Question

What were lobotomies developed to treat?

Answer 1

Lobotomies were developed as a psychiatric practice to treat various disorders, including personality and mood disorders. The procedure involved severing connections in the brain and was common in the mid-20th century before the advent of antipsychotic drugs.

Step-by-step explanation:

A lobotomy was developed as a psychiatric practice to treat various disorders in the mid-20th century. It involved severing the connections between the prefrontal cortex and other areas of the brain. This procedure was used to treat personality disorders, mood disorders, and psychoses. However, the exact correlation between the procedure and changes in mood and personality is not well understood.

Answer 2

Originally, they were developed to treat mental illnesses like schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. Whether they were effective or not is a different question. Eventually they grew to be used for things like chronic pain and the ending of epileptic seizures. For example, the case of "Patient HM" Milner was someone who had a lobotomy to end his debilatating epileptic seizures, and the surgery worked! But, he lost the ability to make long-term memories but did have somewhat of a function for very short-term memory. In other words, he could not make new memories.

Nowadays lobotomies are considered barbaric and not something practiced due to cases like Patient HM.