Neuroscience History: Lobotomies and Phrenology

Lobotomies were always something that I was curious about after reading One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey.

Lobotomies were a procedure that was used infrequently in the 1940's and 50's.  The surgery was used to treat mentally ill patients by altering their mental state.  This was done by creating an incision in the prefrontal lobe of the brain.  To a neuroscientist that would mean a lot, but many do not know the severity of cutting into the prefrontal cortex.  The prefrontal cortex is responsible for many important functions of the brain which include behavioral development, complex behaviors, and planning.  In other words this part of your brain really affects your behaviors and personality as an individual.  These surgeries cured people by altering their cognitive behavior, but what they really did was render the patient cognitively vacuous.  Overall the surgery was depicted accurately in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.

Phrenology has always been a subject that interested me since there is a phrenology head in my home.  Phrenology is "a defunct field of study, once considered a science, in which the personality traits of a person were determined by “reading” bumps and fissures in the skull (What Is Phrenology?)."  Phrenology was developed by physician Franz Joseph Gall around 1800, and was a very popular science in the 19th century.  Around 1843 is was called a pseudo science, or a fake science.  But it did have a big influence on Neuroscience.  "Phrenologists believed that the mind has a set of different mental faculties, with each particular faculty represented in a different area of the brain (What Is Phrenology?)." These areas were important in determining peoples mental capacity.  Phrenology is a very interesting aspect of Neuroscience history.

Works Cited

By Commenting You Acknowledge Acceptance of GoodTherapy.org's Terms and Conditions of Use. "Prefrontal Cortex." GoodTherapy.org Therapy Blog. N.p., 18 Aug. 2015. Web. 18 Oct. 2016.

"What Is Lobotomy? - Luria Neuroscience Institute." Luria Neuroscience Institute. N.p., 16 Mar. 2012. Web. 18 Oct. 2016.

"What Is Phrenology?" Phrenology Lab. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Oct. 2016.