Lobotomy

Running Head : Lobotomy

Lobotomy (Name (Subject / Course (Professor (Date

Introduction

Lobotomy or Leucotomy , an operation to treat mental diss such as depression and schizophrenia . Lobotomy consists of cutting the nerve fibers that connect the frontal lobe to the rest of the brain . It is rarely performed because of severe side effects such as seizures incontinence , and undesirable personality changes . It has been widely replaced by the use of psychotherapy and chemotherapy . In the 1930 's Portuguese physician Egas Moniz developed what became the best known psychosurgical operation : the Lobotomy . Moniz

found that cutting nerves connecting the frontal lobes with the emotion- controlling centers of the inner brain calmed uncontrollably emotional and violent patients During the 1940 's and 1950 's , tens of thousands of severely disturbed people were lobotomized , and Moniz was honoured with a Nobel Prize (Kozier , 2004

Although the intention was to simply disconnect emotion from thought the effect was often more drastic : the Lobotomy produced a permanently lethargic , immature , impulsive personality . During the 1950 's , when calming drugs became available , psychosurgery was largely abandoned Today , lobotomies are very rarely performed . Other psychosurgery is used only in extreme cases . For example , if a patient suffers uncontrollable seizures , surgeons can deactivate the specific nerve clusters that cause or transmit the convulsions . Because such beneficial operations are irreversible , however , neurosurgeons perform them only as a last resort (Drane , 1994

The effectiveness of the biomedical therapies reminds us of a fundamental lesson . We find it convenient to talk separate psychological and biological influences , but everything psychological is biological Every thought and feeling depends on the functioning of the brain . Every creative idea , every moment

of joy or anger , every period of depression emerges from the electrochemical activity of the brain

Discussion

a . History

It was in Switzerland when Dr . Gottlieb Burckhardt did an operation to a number of patients where in the segments of the frontal lobe were detached . The patients were thought to be mentally ill and were confined to a mental hospital . There was one casualty in the operation while others were discovered in nearby river days after the incident . The other mentally ill patients displayed a changed in their character . The aforementioned experiments , gave rise to the discovery of psychosurgery (Kozier , 2004

It was then Antonio Egas Moniz in 1935s also doctor started to discover the operation named prefrontal leucotomy . The operation was very horrible because for it to be successfully done , the surgeons should first drill holes in the heads of the patient 's . It also can lead to the undoing of the frontal lobes when they will shot alcohol . Moniz then restructured the procedure using leucotome that is being used to disintegrate the tissues of the brain which then has a wire loop that is retractable . This discovery gave great honours for Moniz where in 1949 he had a big break and was able to won a Nobel Prize award (Myers 1993

Then in 1936 , a neurologist got so envious and was thrilled by Moniz discovery...