Raz, Mical (Author)
Social History of Medicine
Volume: 23
Pages: 116--133
Publication date: 2010
Language: English
Between 1935 and 1965, tens of thousands of lobotomies were performed in the United States in an attempt to alleviate psychiatric disorders. This article focuses on the role that employment and the capacity to work played in framing the results of lobotomy in a positive light. It argues that employment status was a key factor in evaluating patients' post-operative condition, and in determining the success of the operation. The article focuses on the publications and archive papers of Walter Freeman, the physician responsible for the widespread endorsement of lobotomy in the United States. The preoccupation of physicians and patients with the capacity to work, and the emphasis on productivity, industry and personal responsibility, were contributing factors to the success of lobotomy in the US. It is argued that the somatic intervention of lobotomy was based on, and reaffirmed, a social approach to mental illness.
...MoreDescription “Focuses on the publications and archive papers of Walter Freeman, the physician responsible for the widespread endorsement of lobotomy in the United States.” (from the abstract)
Similar Citations
Book
Mical Raz;
(2015)
The Lobotomy Letters: The Making of American Psychosurgery
Article
Raz, Mical;
(2008)
Between the Ego and the Icepick: Psychosurgery, Psychoanalysis, and Psychiatric Discourse
Book
Raz, Mical;
(2013)
The Lobotomy Letters: The Making of American Psychosurgery
Article
Lara Rzesnitzek;
(2019)
The introduction of leucotomy in Germany: National Socialism, émigrés, a divided Germany and the development of neurosurgery
Thesis
Johnson, Jenell M.;
(2008)
Echoes of the Soul: A Rhetorical History of Lobotomy
Article
Collins, Brianne M.;
Stam, Henderikus J.;
(2015)
Freeman's Transorbital Lobotomy as an Anomaly: A Material Culture Examination of Surgical Instruments and Operative Spaces
Article
Yvan Prkachin;
(2021)
Two Solitudes: Wilder Penfield, Ewen Cameron, and the Search for a Better Lobotomy
Article
Kinga Jęczmińska;
(2018)
History of lobotomy in Poland
Article
Philippa Martyr;
Aleksandar Janca;
(2018)
‘A matter for conjecture’: leucotomy in Western Australia, 1947–70
Book
Jesper Vaczy Kragh;
(2022)
Lobotomy Nation: The History of Psychosurgery and Psychiatry in Denmark
Book
Sarah Fawn Montgomery;
(2018)
Quite Mad: An American Pharma Memoir
Book
El-Hai, Jack;
(2005)
Lobotomist: A Maverick Medical Genius and His Tragic Quest to Rid the World of Mental Illness
Book
Jenell Johnson;
(2016)
American Lobotomy: A Rhetorical History
Book
Andrew Scull;
(2019)
Psychiatry and Its Discontents
Article
Pendleton, Courtney;
Zaidi, Hasan A.;
Chaichana, Kaisorn L.;
Raza, Shaan M.;
Carson, Benjamin S.;
Cohen-Gadol, Aaron A.;
Quinones-Hinojosa, Alfredo;
(2012)
Harvey Cushing's Contributions to Motor Mapping: 1902--1912
Article
Stone, James L.;
(2001)
Dr. Gottlieb Burckhardt---The Pioneer of Psychosurgery
Thesis
Gavrus, Delia Elena;
(2011)
Men of Strong Opinions: Identity, Self-Representation, and the Performance of Neurosurgery, 1919--1950
Chapter
Delia Gavrus;
(2017)
"Making Bad Boys Good": Brain Surgery and the Juvenile Court in Progressive Era America
Article
Collins, Brianne M.;
Stam, Henderikus J.;
(2014)
A Transnational Perspective on Psychosurgery: Beyond Portugal and the United States
Article
Peter D. Mohr;
(2017)
Dorothy Davison (1890–1984): Manchester Medical Artist and Her Work for Neurosurgeon Sir Geoffrey Jefferson (1886–1961)
Be the first to comment!