Social History of Medicine Advance Access published online on November 3, 2009
Social History of Medicine, doi:10.1093/shm/hkp061
Psychosurgery, Industry and Personal Responsibility, 1940–1965
* Van Leer Institute, Jabotinsky 43, Jerusalem, Israel and Department of Internal Medicine J, Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, Weizman 6, Tel Aviv, Israel. E-mail: razmicha{at}post.tau.ac.il
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Abstract |
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Between 1935 and 1965, tens of thousands of lobotomies were performed in the United States in an attempt to alleviate psychiatric disorders. This article focuses on the role that employment and the capacity to work played in framing the results of lobotomy in a positive light. It argues that employment status was a key factor in evaluating patients' post-operative condition, and in determining the success of the operation. The article focuses on the publications and archive papers of Walter Freeman, the physician responsible for the widespread endorsement of lobotomy in the United States. The preoccupation of physicians and patients with the capacity to work, and the emphasis on productivity, industry and personal responsibility, were contributing factors to the success of lobotomy in the US. It is argued that the somatic intervention of lobotomy was based on, and reaffirmed, a social approach to mental illness.
Keywords: lobotomy; industry; work; American psychiatry; Walter Freeman