lobotomist
Severed frontal connections
A lobotomist is a physician who performs lobotomies—surgical procedures that sever connections in the brain's prefrontal lobe.
The term carries dark associations with mid-20th-century psychiatry, when lobotomies were performed on thousands of patients to treat mental illness, often with devastating results.
Figuratively, lobotomist suggests someone who dulls or destroys mental capacity: Television is the great lobotomist of our age.
- transorbitalThrough the eye socket
- prefrontalBefore the frontal lobe
- psychosurgerySurgery for mental illness
- asylumShelter from persecution
mental institution · 1940s · 1950s · Nobel Prize · trephination · institutionalization · state hospital · leucotomy
Situation with competing values
- malpracticeHarmful professional negligence
- inhumaneCallously causing suffering
- stigmaMark of dishonor
- backlashStrong negative reaction
criticism · quackery · barbaric · atrocity · condemnation · informed consent · medical ethics · exploitation
Precise surgical knife
- incisionControlled cut into tissue
- operating theaterRoom for surgical procedures
- anesthesiaInduced loss of feeling
- surgical instrumentsTools for medical procedures
procedure · sterile · craniotomy · precision · mallet · severing · white matter · prefrontal cortex
Psychotic disorder with delusions
- psychosisSevere reality detachment
- mental illnessDisorder affecting cognition or mood
- institutionalizedMade formally standard
- agitationDisturbed, restless state
psychiatric hospital · severe depression · intractable · behavioral control · sedation · docility · personality change · cognitive impairment
Walter Freeman
- transorbitalThrough the eye socket
- prefrontalBefore the frontal lobe
- psychosurgerySurgery for mental illness
asylum · mental institution · 1940s · 1950s · Nobel Prize · trephination · institutionalization · state hospital · leucotomy · sanitarium
ethical dilemma
Situation with competing values
- malpracticeHarmful professional negligence
- inhumaneCallously causing suffering
- stigmaMark of dishonor
backlash · criticism · quackery · barbaric · atrocity · condemnation · informed consent · medical ethics · exploitation · antipsychiatry
scalpel
Precise surgical knife
- incisionControlled cut into tissue
- operating theaterRoom for surgical procedures
- anesthesiaInduced loss of feeling
surgical instruments · procedure · sterile · craniotomy · precision · mallet · severing · white matter · prefrontal cortex · brain tissue
schizophrenia
Psychotic disorder with delusions
- psychosisSevere reality detachment
- mental illnessDisorder affecting cognition or mood
- institutionalizedMade formally standard
agitation · psychiatric hospital · severe depression · intractable · behavioral control · sedation · docility · personality change · cognitive impairment · diagnosis
lobotomisthealer
One who restores health
reconstructive surgeon · brain surgeon · neurosurgeon · miracle worker
lobotomistpsychotherapist
Mental health professional
psychoanalyst · patient advocate · counselor · holistic healer · occupational therapist