Disturbing Before and After Photos of Lobotomy Patients Will Leave You Concerned About How the Past Handled Mental Health
Kind of makes you think doctors were barbaric...
Lobotomies sit in that strange corner of history where medical confidence and human suffering collided in plain sight. For decades, the procedure was treated as a breakthrough, even as it left many patients changed in ways their families barely recognized.
The story here follows how the lobotomy moved from early experiments in Portugal to mass use in the United States, where Walter Freeman helped turn it into a fast, grim routine. The before and after photos he promoted were meant to prove success, but they now read very differently.
One patient’s description says a lot about how cold that era could be. Read on.
Walter Freeman practiced for 28 years.
And... he kept a record of 3,439 lobotomies he performed during his career.
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In 1952, Freeman performed 228 lobotomies in a two-week period in West Virginia alone. (He lobotomized 25 women in a single day.)
Alina BennettCatatonic before, smiles after.
This was considered proof of the effectiveness of lobotomies.
The 1977 Congress investigated "allegations that psychosurgery—including lobotomy techniques—was used to control minorities and restrain individual rights."
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What things have you seen?
With the help of Freeman and his technique, by 1951, over 18,608 individuals had been lobotomized in the U.S.
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An "unsuccessful" operation by the "Moniz technique."
Freeman really had a high opinion of himself, didn't he?
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From woman to child.
Independence, personality... erased in 12 minutes.
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Two times a charm!
If at first you don't succeed, pick yourself up and try again.
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Three different photos.
Before, immediately after, and during recovery. What do you see in these photos?
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Freeman’s “before and after” echoes the biohacker’s GLP-1 body changes chasing “eternal life.”
Smile for the camera
Moniz believed the brain would essentially adapt to the injuries inflicted by his procedure, and Freeman set out to prove it.
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There was a wide range of reactions, depending on the individual.
"Some patients died as a result of the operation, and others later committed suicide. Some were left severely brain-damaged."
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Instead of blowing up!
He's employed and went to night school. How lovely.
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The typical change.
Setting precedents.
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After two years of extreme violence.
"Immediately following surgery, patients were often stuporous, confused, and incontinent." But recovery never stopped there.
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At least she maintained the household.
Priorities, I guess.
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"Emphasis was put on the training of patients in the weeks and months following surgery."
"Simple schizophrenia patients make nice household pets after the operation."
It's called medicine; get used to it? This is disturbing.
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Complete Transformation
It's like looking at two different people.
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...but she made no complaints.
Seizures were a common complication of the surgery, but women like this didn't complain, so it must be okay.
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Weight Gain
You may have noticed how frequently the after pictures depict patients gaining significant weight. Developing an enormous appetite and gaining "considerable" weight was a fairly common side effect of the procedure.
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"Age has little weight in the choice of a suffering patient."
Once caged in the basement, he's now allowed out in public. How depressing.
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Anxiety
He worried too much about not finding a job, so they turned him into a shell of a man. Medicine!
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If electric shock fails, jab her eye.
Women are so easy to control once you puncture their brain!
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Want a darker ethics debate too, read how Tim Andrews’ pig-to-human kidney transplant changed everything.
