What is chemical lobotomy?

Furthermore, the use of antipsychotic drugs long has been referred to as a “chemical lobotomy” because they actually can disable normal brain function. Along with brain shrinkage, antipsychotics also can cause obesity, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes.

When did lobotomies stop?

Lobotomies were performed on a wide scale in the 1940s, with one doctor, Walter J. Freeman II, performing more than 3,500 by the late 1960s. The practice fell out of favour in the mid-1950s, when less extreme mental health treatments like antidepressants and antipsychotics came into use.

How did lobotomy work?

A lobotomy, or leucotomy, was a form of psychosurgery, a neurosurgical treatment of a mental disorder that involves severing connections in the brain’s prefrontal cortex. Most of the connections to and from the prefrontal cortex, the anterior part of the frontal lobes of the brain, were severed.

How is a chemical lobotomy performed?

Initially lobotomies were performed by drilling holes into the skull, until the American physician Walter Freeman discovered that he could reach the frontal lobes through the eye sockets, by hammering a long metal pick into the bone and then into the brain.

Which drugs are psychotropic?

Types of Psychotropic Medications. There are five main types of psychotropic medications: antidepressants, anti-anxiety medications, stimulants, antipsychotics, and mood stabilizers. Antidepressants are used to treat depression. There are many different types of antidepressants.

What is the difference between a lobectomy and a lobotomy?

Not to be confused with Lobectomy. A lobotomy, or leucotomy, was a form of psychosurgery, a neurosurgical treatment of a mental disorder that involves severing connections in the brain’s prefrontal cortex. Most of the connections to and from the prefrontal cortex, the anterior part of the frontal lobes of the brain, are severed.

How many people have been lobotomized in the US?

In the United States, approximately 40,000 people were lobotomized. In England, 17,000 lobotomies were performed, and the three Nordic countries of Finland, Norway, and Sweden had a combined figure of approximately 9,300 lobotomies.

Is there a link between lobotomies and modern psychotropic drugs?

There are strong parallels between lobotomies and the modern use of psychotropic drugs. In fact, the blanket treatment of psychological conditions as if they are medical problems, and the consequent massive overprescription of psychotropic medication, has had a much more harmful effect than lobotomies, because it is so much more widespread.

Are antidepressants more harmful than lobotomies?

In fact, the blanket treatment of psychological conditions as if they are medical problems, and the consequent massive overprescription of psychotropic medication, has had a much more harmful effect than lobotomies, because it is so much more widespread. According to some estimates, around 1 in 10 Americans take anti-depressants.