Mad in America, by Robert Whitaker, details the history of the treatment of mental illnesses in our country, including one of the most infamous, the lobotomy. The lobotomy was a surgical procedure that evolved over time. The main purpose of the procedure was to damage the frontal lobe of the brain (Whitaker, 2002). The first type was the prefrontal lobotomy, which was first performed in humans in 1935 (Whitaker, 2002). Initially the process consisted of using alcohol to destroy brain tissue, through holes which were drilled in the skull (Whitaker, 2002). Soon after, a pick called a leucotome was added to the surgery to cut the frontal lobe tissue (Whitaker, 2002). In the 1940s, the transorbital lobotomy became popular (Whitaker, 2002). Touted as a minor procedure that did not require a hospital setting, the surgeon would sedate the patient with electroshock, and then use a pick …show more content…
Doctors performing the surgeries could receive Rockefeller grants, which encouraged them to report positive results in order to ensure the grants would be renewed (Whitaker, 2002). The lobotomy was also financially beneficial to states. Housing mental patients in state hospitals was extremely expensive (Whitaker, 2002). By having their patients undergo the lobotomy, which may only cost a few hundred dollars, the state hospitals could send them home and save hundreds of thousands of dollars in the long run (Whitaker, 2002). Money is a powerful factor that can greatly influence people. If doctors could make money by labeling their work a success, than they had motives to do so. State hospitals clearly did not care about their patients, as depicted by the crowded conditions and the unskilled, cruel workers that were hired (Whitaker, 2002). If they could save money, which could be used for other state needs, than states would prioritize the other needs, putting mental patients
S-Town by Serial and This American Life, hosted by Brian Reed, is an adventurous and suspenseful podcast following a local hillbilly’s interpretation of a murder. Brian Reed is a broadcaster for This American Life. He receives an email with a subject line that catches his eye, “John B. Macklemore lives in shit-town, Alabama.” Brian finds that there are two stories in the email, the first one is about a local police officer who forced women into sexual acts. The second one is about a murder, a young man in his 20’s named Dylan Nichols who was killed by the son of a prominent, and wealthy family.
Many people who received the transorbital lobotomy seemed to lose their ability to feel intense, emotions, appearing childlike and less prone to worry. Six of the psychiatrists, i found out later, said my behavior was normal for of them
From many anonymous sources, it's been discovered that a certain Dr. Richard Gibbson (his false name), has been performing a highly illegal procedure. The procedure, known as memrip. The basic idea of a memrip procedure is removing bits of your usable memory and placing it in someone else's brain. Patients who want more "memory space" in their brain will pay hefty amounts of money to have this procedure done. The donor gets paid a pretty penny for their time and bit of memory, so that's why the illegal procedure has still been performed behind closed doors.
Research Question The introduction of the lobotomy procedure to North America was primarily due to its endorsement by famed neurologist Walter Freeman in the early 20th century. Despite a barrage of criticism and hostility from both psychoanalysts and a small portion of the medical community who questioned the ethics of the procedure. However, Freeman’s procedure success was mainly due to his reputation as one of the nation’s best neurologists. Freeman was a professor of neurology at George Washington University and performed the first lobotomy in the United States.
The author of Absolutely American, David Lipsky’s father believes the military was not a profession and told Lipsky and his brother as kids that they could never join military; and if they did he will hire some big guys to hunt them down and break both of their legs. This frightens Lipsky and his brother as kids, so they grew up hating the military. Lipsky was inspired to write Absolutely American as he began to realized how much he really loved road marching. Many of the cadets would refer to road marching as “hazing or sucking” at West Point, but Lipsky found it quite amusing. This is when Lipsky first gain positive exposure to the military.
In the book Girl, Interrupted, by Susanna Kaysen, one of the biggest focal points is mental illness. Mental illness can be tough to talk about, simply because the phrase “mental illness” encompasses such a wide range of conditions and conjures up images of deranged people, but it is very important, especially in this book. There is a certain stigma that people who are put into mental hospitals because they have medical problems or are insane and a possible danger to society. While this is sometimes true, it is far more common for patients to need help for a disorder, but just don’t know where to go or what to do, and can end up putting themselves or someone else in danger.
The lobotomy was an inhumane, evil, and cruel procedure done on thousands of people in the 20th century. Walter Freeman performed roughly 5,000 of these, while the people he taught the procedure to may have performed 40,000 more, meaning that he was more or less responsible for 45,000 lobotomies within the US. With this much blood on his hands, we must ask ourselves: “Should he receive one as well”? The lobotomy is a barbaric procedure, and more often than not, yielded poor results, with a fatality rate of 15% (page 66).
George Orwell once wrote in an essay on critical thinking, “To see what is in front one’s nose needs a constant struggle.” (Orwell). Orwell, I think was trying to say, that the hard part about critical thinking, is reducing subjectivity and increasing objectivity. Conspiracy theories often suspend critical thinking to maintain the assertion. There is a large audience for this type of reasoning.
Introduction Prior to the mid-1960 virtually all mental health treatment was provided on an inpatient basis in hospitals and institutions. The Community Mental Health Act of 1963 was established with its primary focus on deinstitutionalizing mentally ill patients, and shutting down asylums in favor of community mental health centers. It was a major policy shift in mental health treatment that allowed patients to go home and live independently while receiving treatment, (Pollack & Feldman, 2003). As a result of the Act, there was a shift of mentally ill persons in custodial care in state institutions to an increase of the mentally ill receiving prosecutions in criminal courts.
An article by Long (2010) stated that lobotomy was first performed in Lisbon in 1935. Lobotomy was performed by drilling two holes in the patients’ skulls, and the doctor would insert pure alcohol to destroy the brain’s tissue or surgically destroy the nerves that connect parts of the brain. Lobotomy was believed to be able to cure mental illness. However, because of its huge amount of failures and protests, many stopped performing lobotomies since it was considered barbaric. However, United States was among the countries that still performed lobotomies until the 1980s.
Many people know a family, friend or other loved one who has struggled with a mental disease. Rosemary Kennedy from the famous Kennedy family struggled with a mental disease of her own but it went unnoticed by the general public. With her parents not knowing how to handle it, she went through a lobotomy that changed her life forever. This as well remained hidden. Because of the social status of the Kennedy’s, Rosemary was hidden, but what happened to her changed the whole nation.
As time moves you will be informed on a lobotomy is, what it was supposed to help with, the well and bad results of what it has done, and what it has evolved into today. The definition for lobotomy is “The operation of cutting into a lobe, as of the brain or lung”(Dictionary.com). In the 1930’s doctors figured out that by separating parts of the frontal lobe of the brain, they could alter a
By this time, the patients will have undergone extreme and undignified situations, and their families will have spent thousands of dollars. This isn’t anyone’s fault in particular, he writes, “in many ways all the parties are simply victims of a larger system that encourages excessive treatment.” Doctors, he writes, often opt out of this system. Murray volunteers “Charlie,” a renowned orthopedist and his personal mentor, as an example.
The public believed lobotomies were a great cure for mental illness because the inventor got a noble prize for ‘’perfecting the operation’’, but what the public didn’t know was the negatives of this surgery. Yes there were cases when an individual came out better than before going in, but there were also cases of people coming out the same or even dying during the surgery because it was pretty risky. For example; ‘’some patients were found to be lethargic, childish and underdeveloped after psychosurgery. If done wrong, possibly braindead and unresponsive, or the illness becomes even worse.’’ (Myer’s, D.G. 2011)
Us versus them mentality is a cultural phenomenon that is pa hallmark of civilizations past, present, and future. Propagation of this phenomenon is greatly enhanced at times of great conflict in order to unify members of a culture. In Violence in America, Arnold Goldstein details how us versus them is spurred by, “A basic human quality [of] desire to feel one is part of a group of people whom we see as being both like ourselves and . . . being better than other groups” (Goldstein 1). However, is everyone swept up in the cause during times of distress, or are there those who go against the tide and argue against the us versus them psychology?