20 Myths People From the 1950s Believed

Lobotomy was promoted as a treatment for severe mental illness and, in some cases, difficult behavior that institutions or families could not manage. Walter Freeman popularized a transorbital procedure performed with an instrument modeled on an ice pick and toured widely demonstrating it. Outcomes included disability, personality changes, complications, and death. By the late 1950s, medication and criticism were pushing lobotomy aside. The supposed cure often made patients easier to control rather than genuinely well.