History of Lobotomy Quiz

Question: Who performed the first lobotomies?

Answer: The first lobotomies were performed in the late 1880s by Swiss physician Gottlieb Burkhardt, a supervisor of an asylum looking for ways to subdue overactive patients. Burkhardt removed parts of the brain cortex of a few patients suffering from auditory hallucinations and other symptoms of what would later be identified as schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. 

Question: Who most often ordered or approved lobotomies on patients?

Answer: Parents, husbands, and doctors were able to order lobotomies without asking the person whose brain would be dismantled.

Question: The Freeman-Watts method of lobotomy involved inserting what tool into the brain?

Answer: Walter J. Freeman and his partner, James W. Watts, developed the Freeman-Watts standard lobotomy, which laid out a procedure for how exactly a spatula was to be inserted and manipulated in the brain.

Question: About how many lobotomies were performed in the United States in total, mostly between 1949 and 1952?

Answer: In all, more than 50,000 lobotomies were performed in the United States, most between 1949 and 1952.

Question: By 1945, about how long did it take physician and traveling lobotomist Walter J. Freeman to perform a lobotomy?

Answer: By 1945 Walter J. Freeman had streamlined the lobotomy so that it would take only 10 minutes: a pick was forced through the back of the eye sockets and into the frontal lobe of the brain. After an operation, Freeman would stay in the operating room while one patient would be sent out and another ushered in.

Question: About how many lobotomies did Walter J. Freeman personally perform by the end of his career?

Answer: By the end of his career, Walter J. Freeman had performed or supervised over 3,500 lobotomies, though that was only a fraction of the total.

Question: Who received the first lobotomies?

Answer: The recipients of the first lobotomies were patients suffering from auditory hallucinations and other symptoms of what would later be identified as schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. 

Question: About how many lobotomies did Portuguese neurophysician António Egas Moniz and his assistant perform from 1935 to 1937?

Answer: Portuguese neurophysician António Egas Moniz and his assistant completed nearly 40 lobotomies by 1937, and the procedure—which still achieved only mixed success—became standard practice.