This is a great article which must have taken you ages to research and write. I hope you get a lot of readers. It always seems amazing to me that lobotomy was so popular at one time. 'I know how to fix this - chop off a bit of his brain.' One might think that might be a hard sell, but you make a really good job here of explaining why people used to go in for it.
This is based on a paper I wrote for a course at Harvard Extension. It was summer school. It was my only two courses on campus. Thankfully, The NY Times has "the Times TimeMachine" which allows you to word search every article in the paper and access the article. It still took a lot of time and when I look back, I think, I maybe should have enjoyed Cambridge more. This version is significantly modified. This post is really part 2 of "Cutting Through the Problem" and part 3 is coming later... the project resulted on a few offshoots that I think upend the orthodox history of lobotomy & crime.
This was the second time I decided to use the NY Times as the main source for an argument. The other was to investigate whether Evelyn Fox Keller's century of the gene corresponds to how articles discussed genes. I suspect I'll give this one a fix and post it on my personal substack (which is more experimental) and where I share both academic stuff (unrelated to crime) and more personal stuff.
I also find it amazing, fascinating, disturbing, and honestly concerning that there was a time, in a galaxy not that far away, where respectable people, authorities in their fields encouraged others to imprecisely cut parts of the brain to solve behavioral, social, and physiological problems.
Thank goodness we don’t treat mental illness with unnecessary harmful, scientifically-unproven surgery anymore. And if we did, it certainly wouldn’t be promoted as a certain good treatment amongst major newspapers and media organizations.
I certainly hope that is true. I think one of the dangers is that people do not notice that these procedures do great harm when they prescribe them. Very well intentioned doctors, parents, policy makers, can make big mistakes that at the time appeared like the right choice. Other times, people with bad intentions can do great harm (see Merchants of Doubt for a wonderful discussion of cigarette companies and the effects of cigarettes).
I cant seem to recall the details, but I recall a conversation at uni about a study at a university where they realized something did great harm but they tried to hide it... I think it was in MN and it had to do with ADD medication for young people. This was a few decades ago.
I wish it was true. Can you think of any situation nowadays where we treat mental illness by surgically removing parts of the body to resolve the distress, despite having little evidence that it works and an increasing amount of evidence that it causes harm?
I totally agree with your point. I think a lot of the problem is not maliciousness, but ignorance and a tendency to believe your peers and authorities without thinking too critically about it. Some people devote their careers and their lives to promoting these treatments, even if they have doubts that they try their best to squash. But although there will always be these people, there will always be whistleblowers and people who realize that what they are doing is wrong and unhelpful, and campaign to stop it.
I'd be curious to hear about the ADHD medication causing harm. As far as I know, long-term effects are limited to a slightly higher risk of cardiovascular issues. However, they have improved the medications since a few decades ago. Universities seem to be at particular risk of ignoring the harms of a medical treatment in favour of good publicity and more funds.
The point is that people within the context in which those therapies are promoted are rarely able to distinguish the good from the bad. I think history can be useful in showing ways in which people have gone astray and raising some questions or the kinds of questions that one should ask. We should also recall that lobotomized people were able to continue practicing medicine, continuing playing the violin professionally, etc.
Id have to look up the reference. I may be thinking of antidepressants. It's been a long time since I came across that case study.
One method that is currently fashionable and likely doing a lot more harm than good is the troubled teen industry. We will be covering this in a series of posts, and we have already written one about this.
Thank you for reading and drawing this interesting connection.
The close I can think of is mesmerism. There is a splendid book about this subject, Mesmerized Powers of the Mind by Alison Winter. Mesmerism was very similar to hypnotism. This delightful book (of which I may write on my personal substack) covers the social meaning of these practices in Victorian England.
You can also read our article on electroshock therapy and one flew over the cuckoos nest to read about a similar case study
Lastly, we are going to be publishing a series of articles about the troubled teen industry. This is sadly ongoing and doing quite a bit of harm while also "helping" some people.
Interesante, tb me acorde que leimos un escrito de Poe la semana que discutimos mesmer y hypnosis en la clase que tome, dejo la historia de Poe, en español.
Se ve interesante la historia que has empezado a escribir.
This is a great article which must have taken you ages to research and write. I hope you get a lot of readers. It always seems amazing to me that lobotomy was so popular at one time. 'I know how to fix this - chop off a bit of his brain.' One might think that might be a hard sell, but you make a really good job here of explaining why people used to go in for it.
Hi Jason,
Thank you for your kind note.
This is based on a paper I wrote for a course at Harvard Extension. It was summer school. It was my only two courses on campus. Thankfully, The NY Times has "the Times TimeMachine" which allows you to word search every article in the paper and access the article. It still took a lot of time and when I look back, I think, I maybe should have enjoyed Cambridge more. This version is significantly modified. This post is really part 2 of "Cutting Through the Problem" and part 3 is coming later... the project resulted on a few offshoots that I think upend the orthodox history of lobotomy & crime.
This was the second time I decided to use the NY Times as the main source for an argument. The other was to investigate whether Evelyn Fox Keller's century of the gene corresponds to how articles discussed genes. I suspect I'll give this one a fix and post it on my personal substack (which is more experimental) and where I share both academic stuff (unrelated to crime) and more personal stuff.
I also find it amazing, fascinating, disturbing, and honestly concerning that there was a time, in a galaxy not that far away, where respectable people, authorities in their fields encouraged others to imprecisely cut parts of the brain to solve behavioral, social, and physiological problems.
Thank goodness we don’t treat mental illness with unnecessary harmful, scientifically-unproven surgery anymore. And if we did, it certainly wouldn’t be promoted as a certain good treatment amongst major newspapers and media organizations.
Hi Liv,
I certainly hope that is true. I think one of the dangers is that people do not notice that these procedures do great harm when they prescribe them. Very well intentioned doctors, parents, policy makers, can make big mistakes that at the time appeared like the right choice. Other times, people with bad intentions can do great harm (see Merchants of Doubt for a wonderful discussion of cigarette companies and the effects of cigarettes).
I cant seem to recall the details, but I recall a conversation at uni about a study at a university where they realized something did great harm but they tried to hide it... I think it was in MN and it had to do with ADD medication for young people. This was a few decades ago.
I wish it was true. Can you think of any situation nowadays where we treat mental illness by surgically removing parts of the body to resolve the distress, despite having little evidence that it works and an increasing amount of evidence that it causes harm?
I totally agree with your point. I think a lot of the problem is not maliciousness, but ignorance and a tendency to believe your peers and authorities without thinking too critically about it. Some people devote their careers and their lives to promoting these treatments, even if they have doubts that they try their best to squash. But although there will always be these people, there will always be whistleblowers and people who realize that what they are doing is wrong and unhelpful, and campaign to stop it.
I'd be curious to hear about the ADHD medication causing harm. As far as I know, long-term effects are limited to a slightly higher risk of cardiovascular issues. However, they have improved the medications since a few decades ago. Universities seem to be at particular risk of ignoring the harms of a medical treatment in favour of good publicity and more funds.
The point is that people within the context in which those therapies are promoted are rarely able to distinguish the good from the bad. I think history can be useful in showing ways in which people have gone astray and raising some questions or the kinds of questions that one should ask. We should also recall that lobotomized people were able to continue practicing medicine, continuing playing the violin professionally, etc.
Id have to look up the reference. I may be thinking of antidepressants. It's been a long time since I came across that case study.
Thank you or your thoughtful engagement.
One method that is currently fashionable and likely doing a lot more harm than good is the troubled teen industry. We will be covering this in a series of posts, and we have already written one about this.
https://curingcrime.substack.com/p/the-troubled-teen-industry-troubling?r=2bk4r1
Hello, do you have any information about hipnosis or similar situations? Thanks.
Hi Mercedes,
Thank you for reading and drawing this interesting connection.
The close I can think of is mesmerism. There is a splendid book about this subject, Mesmerized Powers of the Mind by Alison Winter. Mesmerism was very similar to hypnotism. This delightful book (of which I may write on my personal substack) covers the social meaning of these practices in Victorian England.
You can also read our article on electroshock therapy and one flew over the cuckoos nest to read about a similar case study
https://curingcrime.substack.com/p/shock-therapies-in-one-flew-over-the-cuckoos-nest-bcc73ddd9845?r=2bk4r1
We wrote about the Clockwork Orange and similar therapies in real life to try and alter behavior.
https://curingcrime.substack.com/p/the-clockwork-orange-forcing-dishonest?r=2bk4r1
Lastly, we are going to be publishing a series of articles about the troubled teen industry. This is sadly ongoing and doing quite a bit of harm while also "helping" some people.
It’s for a story I bregan to write. https://histolatos.blogspot.com/2024/06/vadereto-junio-2024-la-adivina-que-no.html It’s in Spanish.
Interesante, tb me acorde que leimos un escrito de Poe la semana que discutimos mesmer y hypnosis en la clase que tome, dejo la historia de Poe, en español.
Se ve interesante la historia que has empezado a escribir.
https://www.colonialtours.com/ebook/ebooks/Poe-Edgar%20Allan%20-%20Los%20hechos%20en%20el%20Caso%20M%20Valdemar.pdf
Lo tenía pendiente. Muchas gracias, estaré pendiente a los demás enlaces.