Until the nineteenth century, mental illnesses was mostly treated in domestic settings. With the establishment of “mad houses”, the settings of care altered to medical institutions, but therapies and treatments remained largely unsuccessful in curing cognitive impairment. The development of psychosurgery offered a solution to the lack of therapeutic interventions for the mentally ill, although looking back on the treatment, many faults can be noticed. However, using a historical lens, the use of lobotomy can be better understood, along with the reasons for its eventual decline.
The emergence of lobotomy as a therapeutic solution for mental illness can be more clearly understood by putting it into the historical context of the early twentieth century. Firstly, based on the present …show more content…
This alternative method was “psychotropic drugs” which were developed and became recognized in the middle of the 1950s. Psychotropic drugs also arose during the technological fix as a more “sophisticated technological solution” to mental instability. The negative aspect of drugs over surgery was that they must be taken long-term rather than just once in order to elicit improvements; however, they ensure greater amounts of security and control over treatment. Whereas psychosurgical operations never entail removal of the same brain tissues, drugs provide the power to always prescribe the proper dose.
Overall, this essay has demonstrated that using historical context to analyse the acceptance of the lobotomy in the early twentieth century is necessary in the comprehension of its use and evaluation of its reliability. However, a historical lens also exposes that physicians did notice the dangers of psychosurgery and abandoned its use as soon as a more efficient method became
The emergence of lobotomy as a therapeutic solution for mental illness can be more clearly understood by putting it into the historical context of the early twentieth century. Firstly, based on the present …show more content…
This alternative method was “psychotropic drugs” which were developed and became recognized in the middle of the 1950s. Psychotropic drugs also arose during the technological fix as a more “sophisticated technological solution” to mental instability. The negative aspect of drugs over surgery was that they must be taken long-term rather than just once in order to elicit improvements; however, they ensure greater amounts of security and control over treatment. Whereas psychosurgical operations never entail removal of the same brain tissues, drugs provide the power to always prescribe the proper dose.
Overall, this essay has demonstrated that using historical context to analyse the acceptance of the lobotomy in the early twentieth century is necessary in the comprehension of its use and evaluation of its reliability. However, a historical lens also exposes that physicians did notice the dangers of psychosurgery and abandoned its use as soon as a more efficient method became