Are lobotomies still performed these days?

I think they are, only in under very specialized conditions. I just saw a PBS special on that a few weeks ago.

Modern Lobotomy

"Despite the risks and adverse effects that were witnessed in previous patients, lobotomies remain a valid, if rare, form of treatment today. Instead of removing parts of the brain as Phineas had endured, the first lobotomies used alcohol to sever the fibers that linked the frontal lobe to the rest of the brain. Today, lobotomies are used often to treat epilepsy, and those such as the amygdalotomy use drills to create a hole in the head."

No. People that have had lobotomies actually tend to behave WORSE after a build-up of frustration. If anybody out there is performing lobotomies, they should be JAILED.

Lobotomies are no longer done because they permanently destroy part of the brain, and that's seen as barbaric now.

As my learned colleague TurtlesAllTheWayDown so eruditely pointed out, Thorazine (as well as Haloperidol, Stelazine, and Mellaril) is just as effective a zombie maker as a frontal lobe lobotomy, but without the permanent destruction of tissue.

If they take them off the meds, the zombie behavior goes away, and the "interesting" behavior (that got them in trouble in the first place) returns.

I don't think there are many medicated people on here, too many "interesting" questions and answers.

Religion has mastered the art without the need of surgical tools, but you'll have to bring money and maybe some friends and their money too.

Come on, charlatans need to eat and drive nice cars, just like everyone else. Only really have to work a couple days a week at that. Not a bad deal once you stomach the fact that you're tricking people out of their money. Hell, with enough "interpretation" I bet the Bible can even be used to justify the actions taken in such "good faith" by "good Christian men."

I do have to say, once you 'church' it up a bit, it really doesn't sound half bad, until you really start thinking about what's they're selling to you.

This sort of procedure has not been regularly performed, in the United States at least, since the early 1960's. The advent of psychotropics made lobotomy unnecessary or even frivolous in most cases.

The U.S. is one of the only developed countries where lobotomies are still legal, but they aren't performed anymore. In 1977 Congress ruled that all forms of psychosurgery were being used to control minorities. Electric shock therapy is still widely used as a form of mental health treatment.

I think they only do something like that to prevent seizures in extreme cases. But they used to just take a wire and mush around in the frontal lobes -- now they carefully cut certain connections instead of indiscriminately mangling part of the brain. Or that's what I remember from Psychology 101 in the late 90s. :)

In most cases, a similar effect can be achieved through non-surgical Fox News or MTV exposure.

The short answer is yes, but almost never for mental disorders. It is mostly used for epilepsy. Shockingly, surgeons use lobectomy too (the removal of the frontal lobe or lobes). Other brain operations like amygdalohippocampectomy are used as well.

Seems very likely having talked to born again christians!

And if YA really want to put this question in 'pregnancy & parenting' they need an anatomy lesson!

I'm a teenage lobotomy.