transorbital lobotomy

By 1949, Freeman committed himself to the transorbital lobotomy. Any kind of 'coring' would automatically be too extensive, and he found that disturbing the limbic region did not help.

He also suggested that if ECT worked on a patient, he or she would be a likely candidate for the transorbital lobotomy. He described the case of a catatonic schizophrenic whose symptoms troubled her for three years, and who had some help from electroshock.

Misuse of the transorbital lobotomy becomes understandable, if not something to be condoned, when one considers the historical context.

In their study of how journalists covered psychosurgery, Diefenbach, Diefenbach, Baumeister and West discovered that the procedures, especially the transorbital lobotomy, had a reputation for being simple enough to warrant training a psychiatrist, rarely caused fatalities, and saved lives.

Freeman developed the transorbital lobotomy for its ease, with psychiatrists in mind.