exalted they are, they
are still united at some point to the lowest of men. They are not suspended
in the air, quite removed from our society. No, no; if they are greater than
we, it is because their heads are higher; but their feet are as low as ours.
They are all on the same level, and rest on the same earth; and by that
extremity they are as low as we are, as the meanest folk, as infants, and as
the beasts.

104. When our passion leads us to do something, we forget our du