António Egas Moniz (1874-1955) thought mental illness originated from abnormal neural connections in the frontal lobe. He observed "changes in character and personality" among soldiers with injuries to their frontal lobes, hypothesising that surgically removing white matter fibers from the frontal lobe would improve a patient's mental il…
António Egas Moniz (1874-1955) thought mental illness originated from abnormal neural connections in the frontal lobe. He observed "changes in character and personality" among soldiers with injuries to their frontal lobes, hypothesising that surgically removing white matter fibers from the frontal lobe would improve a patient's mental illness. Moniz's first psychosurgery, in 1935, was on a 63-year-old woman with depression, anxiety and paranoia. She experienced a rapid physical recovery, and two months later, a psychiatrist noted that she was calmer, less paranoid, and well oriented. In the first set of surgeries, Moniz reported a total of '7 cures, 7 improvements, and 6 unchanged cases'. Critics accused Moniz of 'understating complications, providing inadequate documentation, and not following up with patients'. After his initial procedures, other physicians, adopted a modified technique in the USA and renamed it 'lobotomy' where it became widespread under the charismatic guidance of Walter Jackson Freeman II (1895-1972) who toured the USA visiting mental institutions. After four decades Freeman had personally performed possibly as many as 4,000 lobotomies on patients as young as 4, despite the fact that he had no formal surgical training. As many as 100 of his patients died of cerebral haemorrhage. Freeman was finally banned from performing surgery in 1967. Freeman's procedures spread across the world. In Egas Moniz' native Portugal, Moniz remains highly esteemed, even featuring on banknotes and stamps; his statue standing before Lisbon University's Faculty of Medicine; his country house a museum. In 1949 Moniz was awarded the Nobel Prize "for his discovery of the therapeutic value of leucotomy”.
António Egas Moniz (1874-1955) thought mental illness originated from abnormal neural connections in the frontal lobe. He observed "changes in character and personality" among soldiers with injuries to their frontal lobes, hypothesising that surgically removing white matter fibers from the frontal lobe would improve a patient's mental illness. Moniz's first psychosurgery, in 1935, was on a 63-year-old woman with depression, anxiety and paranoia. She experienced a rapid physical recovery, and two months later, a psychiatrist noted that she was calmer, less paranoid, and well oriented. In the first set of surgeries, Moniz reported a total of '7 cures, 7 improvements, and 6 unchanged cases'. Critics accused Moniz of 'understating complications, providing inadequate documentation, and not following up with patients'. After his initial procedures, other physicians, adopted a modified technique in the USA and renamed it 'lobotomy' where it became widespread under the charismatic guidance of Walter Jackson Freeman II (1895-1972) who toured the USA visiting mental institutions. After four decades Freeman had personally performed possibly as many as 4,000 lobotomies on patients as young as 4, despite the fact that he had no formal surgical training. As many as 100 of his patients died of cerebral haemorrhage. Freeman was finally banned from performing surgery in 1967. Freeman's procedures spread across the world. In Egas Moniz' native Portugal, Moniz remains highly esteemed, even featuring on banknotes and stamps; his statue standing before Lisbon University's Faculty of Medicine; his country house a museum. In 1949 Moniz was awarded the Nobel Prize "for his discovery of the therapeutic value of leucotomy”.