Drawing from original correspondence penned by lobotomy patients and
their families as well as from the professional papers of lobotomy
pioneer and neurologist Walter Freeman, The Lobotomy Letters gives an
account of the widespread acceptance of this controversial procedure.
The rise and widespread acceptance of psychosurgery constitutes one of
the most troubling chapters in the history of modern medicine. By the
late 1950s, tens of thousands of Americans had been lobotomized as
treatment for a host of psychiatric disorders. Though the procedure
would later be decried as devastating and grossly unscientific, many
patients, families, and physicians reported veritable improvement from
the surgery; some patients were even considered cured.
The Lobotomy Letters gives an account of why this controversial
procedure was sanctioned by psychiatrists and doctors of modern
medicine. Drawing from original correspondence penned by lobotomy
patients andtheir families as well as from the professional papers of
lobotomy pioneer and neurologist Walter Freeman, the volume reconstructs
how physicians, patients, and their families viewed lobotomy and
analyzes the reasons for its overwhelming use.
Mical Raz, MD/PhD, is a physician and historian of medicine.