• HOME
• THE LANGUAGE OF MADNESS
• THE ASYLUM
• • Asylum Design
  • Patient Buildings
• SOCIETY
• • Urban & Rural Life
  • Class & Gender
  • The Hysterical Female
  • The Evils of "Self-Abuse"
  • Family
  • Visitors
• LEGISLATION
• • Legislative Influence
  • Origins of Legislation and the Criminality of Insanity
  • Teenaged Years: Marked Custody Transition
  • Turn of the Century: Voluntary Admissions
  • Updated Act: The Mental Hospital Act
• SUPERINTENDANTS
• STAFF
• • Working at the LAI
  • Hiring Practices
  • Rules for Employees
  • Employee Roles in Moral Therapy
  • Doctors at LAI
  • Doctor Connections to UWO
  • Training School for Nurses
  • Attendants
  • General Staff
• PATIENT PERSPECTIVES
• • Introduction
  • Patient Art
  • Patient Letters
  • Their Voice
• MEDICAL TREATMENTS
• • Medical Treatment Introduction
  • Use of Restraints
  • Drug and Alcohol
  • Hydrotherapy
  • Female Surgeries
  • Neurosyphilis
  • Shock Therapy
  • Lobotomies
• MORAL THERAPY
• • Moral Therapy Introduction
  • Labour
  • Amusements
  • Diet
  • Religion
• THE WORLD WARS
• • Before the First World War
  • During the First World War
  • After the First World War
  • The First World War and the LAI
  • First World War Veterans at the LAI
  • The Second World War
• MEMORIES OF RMHCL
• • Introduction
  • Their Memories

Lobotomies

Psychosurgery is the process of removing or damaging a small portion of the frontal lobe in order to trigger a change in erratic behaviour exhibited by those considered insane. Although psychosurgery intrigued doctors and was practiced with unsuccessful infrequency during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, its use became more frequent when alternate methods emerged in the 1930s. A program was initiated at London, Ontario's Westminster Veteran's Hospital in 1947 to perform the procedure. In 1951, Kenneth G. McKenzie, a central figure in its use in Ontario, visited London in order to spread his knowledge and zeal for its use. From 1944 to 1967, 1,000 lobotomies were done at hospitals across Ontario, although specific figures by institution are elusive.

Despite the popularity of psychosurgery, many medical practitioners were dismayed over their colleagues' use of such invasive methods. In a report on psychosurgical success from Westminster Hospital, it was noted that the majority of patients suffered side effects such as a reduced capacity to learn and an inability to deal with situations that required quick or alternate planning. Women were subjected to lobotomy more frequently, as limited data shows that they were lobotomized in 74% of cases from 1948-1952. These results give one reason to wonder why lobotomizing female patients was so popular among male doctors.