Mental Hospital Procedures

I have this thing for mental hospitals and I was just wondering... What do you think about the earlier methods of handling the mentally ill?
I am probably like many others, I absolutely think the lobotomy procedure was barbaric. For those of you who don't know what a lobotomy is, it was a phychiatric surgical procedure (psychosurgery) used around the 30's through the 50's to "help" the mentally ill.


Founded in 1888 by Gottlieb Burckhardt, the procedure after it was a few times preformed, already started to get negative reviews.


It was then used again by Portugese neurologist Egas Moniz. He performed the psychosurgery by drilling holes in the skull to get to the brain. He then would destroy tissue of the brain by injecting alcohol.

(Walter Freeman)

In the 1930's, Walter Freeman introduced a new way to perform surgery on the mentally-ill. He used "ice-picks". He would take these ice-picks and insert them into the eye-socket, where he would then move them up-and-down and cut into the brain tissue. This usually left the patient in a "quiet" state, and by that, the patient was happily deemed cured.

Well no, he wasn't cured. He was basically a vegitable.


Another procedure that was used in mental hospitals (and is still used today under extensive circumstances) is electroconvulsive therapy. The way this was used in mental hospitals ranged from pure helpfulness to extreme punishment.


Then of course there was the "rubber-room" where patients were put to keep from hurting themselves and others. They would usually be put in strait-jackets in the process.



There are many things about mental hospitals I don't agree with, but there are also some things I liked about them. What do you think?



Neurology Word of the Day: neuron - A cell of the nervous system.


Psychology Word of the Day: psychosurgery - Surgery of the brain to treat mental illness.

*Definitions are reworded by me, but are originally from Wikipedia or Wiktionary.

I am very sorry about missing a day.

Hi, school just started back, and I'm kind of in a tizzy on updating my blogs. This blog post will not contain any issues or topics today, but I will discuss my medical-base classes.

Psychology: Very dissapointed. The teacher that was supposed to be teaching our class retired last-minute. So, that will mean that until Monday, we won't know if we will have a teacher or not. In the process, we will be doing absolutely nothing. Ugh. And, if the school doesn't find a teacher, we'll have to sign up for another class. Extremely dissapointing. Also, a lot of the kids that signed up for the class are kids who only signed up for it thinking it will be an easy A, and some will even sleep in there.

Anatomy-Physiology: LOVE it! I am so excited about this class! We had to write an essay on what we wanted to do in the medical feild and why :D

Well, that's it for today.

Neurology Word of the Day: neurology - A branch of medicine that studies how the nervous system functions.

Psychology Word of the Day: mania - Abnormally high levels of moodiness, arousal, passion, or energy levels. It is a form of psychosis.

*The definitions above are either rephrased from Wikipedia or Wiktionary.

New Post!

Hi! I don't really have a topic to talk about today because I have been extremely tired all day and, I have been with my boyfriend (Troy) too. I will definately have the words of the day up today.

Neurology Word of the Day: synapse - The joining between the electric currents of a neuron and another neuron, muscle cell, or gland cell.

Psychology Word of the Day: Schizophrenia - A psychiatric disorder characterized by an abnormal perception of reality and emotional conflicts.

*Definitions are originally from Wiktionary.org or Wikipedia.org. They are reworded by me.

To start things off...

Hi! I am Audrey from the blog: A Lotta Girl, A Lotta Style. I have made a new blog just to track my thoughts and information about my passion: neurology and psychology. I hope you enjoy this blog, and I definitely hope it is informative.
On this blog, it will contain:

• Two daily "word of the day". One for neurology, and one for psychology.
• It will contain a question for one to answer on what and how they think about a certain topic.
• It will have many little tid-bits about the history and/or random information about Neuro/Psycho.
• I will have a poll ready every month on certain things, such as what I could do to change my blog to make it more satisfying to you.
• It will also have new information (definitely with acknowledgements and credits) about Neuro/Psycho.
• It will have my opinions and thoughts.

Whew! I have a lot to do, and such little time to do so. Enjoy!

Neurology Word of the Day: axon - A part of a nerve cell that carries electrical activity away from the cell to the synapse of another nerve cell.

Psychology Word of the Day: psychiatry - A specialized feild of medicine that has to do with diagnosing, treating, and studying mental illness in humans.

*Definitions are originally from Wiktionary.org or Wikipedia.org. They are reworded by me.