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Cutting Out Worry: Popularizing Psychosurgery In America, Antonietta Louise Iannaccone

Antonietta Louise Iannaccone

Contemporary Americans think of the lobotomy as an utterly primitive and brutal form of psychosurgery. The film One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, especially, popularized the image of it as a violent form of suppression and mind control. But when it was first introduced, the procedure was considered compassionate, effective, and so delicate it was compared to “cutting through butter.” The therapeutic effect was described as “cutting out worry.” Between 1936 and 1978 it is estimated that 40,000 psychiatric patients received lobotomies in the United States; the procedure was not only tolerated, it was popular. How did it ever gain …