Dr Freeman - A Psychologist

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Dr. Freeman was a doctor who wanted to be doing vital life saving world changing work and not merely, you know, slightly improving the lives of some patients. After 1954 it starts to fall into disrepute so he sees this reputation that he has accumulated he sees it slipping away. He as the head of the DC medical society led the church to desegregate it. It's still good. We should still be doing this. And he really was I mean, by the time he finished his last trip he went 140 pounds down from I think 200. The story is interesting and for people who don't know about the history of this type of treatment for mental illness, I hope of value

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."