In the 1950s, at least in Scandinavia, lobotomy was not considered controversial albeit psychopharmacological treatment had become available since 1953. Denmark was active in psychosurgery, and here the procedure was called “The white cut”. In no other parts of the world did the rate of lobotomies reach such high numbers for millions of inhabitants than in the Scandinavian countries. The introduction of the stereotactic technique in the 1950s made it possible to create small precisely placed lesions, particularly in the limbic or paralimbic pathways believed to underlie major affective disorders. He was well-known across the United States and famous for his ad hoc “operating rooms” set up in motel rooms. The American neurologist Walter Freeman introduced and popularized the transorbital lobotomy. The radical whereas radical lobotomies were extended more posteriorly and medially and were reserved for patients with schizophrenia or those with treatment failures. In the minimal procedure the section was cut was placed more anteriorly and was used in patients with predominately affective symptoms. Originally there were three procedures minimal, standard, and radical. There was a wide variation of surgical techniques. After surgery, it was expected that the patients would be less aggressive, experience less anxiety and thus show improved social functioning. Both efferent and afferent fibers are damaged in these lesions. The aim of a frontal lobotomy was primarily to interrupt or damage limbic-frontal cortical connections, thus interfering with the influence of emotion on the frontal cortex. Ĥ. The rational and indications for lobotomy She continued to have recurring epileptic seizures, and a friend noted she had a “total lack of initiative”. Her Norwegian family did not keep their promise about allowing her to move back to Nørholm and she spent the remainder of her life, 34 years, in a Danish nursing home in Jylland. In the period between the two operations, during a stay in a Danish mental hospital, she was given chlorpromazine for a short period due to what was considered psychosis, most probably a postictal psychosis.Īfter the second operation her dream about going back to be a film actress was devastated forever. In 1953, she underwent a standard lobotomy, and in 1956 she was relobotomized, now with a radical procedure. Nevertheless, she was lobotomized twice in Denmark. During her stays in Danish hospitals she was described as quiet and calm, and her depression was not considered serious.

Thus, she was sent to Denmark to get professional psychiatric help. In 1952 her weight was scarcely 40 kg, and according to her mother she was “unhappy, friendless and looked like the living dead”. In addition to her the eating disorder, she now felt depressed.

After her divorce in the postwar period she moved back to Norway.

Sult by Knut Hamsun