5 - A Surgically Induced Childhood

Summary

In 1947 Freeman answered a letter from a frustrated father of a lobotomy patient. The father complained that his daughter was often uncooperative and childish, and that he and his wife experienced considerable difficulties in caring for her at home. “The best means of controlling such behavior,” Freeman advised, was “a rapid change from one type [of activity] to another around the house and frequent outdoor activity, lots of affection and once in a while a good old span[k]ing if she does not behave herself.” On this point, Freeman cautioned, “It may take two of you to get her down,” but the spanking “should be a good one and followed by a dish of icecream [sic], then a kiss and make up.” This patient, however, was not a child. Rose Samuel, whom we met in the previous chapter, was a young woman in her late twenties. She had first been admitted to a psychiatric hospital in 1942, diagnosed with dementia pracox, a term later replaced by schizophrenia. After her discharge that same year, she improved sufficiently to live an independent life, and was married in 1945. In 1947, suffering from hallucinations and described as “disturbed and quite violent,” Freeman and Watts decided that a lobotomy would be advisable. The results were unsuccessful; the patient returned to live with her parents, who found her daily care challenging. Freeman explained to her father why he recommended such an unorthodox approach. “She is acting like a child,” he wrote, “and I think she should be handled like a child.”