Walter Freeman Case

Walter Freeman revolutionized the field of psychology by creating an almost assembly line like procedure that could be performed on an outpatient basis with procedures taking often as little as ten minutes. Freeman even received a Nobel Prize for his procedure (Phillips). The procedure started with the administer of up to three electric shocks to the patient. An icepick was then inserted through the trans orbital socket and into the brain. The ice pick was then moved around the damage the connections between the frontal lobe and the rest of the brain. This procedure was often used for the treatment schizophrenics as it was believed the severing of the frontal lobe and prefrontal cortex would lead to the reduction of delusions, hallucinations, and …show more content…
Even then success varied. Patient often need to be retaught basic functions and experienced relapses due to neuroplasticity which would cause the brain to compensate and reform in order to adapt to the parts damaged as a part of the procedure. This however is only true for patients suffering from a real, proven mental illnesses causing the patient or others substantial pain. However, scientists reported that some lobotomy patients reverted to childlike behavior and were incapable of self-care. This was a legitimate option for a few patients in the overcrowded asylums but when Freeman started performing these procedures nonchalantly things took a turn for the worst. Patients with perfectly normal brains not suffering from mental illness and cases where the side effects outweighed the benefits were given lobotomies causing the butchering of perfectly normal, healthy brains. He even prescribed lobotomies to patients with simple headeaches. At this point Freeman began doing around 100 procedures a day for patients showing up with very minor issues. One of these patients was Howard Dully. Dully was