The operation went out of favor as soon as the first antipsychotics were developed in 1954. But Walter Freeman never gave up on it, you know, in 1968 just a few years before he died. And so I think that's the case is telling people, You know, I think this is a great operation and, and it's it's due for revival when when surgeons make their mind to it.
When physician Walter Freeman died in 1972, he still believed that lobotomies were the best treatment for mental illness. A pioneer in the method, he was a deeply confident and charismatic man who eagerly spread the technique in America, long after the rise of alternative treatments that were less destructive. Listen as journalist Megan McArdle and EconTalk's Russ Roberts discuss what McArdle calls the "Oedipus Trap": mistakes that no one can live with, even if they were innocently made, and how admitting such mistakes to ourselves is nearly impossible. They also discuss the complexity of the credo, "follow the science."