This book tells the story of one of medicine’s most (in)famous treatments: the neurosurgical operation commonly known as lobotomy. Invented by Portuguese neurologist Egas Moniz in 1935, lobotomy or psychosurgery became widely used in a number of countries, including Denmark, where the treatment had a major breakthrough. In fact, evidence suggests that more lobotomies were performed in Denmark than any other country. However, the reason behind this unofficial world record has not yet been fully understood.
Lobotomy Nation traces the history of psychosurgery and its ties to other psychiatric treatments such as malaria fever therapy, Cardiazol shock and insulin coma therapy, but it also situates lobotomy within a broader context. The book argues that the rise and fall of lobotomy is not just a story about psychiatry, it is also about society, culture and interventions towards vulnerable groups in the 20th century.
Table of Content
Chapter 1. White Incisions and Black Butterflies: Introduction.- Part I: Towards Lobotomy.- Chapter 2. State Mental Health Services: Danish Hospitals and the Directorate, 1922-52.- Chapter 3. Malaria and the Interwar Years: Malaria Fever Therapy and other Innovations in Psychiatry, 1922-37.- Chapter 4. Shock and Coma: Insulin and Cardiazol Shock Therapy, 1937-42.- Chapter 5. Psychiatric Cooperation: Shock Treatment, Diagnoses and Psychiatric Textbooks, 1939-42.- Part II: The Time of Lobotomy.- Chapter 6. Something Different: Lobotomy, Electroshock Therapy and Plans for Psychiatry, 1939-47.- Chapter 7. The First of Many: Lobotomy and the State Mental Hospital in Vordinborg, 1940-47.- Chapter 8. The Apostles of the Knife: Lobotomy, the Directorate and the General Public, 1946-56.- Chapter 9. Last Resort?: Selecting Patients for Lobotomies in Vordinborg, 1947-56.- Chapter 10. Women and the Problem of Psychopathy: Gender and Control in Vordinborg, 1947-56.- Part III: The Demise of Psychosurgery.- Chapter 11. A Question of Consent: Coercion and Consent to Lobotomy, 1946-58.- Chapter 12. Lobotomia Sequelae: The Side-effects of Lobotomy, 1955-83.- Chapter 13. The Final Cut: Summary and Conclusion.
About the author
Jesper Vaczy Kragh is Senior Researcher in the Copenhagen Centre for Health Research in the Humanities (Co Re) at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark. He has worked on research projects on the history of forensic psychiatry, Nordic psychology, drug abuse in the 19th and early 20th century and the history of vulnerable groups, 1945–1980. He is Co-Editor of the book,
Social Class and Mental Illness in Northern Europe (2020).
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