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> Anna Ruth Channels suffered from severe headaches and was referred to Freeman in 1950. He prescribed a transorbital lobotomy. The procedure cured Channels of her headaches, but it left her with the mind of a child, according to her daughter, Carol Noelle.
On the whole, I'd say it's an utterly barbaric, even idiotic, procedure. As I said, believing that random tissue damage has "healing properties" is so idiotic I cannot believe it. At least if it was specific to some parts of the brain, e.g. "for depression, destroy this part of the brain," it'd be a bit more understandable (not by much though).
Turning a 'violently suicidal' person into a zombie might seem like a success from the perspective of those who have to live with/take care of them/etc. Then again euthanasia should also be very effective if that's your only goal.
> by 1951, almost 20,000 lobotomies had been performed in the United States
> On average, there was a mortality rate of approximately 5% during the 1940s.
> He described one 29-year-old woman as being, following lobotomy, a "smiling, lazy and satisfactory patient with the personality of an oyster" who could not remember Freeman's name and endlessly poured coffee from an empty pot.
It helped in many cases, but it was bad in many cases. I'd like to see an statistic and also read carefully what is the definition of a "success" case.