ELLIOT S. VALENSTEIN 425
omy was not all that it seemed at first. Most of the "remarkably"
improved patients had relapsed and the second and even third more
radical lobotomies that were subsequently performed frequently
produced seizures and other neurological and psychological complications. Attributing these "complications" to the shortcomings of the
Moniz method, Freeman and Watts developed their own lobotomy
procedure.
By 1942, Freeman and Watts had summarized the state of the
field and the results of their own experience in a book, Psychosurgery: Intelligence, Emotions, and Social Behavior. The book had an
enormous impact, increasing interest in lobotomy among the public
and physicians throughout much of the world. The New York
Times's reviewer claimed that "no novelist ever had more fascinating material" and the English neurosurgeon Eric Cunningham Dax
wrote that when the book arrived in Great Britain in 1942, "It hit us
like a bomb! It seemed to answer all our questions."
The book did answer most questions, describing which patients
were appropriate, how to perform the operation, and the postoperative care that was required. Based on the latest neuroanatomical
information, Freeman, who wrote most of the book, argued that
lobotomies work because they sever the nerve fibers connecting the
frontal lobes with the dorsomedial nucleus of the thalamus, a region
believed to regulate emotions. In the popular language Freeman
used when speaking to journalists, the operation separated the
"thinking brain" from the "feeling brain" and prevented thought
processes from being overwhelmed by inappropriate emotional
states. This rationale was much more acceptable than anything
Moniz had offered. It wasn't long before neurosurgeons began arriving in large numbers at the George Washington Hospital to learn the
"Freeman-Watts Standard Lobotomy".
During the 1940s, the popular media promoted lobotomy in article after article, calling it a medical "breakthrough" and describing
how "hopeless" patients had returned to productive lives. A 1947
article in Life magazine was entitled PSYCHOSURGERY: OPERATION TO CURE SICK MINDS TURNS SURGEON'S BLADE
INTO AN INSTRUMENT OF MENTAL THERAPY. Front page
articles in small town newspapers were often headed by such memorable hyperboles as WIZARDRY OF SURGERY RESTORES SANITY TO 50 RAVING MANIACS. A New York Times editorial stated
that Moniz had shown "it was time to cut worry, phobias, and
