It is hard to believe that anyone could consider driving 2 icepicks into the brain by way of the eye sockets a “treatment” for anyone’s ills, imaginary or otherwise, yet this is exactly what Psychiatrist Dr. Walter J. Freeman was doing and selling from 1946 to 1967.
The transorbital lobotomy was not the only way to damage the brain in the name of treatment. Convulsions by way of insulin shock, drugs, and electricity were used and thought to kill the “bad” brain cells, but nobody stopped to ask how that actually worked. Of course, it really didn’t.
And still doesn’t, because treatments like ECT (Electro Convulsive Therapy) are still in use today.
The video below contains shocking images, both literally and figuratively, so beware. The video is from the “Psychiatry: An Industry of Death Museum.” You can tour the museum virtually on the site.
I mean, who would electrocute a kitten?
