Psychosurgery. Intelligence, Emotion and Social Behavior Following Prefrontal Lobotomy for Mental Disorders.

Freeman, Walter, and James W. Watts

Published by Charles C Thomas, Springfield, IL, 1942

About this Item

First edition. Good+, text clean and free of marks. Front endpaper is lacking, crease to half-title page, light wear to corners. 337 pages. The foundational textbook of frontal lobotomy. "Freeman, professor of neurology at George Washington University in Washington, D. C., took an immediate interest in the technique and together with Watts, a professor of neurosurgery at the University, performed the first prefrontal leucotomy in the United States in September 1936. Freeman felt that both nerve fibers and cell bodies were destroyed during the operation and renamed it a lobotomy rather than a leucotomy. He developed the transorbital lobotomy, using electroshock as an anesthetic, so that the procedure could be more readily carried out in mental institutions, which lacked well-appointed operating rooms. Lacking surgical certification himself, Freeman nevertheless began to train psychiatrists to perform the operation, which drew severe criticism from many neurosurgeons. Soon thereafter psychoactive drugs were introduced and the number of lobotomies being performed decreased dramatically." [Heirs of Hippocrates]. Finger, Origins of Neuroscience, p. 292-3; Heirs of Hippocrates 2334. *.

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Bibliographic Details

• Title: Psychosurgery. Intelligence, Emotion and Social Behavior Following Prefrontal Lobotomy for Mental Disorders.
• Publisher: Charles C Thomas, Springfield, IL
• Publication Date: 1942
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: First edition.
• Condition: Good+