These haunting before-and-after photographs reveal the devastating impact of lobotomy, a controversial procedure championed by a notorious physician, Walter Freeman.
The practice, once heralded as a breakthrough in treating mental disorders, involved severing parts of the prefrontal cortex while patients remained conscious. Though initially celebrated as a cure, lobotomy left many lives irreparably damaged.
Walter Freeman, who lacked formal surgical training, performed over 3,400 lobotomies between the 1930s and 1960s. Known for his unorthodox approach, Freeman boasted that he could complete the procedure in just ten minutes.
His photographs of patients, taken before and after the operation, were used as promotional tools to validate and market this now-discredited method.
A female patient is seen smiling (left) six months after the lobotomy operation, but five years later (right) the now-discredited procedure has taken its toll.
While some post-operative images suggest improved moods, the photos also reveal lasting physical and psychological harm inflicted on patients.
In one particularly disturbing case, a female patient previously diagnosed with schizophrenia was described as having been reduced to a “veritable household pet” following the operation, a chilling reflection of the dehumanizing nature of the procedure.
Despite widespread acknowledgment of lobotomy’s debilitating effects, including a staggering 14% fatality rate, the practice continued until the 1970s.
This woman was suffering from schizophrenia when she underwent Freeman’s lobotomy in 1948. In the right-hand picture she is seen apparently looking well and it is written that she continued well for six months afterwards.
During the procedure, a sharp metal instrument was inserted through the eye socket and into the skull cavity, where it was manipulated to sever connections between the prefrontal cortex and the rest of the brain.
This method, initially introduced as a mainstream treatment for psychiatric disorders in certain countries, was controversial from the outset.
Critics argued that the procedure often failed to address the complexities of severe psychiatric illnesses, making it an inappropriate and harmful intervention.
“Entranced by voices, this lady came down to earth following lobotomy and went back to keeping house. Pictured: before lobotomy and two years later.
The lobotomy was pioneered by Portuguese neurologist António Egas Moniz, who was awarded the 1949 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his development of the leucotomy, a precursor to the lobotomy.
However, the decision to honor Moniz with the prize has been the subject of intense criticism.
A before and after shot of a little boy that underwent a lobotomy at the hands of Walter Freeman. It was stated that the eight-year-old boy was suffering from schizophrenia before the operation and had to be caged in the basement.
Lobotomy saw a dramatic rise in use from the early 1940s through the 1950s. By 1951, nearly 20,000 procedures had been performed in the United States alone, with proportionally higher numbers in the United Kingdom.
The procedure disproportionately targeted women; a 1951 study found that nearly 60% of lobotomy patients in the U.S. were female, while records from Ontario between 1948 and 1952 showed 74% of patients undergoing lobotomy were women.
A photo showing a man before and a year after lobotomy.
By the 1950s, the practice began to decline, first in the Soviet Union and Europe, as growing evidence showed its harmful effects.
While some patients experienced little noticeable change, others were left with significant physical impairments, cognitive damage, or reduced to a persistent vegetative state.
Before and after lobotomy. The man picked up smoking after the procedure.
Freeman said this patient was worried because he couldn’t find a job, and couldn’t find a job because he worried so much. The picture on the right is taken December 1940 and it’s written that the lobotomy broke through his vicious circle and he found a job and peace of mind.
This woman was one of Walter Freeman’s lobotomy patients. He claimed the woman weighed 85lbs in the left-hand picture, before the lobotomy, and 210lbs afterwards, in the right-hand picture three years later.
A before-and-after shot of a 27-year-old patient who Walter Freeman said was suffering from catatonic schizophrenia before the procedure. She is pictured smiling 16 months later.
A before and after shot of a patient, aged 49, who underwent a lobotomy at the hands of Walter Freeman.
The picture on the left was taken on May 6, 1942, before the lobotomy, when the patient was quoted as saying ‘God, I’m getting ready to blow up.’ On the after picture, taken in September 1946, it is written that he is ‘Employed and going to night school’.
A woman before and after lobotomy, 1940s.
This woman was described as ‘the meanest woman’ when she was pictured (left) in March 1942, before the lobotomy. In the second picture two weeks later she is described as ‘giggling a lot’ but has lost much of her hair.
This patient was a 32-year-old telephone operator who had already had a lobotomy when the picture was taken, left, in February 1936 but was still suffering with illness. The picture on the right is taken three years later, with Freeman saying that ‘she is no longer bothered by her fears and obsession’, but the procedure also appears to have aged her.
The before image of this patient is dated October 1940 and she is decribed as having been ‘agitated five years.’ In the after picture, taken in September 1941, she is quoted as saying ‘I’m hungry right after I eat.’
Another woman, aged 40, who was said to have been suffering from catatonic schizophrenia is seen smiling a year later (right) after undergoing a lobotomy.
Freeman stated that this woman was schizophrenic and all that could be done was to turn her into a ‘veritable household pet’.
The pictures of this lobotomy patient are taken just one day apart and it is stated that the patient had been restrained for two years due to extreme violence.
In the before picture (left) this woman is described as having suffered depression of four years with a constant complaint of a painful eye. In the second picture (right) taken one year after her operation, she is described as being ‘indolent and euphoric, and subject to convulsive seizures, but she made no complaints’.
Freeman’s caption on this image reads: ‘The change in personality suggested here is typical of that which usually follows prefrontal lobotomy. The patient is shown before the operation in the picture at the left, and seventeen months after lobotomy at the right’.
Rosemary Kennedy Lobotomy Case
Rosemary Kennedy, one of Walter Freeman’s patients, endured a tragic outcome that forever altered her life. The procedure not only robbed her of her youthful vitality but left her severely incapacitated, confining her to medical institutions until her death in 2005.
Born in 1918 as the third-eldest child of the Kennedy family, Rosemary was diagnosed with cognitive disabilities and never advanced beyond the intellectual capacity of a fourth grader.
Though docile during her early years, she became more unpredictable as she entered adolescence, experiencing emotional outbursts and alarming her parents with nighttime escapes from her boarding school.
At the age of 23, her father, Joe Kennedy, made the controversial decision to arrange a secret lobotomy in an attempt to manage her behavior. The procedure resulted in devastating consequences, leaving Rosemary unable to care for herself and silencing her once vibrant personality.
Rosemary’s mother, Rose Kennedy, spoke sparingly about the ordeal. When addressing her daughter’s condition, she described it only as an accident without acknowledging the procedure. “Rosemary’s mind is gone completely,” Rose once admitted. “That was due to an accident, which I don’t really discuss.”
(Photo credit: RHP).